swampstomper
Full Member
The only thing that really worried me was the ether.
Posts: 136
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Iso Box
Nov 18, 2006 6:21:46 GMT -7
Post by swampstomper on Nov 18, 2006 6:21:46 GMT -7
I'm thinking about building an iso box that I would mount a speaker and mic in for recording purposes. Anyone seen or know of a good set of plans for a project like this?
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Iso Box
Nov 19, 2006 17:30:40 GMT -7
Post by GuitarZ on Nov 19, 2006 17:30:40 GMT -7
You could just pull down the specs for the Randall or Demeter Iso boxes. I think that no matter what you do, you're going to have some standing waves in there. I was going to build an iso-box or iso-closet and then just went and bought the Randall box.
It's great. I have it tucked away in a basement closet. I ran a speaker and mic cable down from the 2nd floor studio. I'm able to play my Maz Jr wide open at any time day or night. The only time anyone else hears it is if they're in the basement.
Let me know if you want any measurements.
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swampstomper
Full Member
The only thing that really worried me was the ether.
Posts: 136
|
Iso Box
Nov 19, 2006 20:33:08 GMT -7
Post by swampstomper on Nov 19, 2006 20:33:08 GMT -7
You could just pull down the specs for the Randall or Demeter Iso boxes. I think that no matter what you do, you're going to have some standing waves in there. I was going to build an iso-box or iso-closet and then just went and bought the Randall box. It's great. I have it tucked away in a basement closet. I ran a speaker and mic cable down from the 2nd floor studio. I'm able to play my Maz Jr wide open at any time day or night. The only time anyone else hears it is if they're in the basement. Let me know if you want any measurements. Cool man. Thanks. I'll have to shop those and figure out if it would be worth my while to try building one myself. I didn't see any pricing in my searches but they look like they cost a bit.
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Iso Box
Nov 20, 2006 13:51:19 GMT -7
Post by mudskipper on Nov 20, 2006 13:51:19 GMT -7
before there was MASS motor available from Weber, i had my brother-in-law (an awesome professional cabinet maker) make me a box at something like 15x15x15 to house up to a 12 inch speaker on a divider. i had this made so that i can use a real speaker as a load while DI'ing my amps.if you either double or triple the length of that, it should be good enough starting point. if you can dedicate a whole closet, i'd think you'd be better off, though.
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Iso Box
Nov 21, 2006 17:07:40 GMT -7
Post by GuitarZ on Nov 21, 2006 17:07:40 GMT -7
I searched around on the internet for the Randall Isolation box and checked around with local music stores. I really wanted to try it before I bought it, but I found that there weren't a lot of options. I bought it from Musician's Friend for $399 with free shipping. It's not a great price and it's not a bad price considering that you get a Celestion Vintage 30 installed. I rearranged the internal mic mount, mounted a mini-boom, installed a shock-mount for the mic, dropped in an SM57 and called it a day. You don't get to mess around and go for that nice open room mic'd sound, but then again, I have a hard time finding that 'perfect' sound and I find I get more playing in by just plugging in and getting on with it. So, for me, this thing works great. I can crank my Maz any time of the night or day. It's not perfectly quiet when you're around the cabinet, but it does drop the decibel level a large amount. I threw this onto the sounds part of our forum. It's my Les Paul into the Maz and iso-cab: www.MikeZBand.com/music/Jam_in_C.mp3 And this is the Strat: www.MikeZBand.com/music/Torn_Apart_Kinmans.mp3
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swampstomper
Full Member
The only thing that really worried me was the ether.
Posts: 136
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Iso Box
Nov 23, 2006 21:14:02 GMT -7
Post by swampstomper on Nov 23, 2006 21:14:02 GMT -7
I searched around on the internet for the Randall Isolation box and checked around with local music stores. I really wanted to try it before I bought it, but I found that there weren't a lot of options. I bought it from Musician's Friend for $399 with free shipping. It's not a great price and it's not a bad price considering that you get a Celestion Vintage 30 installed. I rearranged the internal mic mount, mounted a mini-boom, installed a shock-mount for the mic, dropped in an SM57 and called it a day. You don't get to mess around and go for that nice open room mic'd sound, but then again, I have a hard time finding that 'perfect' sound and I find I get more playing in by just plugging in and getting on with it. So, for me, this thing works great. I can crank my Maz any time of the night or day. It's not perfectly quiet when you're around the cabinet, but it does drop the decibel level a large amount. I threw this onto the sounds part of our forum. It's my Les Paul into the Maz and iso-cab: www.MikeZBand.com/music/Jam_in_C.mp3 And this is the Strat: www.MikeZBand.com/music/Torn_Apart_Kinmans.mp3 Sounds very cool. I have a friend that is a cabinet man and I'll probably ask him what it would cost to build me a box similar to the Randall. I may want to experiment with a few different speakers in there. Thanks for your help.
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Iso Box
Nov 26, 2006 7:37:33 GMT -7
Post by GuitarZ on Nov 26, 2006 7:37:33 GMT -7
I was doing a little searching on the web this morning. I found new manufacturer for iso-boxes. They provide a good picture of the inside of their box. They have some nice looking 'normal' cabs too. Demeter has a decent picture of their box also. Beaver Bottoms makes guitar cabs and an iso-cab. www.beaverbottoms.com/PRODUCTS.HTM The place their speaker on a slanted baffle. The Demeter cabinet is similar, except the speaker appears to be on a horizontal baffle. www.demeteramps.com/products/cabinets/ssc1.html Demeter provides their dimensions right on the web page. It's 18 x 18 x 30. The Randall looks like the simplest design since it is basically a speaker in a box with a lid. I measured up the Randall and it measured 18 x18 x 33.
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Post by johanj on Jan 3, 2007 1:03:49 GMT -7
Hello
I am thinking of building an iso cab too, as i live in a flat here i London...
Just wondering what people's opinion are on how they sound? Do they sound like a real cabinet? It is obviously very subjective but it would be interesting to know what you guys think. Also, isn't there a huge problem with standing waves in these? I mean doesnt certain frequencies get extremely loud compared to others?
Cheers guys Johan
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Iso Box
Jan 5, 2007 18:35:40 GMT -7
Post by GuitarZ on Jan 5, 2007 18:35:40 GMT -7
Check out the mp3s a few responses above and judge for yourself.
At home, I plug into my Maz Jr, pop on the headphones, add a little reverb into the mix, and hear the sound that's in the mp3s.
Is it the sound I hear when I plug into my Maz and let its Greenback sing? No. It's not as loud, and I don't get that live speaker feel in the room. However, the good points are, it's not as loud and I don't get the shrillness from that live speaker sound in the room.
One thing: Realize that an IsoBox is not silent. If you're in a flat with neighbors, I don't think you'll get away with cranking a Maz Jr full bore at 3 in the morning. Although, if you kick in the AirBrake, you might.
It's a tough one. They're not cheap. I dove in and am extremely happy since my main focus is recording. In terms of recording, I now hear what I record.
There's a standing wave around a low Bb, B, and C. I keep meaning to get a notch filter equalizer to deal with it, but it never seems to bother me when I'm playing unless I decide to listen for it.
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Post by johanj on Jan 6, 2007 3:50:43 GMT -7
Hey!
Thanks for all the info. Yeah i realise its not gona be silent but there is no way I can record my 2x10 Ghia even during the day...just too loud! ;D
My kitchen is in this sort of wing where only above and below would be in direct contact with the room, and i figured if i put the box on say 3inch foam on the floor the bass wouldnt travel through the floor, but i dont really know... Tough decision cause it would involve a lot of hours building it and quite a bit of dosh to get the bits... Calculating round £170 finished...not sure how much that is in dollars...
Any opinion if the bass would go through the floor? Nice clips by the way! Les paul sounds killin!
Johan
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Post by GuitarZ on Jan 6, 2007 9:24:02 GMT -7
Regarding how the sound might be different, I ran a couple of spectrum graphs when I first got the cabinet. In the first link below, I compare the IsoBox directly to my Maz Jr combo. In the second, I'm comparing the Maz Jr to an Avatar cabinet. My message isn't so much that you can figure out what something might sound like from these, but more that just about everything will sound a little different. I was very surprised at the difference between my Maz's Celestion English-Made Greenback versus the Avatar's Celestion Chinese-Made Greenback. Is it the cabinet or is it the speaker? I don't know, & I don't want to take the trouble to swap them. I would argue that my best sounding combination is my Maz with its Greenback. It gives me a little something on the low end that the Avatar doesn't. Now I remember my other point. My original plan was to build an Iso-Closet in my basement and stuff my Avatar cabinet down there to replicate my Maz's combo sound. When I realized that the Avatar was going to sound different anyway, I figured I may was well try the Randall IsoCab and save myself some work and see how it works out. This probably also points out how maddening it can be to get the perfect, no, make that a great sound. But you know what, it sure can be fun trying when you start out with a Z. I think the roughness of the frequency responses also show that magic is probably more important than engineering perfection. www.MikeZBand.com/photos/IsoCabSpectrum.gifwww.MikeZBand.com/photos/GreenbackSpectrums.gif(If you have any trouble viewing these, expand them to their full size.)
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