putting an amp and speaker inside an acoustic bass

[Nigel Goodwin]

I'm looking for a boost to about 20dbs or 30dbs. I don't need amp volume, just a little extra.

These aren't 'little' boosts, 20dB is an increase from 1 watt to 100 watts, and 30dB from 1 watt to 1000 watts.

I'll repeat again, for bass you need to move a LOT of air, so big speakers and high powers. For a moderate increase small power would be OK, but you still need a big speaker to shift the air.

 

[JonSnell Electronic]

Amping acoustic basses is a nightmare - my daughter keep insisting on taking hers to gigs, feedback is a HUGE problem. In the end I told her either take an electric bass, or take yourself and all the gear on the bus 😀

Trying to put an amp and speaker inside the bass wouldn't stand a chance, and would you want a bass that heavy anyway?.

Edit: for a 'solution' how about buying a double bass? - these are considerably louder.

Use a sound hole damper. That will kill the acoustic feedback from the guitar, then you can turn the amp up to an external speaker.
Why you would wish to do this, is beyond me as it will make the guitar heavy and what about power to the amp and speaker connections? 😕

 

[phase_accurate]

If I were you I'd build a small amp that is camouflaged as stool. Or is furniture forbidden as well ?

Regards

Charles

 

[Stormo]

Feedback ? - Hmmm

Now the bass play very low notes with very long wavelength - several meters - what if the amplifier was inverting, hence playing out of phase with the signal ? then perhaps the feed-back issue wont be that bad ?

 

[LoFiHiFi]

Rich784, deepbass9
Did you ever make any progress? I am totally all for this idea. It's a fantastic idea. One needs to work out a way of suspending the speaker with springs and insulation to prevent feedback. It can be done. Nevermind the knockers. Having a one piece instrument, no leads and busking as bass and acoustic guitars is a fabulous idea.

 

[luigiman]

Rich784, deepbass9
Did you ever make any progress? I am totally all for this idea. It's a fantastic idea. One needs to work out a way of suspending the speaker with springs and insulation to prevent feedback. It can be done. Nevermind the knockers. Having a one piece instrument, no leads and busking as bass and acoustic guitars is a fabulous idea.

I made one: Self contained electric acoustic u-bass Check my build out, it works like a dream!

 

[dsteinschneider]

Hi Luigiman, I'm going to copy your build. I'm interested in how you fabricated the "riser" for the speaker enclosure to slide into and how you built the speaker enclosure itself. You really worked through a lot of problems to get there. Thanks for sharing what you've already posted. The idea of a slide in speaker is something I wouldn't have thought of that I think is brilliant.