# Building my own amp cabinet.



## Hypno Toad (Aug 1, 2009)

I've got a older Kustom Dart 10 solid state practice amp. It's got the basic fake leather coating and MDF cabinet material.

It's nothing really special, it's not a bad amp, but I don't have much use for it now that I have a better amp. I kinda want to break apart the cabinet and build a new one out of pine. I know woods for guitars help to significantly change the tone of the guitar, so I assume the same thing would apply to the physical output sound of the speaker. Pine gives a warm, soft, pleasant tone.

Despite the amp only being 10 watts, I'd like to build it a larger, closed back amp cabinet in hopes of giving a more warm, vintage-y look and sound. 


Unfortunately I don' know Jack **** about amps, Is there anything I should know before trying this? (other than unplugging the amp before disassembling it )


----------



## mrmatt1972 (Apr 3, 2008)

A larger, closed back cab will - all other things being equal - have better bass. It's very unlikely that cabinet material will make much of a difference in sound quality, but it does matter in terms of durability (and cost). 

You don't need to know jack XXXX about amps - just how the chassis is going to mount inside your new box.


----------



## Hypno Toad (Aug 1, 2009)

I think a pine cab would influence the sound, though. MDF doesn't really because it's not really a material that resonates, but I think pine, cedar, or spruce would color the sound a bit, wouldn't it?

Thanks for the info, though. Do I need to disconnect anything while doing this, or just basically move all the parts as a whole into the new amp cab?


----------



## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

Well, Vintage Fender amps are made out of pine. Pine is readily available pretty much everywhere in Canada. 1 x 12 pine will give you a cabinet a maximum of 11" wide.....most are about 10" wide. 
Good quality 3/4" plywood works too. By good I mean at least sanded/smooth 2 sides.....not exterior sheeting. 
Do you have a table saw? Router with a 1/2" round-over bit? Wood glue?


----------



## mrmatt1972 (Apr 3, 2008)

Are you planning on changing the speaker too? Even if you aren't, you may have to look at the leads for the speaker to see how much play you have. Other than that its pretty simple. Unbolt, pull out, put back in, rebolt. Cutting the circle for the speaker is a little tricky without a jig though...


----------



## Hypno Toad (Aug 1, 2009)

Lincoln said:


> Well, Vintage Fender amps are made out of pine. Pine is readily available pretty much everywhere in Canada. 1 x 12 pine will give you a cabinet a maximum of 11" wide.....most are about 10" wide.
> Good quality 3/4" plywood works too. By good I mean at least sanded/smooth 2 sides.....not exterior sheeting.
> Do you have a table saw? Router with a 1/2" round-over bit? Wood glue?


I have everything needed. I have my heart set on soft coniferous wood, though. 1 x 12 should fit the bill, thanks.



mrmatt1972 said:


> Are you planning on changing the speaker too? Even if you aren't, you may have to look at the leads for the speaker to see how much play you have. Other than that its pretty simple. Unbolt, pull out, put back in, rebolt.


I wouldn't see much point in changing the speaker, unless I could somehow change the wattage of the amp, is there any benefit to changing the speaker? probably wouldn't make much sense in terms of the sound quality vs money ratio :/


----------



## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

Hypno Toad said:


> I have everything needed. I have my heart set on soft coniferous wood, though. 1 x 12 should fit the bill, thanks.
> 
> 
> 
> I wouldn't see much point in changing the speaker, unless I could somehow change the wattage of the amp, is there any benefit to changing the speaker? probably wouldn't make much sense in terms of the sound quality vs money ratio :/


How big is your speaker now? The new Darts are only 6-1/2". If that's what yours is too a bigger speaker would go a long way to getting the bigger tone you're chasing. 
Your amp is top loading right? (dials & imputs facing straight up) On top loads you're not limited to the width of the chassis like you would be on a front load. :smile:


----------



## Hypno Toad (Aug 1, 2009)

Lincoln said:


> How big is your speaker now? The new Darts are only 6-1/2". If that's what yours is too a bigger speaker would go a long way to getting the bigger tone you're chasing.
> Your amp is top loading right? (dials & imputs facing straight up) On top loads you're not limited to the width of the chassis like you would be on a front load. :smile:


So even under a low wattage amp a bigger speaker would sound better? The current speaker in this little thing is 15 watts. Not sure of the measurement dimensions, unfortunately. I was hoping a bigger speaker cabinet would almost help the speaker along, since the air in the extra space will be vibrating also. And yes, it is top loading.

How much does a bigger speaker go for usually?


----------



## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Hypno Toad said:


> So even under a low wattage amp a bigger speaker would sound better? The current speaker in this little thing is 15 watts. Not sure of the measurement dimensions, unfortunately. I was hoping a bigger speaker cabinet would almost help the speaker along, since the air in the extra space will be vibrating also. And yes, it is top loading.
> 
> How much does a bigger speaker go for usually?


Speakers can make a HUGE difference. Much moreso that the cab you put them in, IMHO. The cost of speakers varies. What is your budget and what kind of music do you like to play?

I would suggest making the back of the cab so that it can be closed, partially open or fully open. That way, you will be able to adjust it to your preference.

Cheers

Dave


----------



## Hypno Toad (Aug 1, 2009)

greco said:


> Speakers can make a HUGE difference. Much moreso that the cab you put them in, IMHO. The cost of speakers varies. What is your budget and what kind of music do you like to play?
> 
> I would suggest making the back of the cab so that it can be closed, partially open or fully open. That way, you will be able to adjust it to your preference.
> 
> ...


My budget is whatever sounds affordable 

Lets say, no more than 100 dollars, can I get an upgrade? The intention of this wasn't really to improve the amp, but give it a more homegrown feel and vintage look, and hopefully color the tone a bit with the pine. if I can upgrade it for a pittance, then I'm all for it, but I don't want to go big budget with this..


----------



## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Hypno Toad said:


> My budget is whatever sounds affordable
> 
> Lets say, no more than 100 dollars, can I get an upgrade? The intention of this wasn't really to improve the amp, but give it a more homegrown feel and vintage look, and hopefully color the tone a bit with the pine. if I can upgrade it for a pittance, then I'm all for it, but I don't want to go big budget with this..


You can get lots of *used *10" and 12" speakers for under $100.00 (and a fair number of new ones also)

Cheers

Dave


----------



## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

Hypno Toad said:


> So even under a low wattage amp a bigger speaker would sound better? The current speaker in this little thing is 15 watts. Not sure of the measurement dimensions, unfortunately. I was hoping a bigger speaker cabinet would almost help the speaker along, since the air in the extra space will be vibrating also. And yes, it is top loading.
> 
> How much does a bigger speaker go for usually?



Even a 1 watt amp sounds great through a 4-12 cab 

As far as price goes, anywhere from $75 to $300 is average. If you ebay and watch for "deals" you can buy new speakers for as little as $10 each plus shipping. Right now there's new 8" Marslands going for $6 each. A while back there was 10" Eminence going for $10.50 each.


----------



## Hypno Toad (Aug 1, 2009)

That'd be fine as long as they work and are compatible with my amp. Is it as simple as un-soldering the current leads and hooking up the new ones?

Also, any suggestions as to where I could find that sort of thing (besides eBay)? Could I even just pull apart a surround sound system and take the main speaker out of that?

Sorry about all the questions, I'm not very familiar with speaker electronics.


----------



## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

Hypno Toad said:


> That'd be fine as long as they work and are compatible with my amp. Is it as simple as un-soldering the current leads and hooking up the new ones?
> 
> Also, any suggestions as to where I could find that sort of thing? Could I even just pull apart a surround sound system and take the speaker out of that?
> 
> Sorry about all the questions, I'm not very familiar with speaker electronics.


Organs are good speaker doners They are usually 10's or 12's. Look for a speaker with a ribbed cone. Something that says "Musical Instrument Speaker" rather than "full range speaker".


----------



## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Hypno Toad said:


> That'd be fine as long as they work and are compatible with my amp. Is it as simple as un-soldering the current leads and hooking up the new ones?
> 
> Also, any suggestions as to where I could find that sort of thing? Could I even just pull apart a surround sound system and take the speaker out of that?
> 
> Sorry about all the questions, I'm not very familiar with speaker electronics.


Your amp is 10 watts. You would likely want to get a speaker capable of handling 15 watts of power minimum. You also should likely match the speaker impedance to the output impedance of your amp. Probably 8 ohms. This can easily be determined if it isn't in the specs of the amp (owner's manual or online) or written somewhere on the back of the amp. Do you have a meter for measureing electronics (resistance, volts, current, etc?) .

If you are only going to have one speaker, then yes, all you need to do is unsolder the existing speaker and solder the leads to the new one. We can guide you through that task if/when you decide to do the speaker swap.

The surround sound speaker is not a good approach, IMHO. Get a speaker made for musical instrument use.

Cheers

Dave


----------



## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Lincoln said:


> Organs are good speaker doners


LOL..."organs........doners'. 

I'm using a 12" speaker in my cab. It is a doner from an old Hammond organ.

Cheers

Dave


----------



## Hypno Toad (Aug 1, 2009)

Well, I probably wont be able to get that right away anyways. I'll just design the cab to be able to support any size of speaker (within reason)


----------

