Isolation cabinet?

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burpgun
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Isolation cabinet?

Post by burpgun » Thu Nov 29, 2018 6:57 am

Hey all. Been thinking about building any isolation cabinet for my Fender Deluxe Reverb. It's not a big amp, but I'm a little worried about building something that would be really hard to move, if I needed to.

Any advice if I try to build this thing? Thanks.

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rumfoord
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Re: Isolation cabinet?

Post by rumfoord » Thu Nov 29, 2018 7:36 am

Couch fort??

But seriously, I wasn't aware of isolation cabinets for combos. I think you want to look into an isolation cabinet for the speaker (or some speaker) so it won't be so big.

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Re: Isolation cabinet?

Post by jvin248 » Thu Nov 29, 2018 7:50 am

.

Big key is to put a speaker cabinet alone in an isolation box, if you put a combo amp inside then you'll have major heat issues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rijqBhMrCGk

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... on+cabinet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX0tXhtc7mg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbYqbDEV1g0

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Re: Isolation cabinet?

Post by Larry Mal » Thu Nov 29, 2018 8:05 am

There's good isolation cabinets out there, here is a well known one by Jet City:

https://www.musiciansfriend.com/amplifi ... er-cabinet
Last edited by Larry Mal on Sat Dec 01, 2018 7:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
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burpgun
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Re: Isolation cabinet?

Post by burpgun » Fri Nov 30, 2018 8:06 am

So if I got one of these units, I gather I'd be able to put my DRRI next to it, and instead of driving the combo speaker, run a cable from the amp and drive what's inside? That would be a pretty workable setup. No heat issues, and no bothering the neighbors.

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Re: Isolation cabinet?

Post by marqueemoon » Fri Nov 30, 2018 9:02 am

There have been huge strides recently with boxes that can run impulse responses. The demos I’ve seen from Universal Audio and Two Notes have really impressed me.

In my view that offers a lot more tonal versatility than just stuffing an amp in a box or connecting the amp to a speaker that’s stuffed in a box.

Additionally, with an open back cabinet the sound is coming from multiple points (this is true of all cabinets to some degree of course). Something like the UA or Two Notes would allow you to emulate the sound of different mics in virtual space.

If you’re recording digitally you could also handle cabinet emulation on the back end via plugins.

The one drawback other than cost is you’re now talking about computer hardware and software which will eventually be obsolete. The category of tech is probably here to stay, but yeah.

I think tube amp emulation still has a ways to go, but speaker emulation is getting pretty dialed. Mooer even came out with a cheaper pedal-sized box that can run IRs.

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Re: Isolation cabinet?

Post by burpgun » Fri Nov 30, 2018 9:18 am

For a lot of years now I've done my guitar and bass recording via sims. Way back in the day I had the Line 6 PODs. Now I've got the IK Multimedia Fender and Ampeg collections. And they're good! Especially for bass. And it's great you can tweak just about everything, from mic selection, build your own set ups, mix and match. I just find there's something elusive and not quite there when it comes to the guitar. The IK Fender sim just seems to miss the Fender clean sound, and its Deluxe Reverb emulation doesn't match the real world combo. That's all fine and the only thing I am with recording is pragmatic.

I'm just interested in seeing if I can find a way to use my amp in an NYC apartment. I haven't played out live in years and I'm getting close the point where it's not really even defensible for me to hold onto this hardware I can't use. I figured an isolation box would give me a shot.

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Re: Isolation cabinet?

Post by MT » Sat Dec 01, 2018 6:36 am

Here’s my iso cab. Designed by Tym Guitars and Naut Cases in Brisbane. With small wattage heads it works brilliantly and cuts a lot of noise. Bass frequencies are harder to stop than treble frequencies.

I’ve never used the Jet City ones but if you’re talking about apartment playing, I wouldn’t buy one without having a chance of trying it first. Someone else’s idea of quiet may not be yours or your neighbours’.

I also have a Two Notes Torpedo Live box and it’s, hands down, the best bit of gear I’ve bought. The cab sims are superb, especially the new official Mesa and Celestion cabs just released and it has a reactive load up to 100w.

For apartment playing, I’d honestly go and try a Torpedo with a nice set of studio monitors. It’s better than the iso cab for turning amps up and gives you options to use any number of different virtual cabs (which the iso box won’t).

Image

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Re: Isolation cabinet?

Post by Larry Mal » Sat Dec 01, 2018 7:35 am

burpgun wrote:
Fri Nov 30, 2018 8:06 am
So if I got one of these units, I gather I'd be able to put my DRRI next to it, and instead of driving the combo speaker, run a cable from the amp and drive what's inside? That would be a pretty workable setup. No heat issues, and no bothering the neighbors.
No, you use your amp into the cab's speaker. Sorry I was a little unclear above. I need to spend more time with my responses on here I am starting to notice, firing them off in between tasks at work is leaving me a little incoherent.

So no, with the Jet City, you send your amp out to the speaker inside the cab and then put your mic in there- I think you can put a couple of them in there. It is sometimes criticized for not having some kind of exhaust port, so that the sound can escape the cab to a degree. I think the idea is that be completely enclosing the sound in there, it has nowhere to go and can put pressure on the diaphragm of your microphone and impede performance and sound.

I made an attempt for home recording by getting a Fender Princeton Recording amp.

I'm not necessarily recommending it. It's a bunch of great ideas executed inconsistently, for some reason my reverb tank- which is a great one- sometimes just isn't present. I need to get it worked on.

It's something I'll keep, and it's very useful in the studio, but I would never think to take it out into a live situation. Fragile and untrustworthy.

Still, it has the nice attenuator, so you can crank the amp of the Princeton up all the way to where it is breaking up naturally and then turn the volume down very low, your neighbors will not hear that. Get a nice small diaphragm condenser up close to it and put packing blankets around that and you have yourself a very nice iso cabinet in and of itself, even if it doesn't look all that great.

There are other attenuators out there but I don't know much about those. Frankly, for apartment recording amp sims are unbeatable, although I am never all that happy with any of them, and I have all the big names out there. They are OK. The thing that bugs me the most about them is that they seem to think that in order to give you the real experience of the amplifier you are playing, they need to include noise into the sound. I hate that, I am very concerned about noise in all my recordings, and having my computer add simulated noise to my guitar recordings makes absolutely no sense to me.
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Re: Isolation cabinet?

Post by tdbajus » Sun Dec 02, 2018 2:33 pm

I am a huge fan of using those 12AU7 or 12BH7 powered amps- they kick out as little as 1 watt, sounds fucking incredible when close miked with a beta56, sounds/feels like an amp, and works well with pedals.

I have the Marshall JTM-1 head with the 1x10 sealed back cabinet- you could definitely make a couch fort around it. One watt. Sounds killer, plus you'll never have to put compression on your guitar in the mix again. I got it because my neighbors thought my Bronco (Vibro Champ) was too loud at 5 watts.

Also, I can't say enough good things about the Kendrick Solo7, which uses a pair of 12BH7 in A/B, which will go up to 14 watts, but run one tube (the two sides of the 12BH7 are in push-pull, not the pair of tubes!) brings it down to 7 watts (which is where it lives most of the time) and the power attenuator is the only one I have found useful.

All three of these amps are light, fairly cheap, and eminently couch-fort-able.

I used to go through so much to mic my BF Deluxe- using a dynamic and a condenser on it, omnis in the room if I could. I haven't bothered in years. Couldn't be happier with my sound. It's almost a bummer actually. I feel like the dog who actually caught the car- what do I do now?

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