BillFitzmaurice.info

After all the help I received while building my Jacks, I love it when I actually manage to help some one out as well.

Looking good Jono.

Time for another update. Two weekends ago I sprayed the inside Tops to match the bottoms and cut pieces ready for the week ahead. Masked off the joints on the Tops plus a bit more and gave it a spray with matte black. If it needs more, I'll do it at the end. Here's one as an example: Sunday night and I then was ready to attach it to the top of the assembly, glued, screwed and clamped and a bit of weight for good measure: Meanwhile, another Jack waits: A few days later, both tops on: And then a guide board jig thingy to trim the moth panels to size: The cabs are now both ready for the sides to be attached. First I have to cut the handle holes first and then pre-drill and counter-sink the screw holes. A busy family weekend ahead so not anticipating getting far with that.

Managed to set-up and break in the drivers overnight on Saturday. Used a program called Audacity (free) to create a 30Hz test tone, converted it to an mp3 using 1411kbps sample rate and loaded it onto an mp3 player. Used my home stereo to drive the drivers, mp3 player as the source and a scope to check the output. The scope is a big overkill I know but I've got it so I use it: You can't see it but the scope is measuring 30Hz, about 8.4Vrms. I thought I had a screen capture from the scope but no, I cocked up something there. Will grab one when I do the leak tests.

Left them running like that for 12 hours in the lounge while the whole family slept soundly. I could just hear them from my bedroom if I really strained. Can tick that job of the list now.

A busy week this week again so it will be slow progress on the cabs

On the plus side, I'm going to see System of A Down on Wednesday night, so the week isn't totally wasted

Well it has been awhile between posts! Progress has been made so here it is:
The sides attached, no shortage of screws Gluing the back flanges in place. Can also see the backing plate on the inside right where the handle will go. Corners rounded and bog applied (bit blurry sorry) Gluing brackets to the mouth to mount the grill to later, 12mm from the front edge (blurry again sorry). Resprayed the throat assemblies matte black to tidy it up after all the other work around it.

Time now to try out the Easytread floor coating paint I discovered in this thread
http://billfitzmaurice.info/forum/viewt ... x&start=15
Rolled it on with a longish nap roller. After two coats: Technique needs to improve but still good. That's why I did the backs first and then the bottom and sides before the tops! It's quite a heavy coating with lots of rubber particles that can flick everywhere and are hard to get even. Found it best to get a good coverage everywhere first with a well loaded roller and then even it out. Used a loaded brush to add rubber to the less covered spots and a dabbing motion to blend it all in. I didn't take any more pics as it was all done at night and the light in the garage was not good for photos. More to come at completion.
Got two 500W 8Ohm cross overs (0.6mH coil and 15uF cap) from Leland and wired them up on a bit of ply each, cabled tied down. Used 16AWG wire for the internal wiring, input on right, to speaker on left: Installed the insulating foam sourced from my work (we use it in our packaging and recycle the waste which is when I rescued it). In goes the crossover and driver. Foam strip already around the back flanges for the seal. Close up of the jack plate connections, 2x speakon and 2x 1/4" all in parallel. I ended up running hot melt glue around the inside edge of the jack plate hoping to get a good air tight seal.

Time to leak test around the driver seal. Same setup as breaking in the drivers. No problems as I used the good screws for the purpose from Leland and drove them down tight, going around each one many, many times to seat it down hard. Pretty boring scope capture from the leak test, measured across the driver: All good there so time to fit the back panels, tighten and test. Found leaks in the corners so had to remove the panels and place short bits of foam strip overlapping the corner joins. Makes sense really. Back together, screwed down tight and no more leaks. Happy Days!
Back shot. I used screw covers from Leland and I like 'em. Some over exposed flash shots to follow (black is hard to photgrapgh in a very light garage!)
From the front Almost 3/4 shot So that was 2 weekends ago. I was so stoked to get them to that point, to actually have two functioning cabs that I am more than happy with the (almost) final result. You may notice that there are only corner protectors on the bottoms of the cabs. I stupidly only ordered 8 from Leland so I need to look into placing another order. Will make sure that is all I need before I do and may order a few more in anticipation of needing replacements one day.

I still have the grilles to attach to the fronts. I got an engineering firm next to my work to cut and fold (along top and bottom edges) some expanded steel mesh for me. They did it twice as they they got the first ones wrong (Too short. Forgot to account for the folds.) So I got the right ones last week and spent last weekend cleaning and spray painting them. I'm letting them fully harden off before I attach them later this week.

Did I mention how happy I am with these?

Hey JonoSkip

Always a pleasure to see builds where the guys show pride in their builds.

Looks great and hope you have some great times playing with these babies.

PulseMan

So all I had heard from the cabs was a 30Hz test tone but I don't have an amp yet to make them do what they are supposed to do. Time to modify the 15W practice amp! Disconnected the speaker, extended the cable and added a 6.5mm plug - Cue bad photo of a mini rig of Doom: it isn't but it's better than nothing and I can play my bass through them.
I've since had a friend bring his Peavey Firebass 700 (700W into 2Ohms, 475W into 4Ohms) and that was a better test with both cabs. No way would I ever want that head, it weighs a tonne (23kg/51lb really). Both cabs wouldn't weigh that (don't quote me on that yet, still to weigh them). I wasn't fussed on the tone either.

Without wanting to fork this thread to a amp discussion, here's what I'm thinking amp wise (all IMO and I am not very experienced in the ways of the tone, just like what I like - metal like Iron Maiden, rock like Guns n Roses, AC/DC and a lot of other stuff that doesn't fit with that!)

I've been looking at a few micro heads such as the Ampeg PF350 and PF500, Mark Bass TA503, Genz Benz Shuttle 6.0 and Streamliner 600. I have only tried the PF350 and Shuttle 6.0 thru a single Jack 112 (all others were before I had them working and so were with cabs in the stores). I liked the PF350 and having tried the PF500 previously I think that would be better, more featured and versitle, higher output for two cabs. I really liked the GB Shuttle 6.0, just sounded great, easy tone and easy to change from clean to a bit of bite. I was disappointed with the Streamliner 600 when I tried it through the Mesa 4x10 cab in the store (same cab as for the PF500) but I want to give it another go with the Jack. I didn't think the lows were articulate enough for me. I have asked the store to see if they can get a GB Shuttle 6.2 as it is supposed to sound even better than the 6.0, more tube stage gain available. Am waiting anxiously. Again all IMO, YMMV AFAIK and that ain't very far.

Thanks PulseMan for your kind comments. Credit to Bill of course for great plans!

Well thanks to Leland and a fellow kiwi named Ted I got the rest of my corners last week, piggy backed on Ted's order to NZ. Screwed them on and took the complete build shot: I've had the grills on for awhile now but wanted to wait until they were done done. Bought an amp too Went with the Streamliner 600 after trialing it with one of the Jacks. Am really happy with everything, just need more time to play through the whole rig. It is way too loud for my garage!
Thanks to all for your kind words, sorry if it dragged on a bit. See you in the forums

Fantastic end result JonoSkip

Nice clean builds...

Thanks Grant. I'm looking forward to seeing your finished products.

They look great!
I'm interested to know how durable the floor coating finish is with constant gig use.

Wow those look awesome! I'm thinking I wanna build the exact same things. Have you used them for PA/recorded use at all, if so how do they sound? I'm debating the merits of the 2512's vs. the 3012HO's ...don't think I can afford the later.

How much do you think the total build set you back, including parts and build supplies (jigs, scrap wood, tools, etc)?

Thanks metallic!

metallic wrote:Have you used them for PA/recorded use at all, if so how do they sound?

Mine don't have piezos so strictly bass rig use.

metallic wrote:I'm debating the merits of the 2512's vs. the 3012HO's ...don't think I can afford the later.)

If I built only one I would use the 3012HO but all the advice is to build two so I went the cheaper option.

metallic wrote:How much do you think the total build set you back, including parts and build supplies (jigs, scrap wood, tools, etc)?

I'm yet to do the tally up but can post back when I do.