Custom Mahogany 2X12 Cabinet Speaker Choices:

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Inspector #20

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The goal was to find a 2x12 that would fit in the trunk of my car. The DSL40C fits and measures 25.75 Wide X 20" Tall by 10.5" Deep. I looked at nearly every available option, but almost all were made from crappy - and heavy - particle board. I ended up going with a custom speaker box made by a guy in Hayward, California. It measures 26.75" Wide X 21" Tall X 10.5" Deep, so it can easily be laid down flat in my trunk in the same manner that I have been transporting my DSL40C daily.. The open-back 2x12 cabinet is made from lightweight marine-grade mahogany with finger-joint construction methodology, covered in black Tolex with wheat grillecloth. Empty weigh is only 25 pounds with a recessed leather handle and speaker jack plate installed.

2X12 Cabinet VonHerndon-Marshall - Small.jpg

The next goal is keeping the weight as low as possible. All the speakers that I currently have on hand - except for one - range in weigh from 6.5 pounds (Celestion 70/80) to the 10.0 pound WGS Reaper 55Hz. On the other hand, I have one, brand new 12" Jensen Jet Tornado, 100 watt, 16 ohm speaker with a 98.3db rating. It weighs right at 4 pounds.

I began searching for a companion speaker. The Eminence Lil' Texas and Tonkerlite were both considered, as was the Celestion G12 Neo. The problem is, the 16 ohm versions of some speakers are not that easy to find.

In the end, it looks like either the Lil' Texas or the Creamback neo.

The Eminence Lil' Texas is about $75.00 less than the Creamback Neo.

Here are the specs on the Creamback Neo:


Nominal diameter
12", 305mm
Power rating
60W
Nominal impedance
8Ω & 16Ω
Sensitivity
97dB
Chassis type
Pressed steel
Voice coil diameter
1.75", 44.5mm
Magnet type
Neodymium
Frequency range
75-5000Hz
Resonance frequency, Fs
75Hz
DC resistance, Re
6.6Ω & 13.1Ω
Voice coil former material
Round copper

And these are the specs on the Eminence Lil' Texas

Power Rating**
Watts125 W
Music ProgramN/A
Resonance90 Hz
Usable Frequency Range80 Hz - 5 kHz
Sensitivity***101.2 dB
Magnet Weight4 oz.
Gap Height0.28", 7.1 mm
Voice Coil Diameter2", 51 mm
THIELE & SMALL PARAMETERS
Resonant Frequency (fs)90 Hz
DC Resistance (Re)7.2 Ω
Coil Inductance (Le)0.42m H
Mechanical Q (Qms)11.29
Electromagnetic Q (Qes)0.69
Total Q (Qts)0.65
Compliance Equivalent Volume (Vas)43.3 liters / 1.53 cu.ft.
Peak Diaphragm Displacement Volume (Vd)66 cc
Mechanical Compliance of Suspension (Cms)0.11 mm/N
BL Product (BL)12.8 T-M
Diaphragm Mass Inc. Airload (MMs)28 grams
Efficiency Bandwidth Product (EBP)130
Maximum Linear Excursion (Xmax)1.27 mm
Surface Area of Cone (Sd)519.5 cm2


Anyone have actual experience with either speaker??? The Neo Celestion is a good "fit" but I don't like pairing speakers with huge power rating differences - in this case, 100watts vs. 60 watts.
 
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This is a very cool project, and it will be interesting where you go with this.

IMO, comparing the specs on paper of different brand of speakers is a crapshoot: Speaker Brand A analyzes their products differently from Speaker Brand B. In the data you posted, if the sensitivity ratings are accurate, a 4.2 dB difference between two speakers is huge... really huge! From personal experience, a 3 dB difference is huge! Be prepared to play a lot of musical chairs if auditioning between two different speaker brands.

Why did you select mahogany for the cab? I'm assuming that pine would be a lighter, yet very resonant wood cabinet.

And another IMO... The cabinet's nameplate would look better and less confusing if you drop the "Marshall" off of it. Just having "VonHerndon" on it would look much more special... :cool:
 
Robert Herndon said:
The goal was to find a 2x12 that would fit in the trunk of my car. The DSL40C fits and measures 25.75 Wide X 20" Tall by 10.5" Deep. I looked at nearly every available option, but almost all were made from crappy - and heavy - particle board. I ended up going with a custom speaker box made by a guy in Hayward, California. It measures 26.75" Wide X 21" Tall X 10.5" Deep, so it can easily be laid down flat in my trunk in the same manner that I have been transporting my DSL40C daily.. The open-back 2x12 cabinet is made from lightweight marine-grade mahogany with finger-joint construction methodology, covered in black Tolex with wheat grillecloth. Empty weigh is only 25 pounds with a recessed leather handle and speaker jack plate installed.

View attachment 48593

The next goal is keeping the weight as low as possible. All the speakers that I currently have on hand - except for one - range in weigh from 6.5 pounds (Celestion 70/80) to the 10.0 pound WGS Reaper 55Hz. On the other hand, I have one, brand new 12" Jensen Jet Tornado, 100 watt, 16 ohm speaker with a 98.3db rating. It weighs right at 4 pounds.

I began searching for a companion speaker. The Eminence Lil' Texas and Tonkerlite were both considered, as was the Celestion G12 Neo. The problem is, the 16 ohm versions of some speakers are not that easy to find.

In the end, it looks like either the Lil' Texas or the Creamback neo.

The Eminence Lil' Texas is about $75.00 less than the Creamback Neo.

Here are the specs on the Creamback Neo:


Nominal diameter
12", 305mm
Power rating
60W
Nominal impedance
8Ω & 16Ω
Sensitivity
97dB
Chassis type
Pressed steel
Voice coil diameter
1.75", 44.5mm
Magnet type
Neodymium
Frequency range
75-5000Hz
Resonance frequency, Fs
75Hz
DC resistance, Re
6.6Ω & 13.1Ω
Voice coil former material
Round copper

And these are the specs on the Eminence Lil' Texas

Power Rating**
Watts125 W
Music ProgramN/A
Resonance90 Hz
Usable Frequency Range80 Hz - 5 kHz
Sensitivity***101.2 dB
Magnet Weight4 oz.
Gap Height0.28", 7.1 mm
Voice Coil Diameter2", 51 mm
THIELE & SMALL PARAMETERS
Resonant Frequency (fs)90 Hz
DC Resistance (Re)7.2 Ω
Coil Inductance (Le)0.42m H
Mechanical Q (Qms)11.29
Electromagnetic Q (Qes)0.69
Total Q (Qts)0.65
Compliance Equivalent Volume (Vas)43.3 liters / 1.53 cu.ft.
Peak Diaphragm Displacement Volume (Vd)66 cc
Mechanical Compliance of Suspension (Cms)0.11 mm/N
BL Product (BL)12.8 T-M
Diaphragm Mass Inc. Airload (MMs)28 grams
Efficiency Bandwidth Product (EBP)130
Maximum Linear Excursion (Xmax)1.27 mm
Surface Area of Cone (Sd)519.5 cm2


Anyone have actual experience with either speaker??? The Neo Celestion is a good "fit" but I don't like pairing speakers with huge power rating differences - in this case, 100watts vs. 60 watts.
Click to expand...
Looks great Robert, I agree with @syscokid on the nameplate.

Looks - wise pure class. Like your playing!

Here's a couple I had built by Sourmash for my heads, a 1x12 and a 2x12.

IMG_20200910_091027.jpg
 
syscokid said:
This is a very cool project, and it will be interesting where you go with this.

IMO, comparing the specs on paper of different brand of speakers is a crapshoot: Speaker Brand A analyzes their products differently from Speaker Brand B. In the data you posted, if the sensitivity ratings are accurate, a 4.2 dB difference between two speakers is huge... really huge! From personal experience, a 3 dB difference is huge! Be prepared to play a lot of musical chairs if auditioning between two different speaker brands.

Why did you select mahogany for the cab? I'm assuming that pine would be a lighter, yet very resonant wood cabinet.

And another IMO... The cabinet's nameplate would look better and less confusing if you drop the "Marshall" off of it. Just having "VonHerndon" on it would look much more special... :cool:
Click to expand...

There are some very light varieties of mahogany and the builder recommended it when I requested a lightweight cabinet.

The nameplate was an inside joke to poke fun at one of my studio colleagues that works with a real "Kitchen-Marshall" head.
 
@syscokid - after really looking closely at the specs, i must agree with you that the 'dB variation makes this Eminence not a good choice.

So, the Jensen at 97.3db and the Neo Creamback at 97db look best on paper, but what about mixing the 100watt Jensen with a 60watt Creamback???
 
syscokid said:
This is a very cool project, and it will be interesting where you go with this.

IMO, comparing the specs on paper of different brand of speakers is a crapshoot: Speaker Brand A analyzes their products differently from Speaker Brand B. In the data you posted, if the sensitivity ratings are accurate, a 4.2 dB difference between two speakers is huge... really huge! From personal experience, a 3 dB difference is huge! Be prepared to play a lot of musical chairs if auditioning between two different speaker brands.

Why did you select mahogany for the cab? I'm assuming that pine would be a lighter, yet very resonant wood cabinet.

And another IMO... The cabinet's nameplate would look better and less confusing if you drop the "Marshall" off of it. Just having "VonHerndon" on it would look much more special... :cool:
Click to expand...

For sure. The sensitivity rating doesn't really tell the story - remember, they rate these things using white noise, not a guitar signal, so the actual response curve can get really exaggerated at certain frequencies when you are actually playing through it (think about a Greenback: on paper it's a low-sensitivity speaker, but when you play through them the mids are very forward and seem louder than the ratings would imply). As with just about everything in the electric guitar universe, the only way to be sure something is going to work is to use it with your rig with you playing through it. May work, may not, but the specs never tell the whole story IME.

As for hardwood cabs, I have owned a couple and never been in love with them. I personally don't want my cabs to be resonant at all, just a platform and enclosure for the speaker(s), and there always seems to be some or another resonant freq that gets emphasized with hardwood that's tough to EQ out. Baltic Birch plywood is the best cabinet material I have used, basically it seems to be completely sonically neutral. I wouldn't spend found money on an MDF cab.

Total agreement with the nameplate comment too.
 
We used a lot of hardwood cabs over the years. For me, I will take anything over particle board. I think I'm inclined to just throw this 4.4 pound Neodymium Jensen Jet Tornado 100watt in with a 6.4 pound Celestion 70/80, just to get the cabinet up and running ASAP, then work out a better combination of speakers at a later date.

I may not even put a nameplate on this cabinet...I'm just thinking outloud.
 
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