Lets build that monster guitar amp for $250.00 or less.

[Steve Conner]

I think it's a great idea. I'm imagining a 4x12 that is actually four 1x12s, each with its own power amp, and comes apart into four sections like Lego bricks.

You can see how to add current feedback to the LM3886 in the Marshall Valvestate schematics.

Maybe "conservative" is a better word than "dense"?

[Ken Moon]

You people are spoiled. When I go to San Diego, which I do a couple of times a year for work, I can't wait to go to Fry's and look at all the components and stuff they have there.

I always go out with a handful of shrink tubing, a variety of cable-ties, rubber grommets, maybe a switch or two, some solder, maybe a new solder sucker.

In our city of about one million people (Jacksonville), we have Radio Shack. And UPS. And FedeX.

I'd move to San Diego, if I could afford it, in a minute (hey I love fish tacos and Ocean Beach too), and maybe after a couple of years I'd be right there with you guys dissing Fry's - you spoiled little brats, you

[R.G.]

I think it's a great idea. I'm imagining a 4x12 that is actually four 1x12s, each with its own power amp, and comes apart into four sections like Lego bricks.

That's the ticket. Each speaker gets its own power amp/power supply and a line level feed of what to put out.

The design objectives shift when you think about speakers and amps this way. The speaker becomes the dominating factor, and you make the enclosure and power amp match the speaker. If you are using 100W speakers, you could use either a 50W or 100W amp in the enclosure. Vintage 30s might have only a 25-30W amp inside (or a power limiter circuit added). A 100W based on two LM3886s in bridge is pretty simple to get 100W per box.

And the mechanical stacking gets to being important. Yes, package them so they top- and side-stack. Then you can use as many as you need. And if you've optimized per speaker, you can pick out the speakers you want for tone to match the venue/style of music.

I'm imagining an Nx12 made of 1x12s.

It's probably a concept that's only useful to a real professional touring musician, but it's a proven concept in PA work, where you have to get up to 10kW to 50kW for some venues.

It may be even more useful for a bass player. A bass player typically needs 10X the power that a guitarist does for the same venue. Maybe an Nx15.

[Chuck H]

Yup. Bass players could greatly benefit from a system like this. I'm picturing a powered 15 cab, square front 24"x24" and powered 10 cabs at 12"x12", all stackable and with switchable -3db rolloff points. High rolloff for the 15 and low for the 10. You can add them to your exsisting rig or use them with the affordable preamp sold by the same company. One amp "line" to match any budget but can be built and used for any size venue from bedroom to stadium with whatever combination of 10's and 15's a player preferes.

Not unlike what Fender tried with their PS bass amps decades ago but a lot more affordable and refined. May actually sell now a days with differences in home speaker technology and modular systems of other use becoming more common. Oh no, Those lurking techs on their lunch breaks, I can hear them in the walls.

[Albert Kreuzer]

It may be even more useful for a bass player. A bass player typically needs 10X the power that a guitarist does for the same venue. Maybe an Nx15.

Mmmh... I've always dreamed of that 2000W 8x15"

[Chuck H]

The only drawback I can see for the DIYer is having to make all those speaker cabinets. That's if you were making the modular type design.

2000 watts and 8x15's !!! You'll put your eye out kid ... Or stop your heart

[R.G.]

I've always maintained that the electronics is the simplest, easiest part of any musical setup. What's hard is the chassis, enclosures, speaker boxes, etc.

Even that gets easier with modularity. If you can setup a tool and cut a bunch of stuff to size with one tool setting, it gets a lot easier. For instance:

If all your speaker cabs are 12" front to back. Set up the table saw to make a 12" wide cut and run a sheet of plywood through four times. Do that with another sheet. And another... When you have enough linear length to make all the tops, bottoms, and sides, set the saw to cut the length of the top/bottom pieces and run through some of the previously-cut stock. Ditto sides. The actual tool time in making one of anything is eaten up in setting up for the cut. Once you have the setup, making many cuts is very quick.

A factory setup would set the saw, run enough stock for a zillion cabs, set it for tops, set it for sides, etc. Or use three saws. This reduces the time per piece to just the time to cut the saw kerf.

[mooreamps]

I thought Bass players only liked the 10 inch speakers..

-g

[Chuck H]

Nah. I've known a lot of guys who like a 2x15 or what Peavey use to call their 1520 cabinet, which was a 15 and two 10's. Best small to medium gig bass cabinet I know of. Even real bassy 10's can't touch what a bass guitar is actually doing. You just plain need a bigger speaker for that.

[Albert Kreuzer]

2000 watts and 8x15's !!! You'll put your eye out kid ... Or stop your heart

Shake, Rattle & Roll!

[Steve Conner]

The funny thing is, I'm sure I remember this being done again recently. Bergantino had their "IP" series powered bass cabinets with 1kW of Class-D amplification in each.
Bowlus Bass Blog: Bergantino "Intelligent" Powered Cabs (IP Series)

Maybe musicians really are dense after all.

[J M Fahey]

If you *can* use a 100W tube head, you *can* use a 300W SS one in the same stage, because the first one will be used clipping to achieve that beautiful sound, and the second one will have to carefully amplify whatever is fed into it (reamping, good pedals, POD variants, PCs running Revalver or Guitar Rig, whatever) without *ever* clipping on its own.
Both systems will provide approximately the same maximum useful sound pressure, with the same speakers.
The SS solution *may* be cheaper and lighter, although the speaker part will be the main bulk and weight in each system.
Of course, if anything over 18 W gets you thrown out of the club, the SS "solution" is not needed .
Although a Champ or AX84, reamped with an LM3886 into a good guitar speaker might be interesting too.
And you could easily tame it down to bedroom levels.