Old 05-22-2019, 01:19 PM   #1
toleolu
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Default Sound Enclosure For An Amp?

I've got a 15 Watt Fender BassBreaker tube amp that I would like to mic for recording, but my neighbors would bitch if I did.

Can an enclosure be built that will significantly dampen the sound but not adversely affect the acoustics around the amp?

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Old 05-22-2019, 01:25 PM   #2
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a) You can edit the title of the post to correct the typo

b) Try Google. I looked for "acoustic enclosure for a guitar amp" and found many you can buy and directions for building your own.
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Old 05-22-2019, 01:43 PM   #3
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I used the closet in my music room as my box for isolation, but for a twin twelve inch open back guitar speaker cabinet. The amp top and FX are all in the main room, and when recording or just playing what I hear is all coming out of my studio monitors.

That arrangement also makes it so you are always mic'd up and ready to record at the drop of a hat. I use a bass amp/speaker modeling pedal for my basses normally, but have run them through the guitar setup a few times when I wanted a more pure mic'd sound that is more like the old Fender Bassman sound.
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Old 05-22-2019, 01:54 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Glennbo View Post
I used the closet in my music room as my box for isolation, but for a twin twelve inch open back guitar speaker cabinet. The amp top and FX are all in the main room, and when recording or just playing what I hear is all coming out of my studio monitors.

That arrangement also makes it so you are always mic'd up and ready to record at the drop of a hat. I use a bass amp/speaker modeling pedal for my basses normally, but have run them through the guitar setup a few times when I wanted a more pure mic'd sound that is more like the old Fender Bassman sound.
I've got a closet in the man cave but it's got sliding glass doors. Maybe put something on the floor for isolation and then hang something like those blankets movers wrap around furniture.

I priced some of the manufactured cabinets online, damn!!! Plus shipping here to Hawaii will probably cost almost as much as the enclosure.
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Old 05-22-2019, 02:02 PM   #5
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It's going to change the tone to some extent because even close-mic'd the mic picks-up some room sound.


Of course, there are lots of amp sims (amp/cabinet simulator plug-ins). One big advantage of sims is that you can probably afford the sim of your dreams (and/or multiple sims) even if you can't afford the amp of your dreams.


Or, you might be able to get-away with reamping. With reamping you just need to run one good take through the amp so it's over quickly and you can do it at a time when it's least-likely to disturb anyone.
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Old 05-22-2019, 02:03 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lunker View Post
a) You can edit the title of the post to correct the typo
Done.

Thanks.
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Old 05-22-2019, 02:09 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by toleolu View Post
I've got a 15 Watt Fender BassBreaker tube amp that I would like to mic for recording, but my neighbors would bitch if I did.

Can an enclosure be built that will significantly dampen the sound but not adversely affect the acoustics around the amp?
Wait till they are mowing the lawn, then crank it up !
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Old 05-22-2019, 02:10 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DVDdoug View Post
It's going to change the tone to some extent because even close-mic'd the mic picks-up some room sound.


Of course, there are lots of amp sims (amp/cabinet simulator plug-ins).


Or, you might be able to get-away with reamping. With reamping you just need to run one good take through the amp so it's over quickly and you can do it at a time when it's least-likely to disturb anyone.
Yes, that's one of the things I was thinking about with putting the amp in the closet is how the sound reflecting inside the closet will affect things. But I would think there's some kind of treatment for that.

As far as plugins go, I've got the Boogex plugin and it's pretty good, the thing is though, I've got over 600 dollars tied up in this amp and I hate just seeing it sitting there collecting dust. Plus, on the times I've been able to take it somewhere where I could crank it up, it sounds freakin awesome!!!!
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Old 05-22-2019, 02:13 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Coachz View Post
Wait till they are mowing the lawn, then crank it up !
Too funny!!!

Unfortunately I live in, what we call here in Hawaii, a condo community, which is basically just a fancy name for an apartment complex. I'm surrounded by neighbors and the maintenance crew only mows around once a week.

I'm liking the closet idea though, plus most of the neighbors are working during the day so it's not like it has to be totally silent.
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Old 05-22-2019, 02:48 PM   #10
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See the attached. Sorry don't know how to embed things on the forum.

This might work!!!!

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Old 05-22-2019, 04:15 PM   #11
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Aww to hell with it. Not worth the trouble.

Guess I'll just go back to using the Boogex plugin. Damn!!!!

Anybody wanna buy and amp and a couple of microphones?? Ha Ha, just kidding.
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Old 05-23-2019, 11:35 AM   #12
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So after a bunch of messing around, I think I've come up with a workaround.

Still using the line in from the amp, but then I use the Boogex plugin for the cabinet emulation. Pretty much turn off all the other plugin features and just use the cab emulation.
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Old 05-23-2019, 02:28 PM   #13
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They make dummy speakers that act as a power soak for tubes and also provide direct line out for recording.
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Old 05-23-2019, 03:20 PM   #14
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They make dummy speakers that act as a power soak for tubes and also provide direct line out for recording.
Yeah, an attenuator would let you get that sweet power tube distortion, which the line out won't do.

Why'd you give up on the closetbox?
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Old 05-23-2019, 03:58 PM   #15
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Thanks Fox and Reason.

Pipeline turned me on to NadIR's Ignite Amps and I downloaded a bunch of cabinet IR files so actually that's working out pretty well. So I'm back to using the amp direct in with that plugin.

Still gonna keep an eye out for an enclosure of some type though.
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Old 05-23-2019, 05:45 PM   #16
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Honestly, I get much better results from good IR files than I ever have from cabinets and mics. Plus the mics and rooms that they typically use are way beyond my means, so it's not that surprising.
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Old 05-23-2019, 06:10 PM   #17
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Yeah, have to admit I was pretty impressed.

I found this download that had a bunch of free files, gonna play around with them until I find the ones I really like then I'll look around to buy some. Redwire looks pretty good, but damn, they're proud of that package.

Liking the Marshall and the Mesa cabs so far.
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Old 05-23-2019, 07:28 PM   #18
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Using an attenuated amp through a cab impulse isn't all that. A moving speaker that is working in it's own sweet spot is a big part of an amp's overall sound. An impulse is just a snapshot of a speaker, not the full range of what a speaker does. The sound of a speaker changes drastically at different volumes, including volume changes due to playing dynamics. And who knows at what volume that the impulse was taken and whether it even correlates (statically) to a speaker working in it's sweet spot (dynamically). But if you are pushing high gain chugga chugga playing, it probably doesn't matter so much because the amp is already ultra compressed.
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Old 05-23-2019, 08:03 PM   #19
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Speakers are way more linear than I previously believed. There are some pretty intense papers out there showing just that.

Even if we were to be EXTREMELY generous and give a 5% deviation from linear (which is nowhere near how close an impulse will actually null with its live chain), you would never in a billion years come close to even being within that tolerance in 99.9% of the rooms, mics and signal chains most people have access to.
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Old 05-23-2019, 08:06 PM   #20
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If anyone remembers the actual physical pipelineaudio location, we had those two giant amp coffins, 7' high x 8' wide x 5' deep, with 4" of 703 all along the inside.

Pretty much sounded like tubby crap, but we did get some cool sounds out of there from time to time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XWKfJWR0hA
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Old 05-23-2019, 08:52 PM   #21
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Quote:
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Speakers are way more linear than I previously believed. There are some pretty intense papers out there showing just that.

Even if we were to be EXTREMELY generous and give a 5% deviation from linear (which is nowhere near how close an impulse will actually null with its live chain), you would never in a billion years come close to even being within that tolerance in 99.9% of the rooms, mics and signal chains most people have access to.
My experience with guitar speakers tells me just the opposite. Turn down an amp to speaking volume (tube or solid state) and a British style speaker will have much more high frequency detail in balance with the rest of the spectrum. And as you turn it up, the speaker will compress more, and the mids will dominate the spectrum. But that isn't always true. Some American style speakers sound dull and don't wake up until they are pushed. And both benefit in sound from being pushed, as long as you aren't pushing too hard. Unfortunately, you likely won't know until you damage a speaker or more. And an attenuator can be very useful for that, allowing to dial an amp's sweet spot to a speaker's sweet spot.
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