Celestion F12-X200

sprint said:
I was thinking of making a pair from the build plan they have on the Celestion site. I'm not an experienced woodworker so not too sure if I can build to an acceptable spec level, and man - could not believe the price of a sheet of 2'x4' birch over at home depotšŸ˜³
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Yeah I know...I cannibalized an old poker table made out of 4x8 18mm birch for one of my cabs to save money. Sucked tho cuz it was oval shaped so it made cutting square details ALOT more involved since I was only using a 10" contractor table saw. Did saved me 70 dollars but added time to the build.
Here's a pic of the off-fall from the poker table.IMG_20210319_181705972.jpg
 
sprint said:
I was thinking of making a pair from the build plan they have on the Celestion site. I'm not an experienced woodworker so not too sure if I can build to an acceptable spec level, and man - could not believe the price of a sheet of 2'x4' birch over at home depotšŸ˜³
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You don't have to be a great woodworker to build these, but you'd at least have to have the means to cut the plywood straight, i.e., either on a table saw, or via clamping or screwing a straightedge to the plywood, and using a circular saw. But if you do it that way, your saw blade needs to be exactly parallel to the saw table (base of the saw), or it won't ride properly against the straightedge. I work with carpenters whose saw tracks crooked, because its been dropped one too many times.

You'd also need a drill/driver, and a good countersink bit. Plus, you'd obviously want to see how the parts cost stacks up to a pre-built cab. The cost of Birch these days will definitely affect that. (I'm getting mine as leftover pieces from a job I'm doing right now, so I got lucky!)
 
TSJMajesty said:
You don't have to be a great woodworker to build these, but you'd at least have to have the means to cut the plywood straight, i.e., either on a table saw, or via clamping or screwing a straightedge to the plywood, and using a circular saw. But if you do it that way, your saw blade needs to be exactly parallel to the saw table (base of the saw), or it won't ride properly against the straightedge. I work with carpenters whose saw tracks crooked, because its been dropped one too many times.

You'd also need a drill/driver, and a good countersink bit. Plus, you'd obviously want to see how the parts cost stacks up to a pre-built cab. The cost of Birch these days will definitely affect that. (I'm getting mine as leftover pieces from a job I'm doing right now, so I got lucky!)
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I soooo wish I had a good track saw for cutting down sheet material.
 
Justincase said:
Sucked tho cuz it was oval shaped so it made cutting square details ALOT more involved
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Nah. ;) You just drill a couple holes in your framing square so you can attach it to the wood, then make 2 right angle cuts using the square as a guide. Then use those 2 edges against the fence of your table saw to make the other 2 cuts. Course you'd need a circular saw and a framing square...
 
Justincase said:
I soooo wish I had a good track saw for cutting down sheet material.
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Dude, I do this stuff for a living, and I buy good quality tools. But even I can't justify the cost of a track saw, vs. using my 2" x 1/4" x 8' piece of aluminum straightedge. I'd have to be building cabinets day in and day out to be able to drop the money on one of those.
 
TSJMajesty said:
Nah. ;) You just drill a couple holes in your framing square so you can attach it to the wood, then make 2 right angle cuts using the square as a guide. Then use those 2 edges against the fence of your table saw to make the other 2 cuts. Course you'd need a circular saw and a framing square...
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Only circular saw I got is a shitty Ryobi with a horrible shoe and my neighbor left his good skill at the job so I was forced to break it down close and carefully use the miter on the table saw to get a square corner and go from there.
 
Justincase said:
Only circular saw I got is a shitty Ryobi with a horrible shoe and my neighbor left his good skill at the job so I was forced to break it down close and carefully use the miter on the table saw to get a square corner and go from there.
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Yeah, that would be a bit rough (no pun intended.) Lowe's has a 30-day return policy. :p
 
TSJMajesty said:
You don't have to be a great woodworker to build these, but you'd at least have to have the means to cut the plywood straight, i.e., either on a table saw, or via clamping or screwing a straightedge to the plywood, and using a circular saw. But if you do it that way, your saw blade needs to be exactly parallel to the saw table (base of the saw), or it won't ride properly against the straightedge. I work with carpenters whose saw tracks crooked, because its been dropped one too many times.

You'd also need a drill/driver, and a good countersink bit. Plus, you'd obviously want to see how the parts cost stacks up to a pre-built cab. The cost of Birch these days will definitely affect that. (I'm getting mine as leftover pieces from a job I'm doing right now, so I got lucky!)
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Thanks for the encouragement - I did some flooring at home here recently and had to "improvise" a table saw to cut a piece of moulding
too long for the chopsaw - maybe I have what it takes!!
1625965339215.png
 
sprint said:
Thanks for the encouragement - I did some flooring at home here recently and had to "improvise" a table saw to cut a piece of moulding
too long for the chopsaw - maybe I have what it takes!!
View attachment 85867
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You got it! That's watchya do.
If you decide to make those cabs, understand you'll need to cut the plywood in both directions, i.e., parallel to its length as well as its width. When you do, the cut that goes across the grain will splinter along the bottom edge, (EDIT: using a table saw; it's opposite when using a circular saw) (and possibly very slightly on the top edge, but that easily sands out. The bottom takes more effort.) How badly depends on the saw blade. It's not a problem as long as you plan for those edges to face inwards, and plan to use the factory edges in the most visible locations. (And depending on how you plan to finish the cabs, it may not matter at all. Just know that it will happen to some degree or another.) Straight cuts will most likely affect the sound, due to ensuring tight-fitting joints; splintering won't, so you may not even care.

I just had to do this yesterday on some Birch I'm using to make some rich guy a 5-shelf cubby for his shoes, lol, and I use a 24 tooth ATB blade in my circular saw, and it gives very little tear-out. They make blades specifically for cutting plywood, but I don't use them, cuz that's all they're good for.
 
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Justincase said:
They still sound and feel great at bedroom levels. Better than my Yamaha hs50m studio monitors or my Headrush FRFR12s. I really love the way they feel and interact with the guitar at high volumes tho.
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Iā€™m coming from tube amps and just bought my FM3. Really looking to maintain that ā€œamp in the roomā€ feel. Would I be crazy to start with the F12 to use at bedroom level volumes instead of buying studio monitors to play through or is that a bad idea.
 
RosettaStoned said:
Iā€™m coming from tube amps and just bought my FM3. Really looking to maintain that ā€œamp in the roomā€ feel. Would I be crazy to start with the F12 to use at bedroom level volumes instead of buying studio monitors to play through or is that a bad idea.
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My Yamaha monitors definitely do not have that amp in the room feel. Neither do my two Headrush FRFR12s. Don't get me wrong...they sound great but since getting the F12s I only use them for backing tracks and drum machine. The F12s freaking rock. It only cost me $650 to build two cabs and get a cheap amp that sounds and feels sooo much better.
 
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Hi guys,

I hope you're all well. I managed to get a Zilla cab that's built to use with the F12 on Reverb for a really good price. It turned up today and I've plugged everything in and so far so good. I'm using it with a PowerStage 170.

It sounds pretty good so far but I've noticed a little issue especially with my clean tones. It sounds like it's slightly distorting when an open string or chords are ringing. Sort of like a fuzz underneath but not. I've tried it with the FM3 and the Axe III and both sound the same.

It's hard to explain lol. I'm thinking it could be the PowerStage 170 not giving enough headroom. I seem to remember reading a similar post on here and the forum member was using a Powerstation that was only 50 watts.

Are any of you using the PT 170 with this speaker? If so are you getting the same issue?
 
Paulg2uk said:
Hi guys,

I hope you're all well. I managed to get a Zilla cab that's built to use with the F12 on Reverb for a really good price. It turned up today and I've plugged everything in and so far so good. I'm using it with a PowerStage 170.

It sounds pretty good so far but I've noticed a little issue especially with my clean tones. It sounds like it's slightly distorting when an open string or chords are ringing. Sort of like a fuzz underneath but not. I've tried it with the FM3 and the Axe III and both sound the same.

It's hard to explain lol. I'm thinking it could be the PowerStage 170 not giving enough headroom. I seem to remember reading a similar post on here and the forum member was using a Powerstation that was only 50 watts.

Are any of you using the PT 170 with this speaker? If so are you getting the same issue?
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Do you hear that distortion in headphones, or studio monitors, or another amp and speaker setup, whatever you have available?
 
Dave Merrill said:
Do you hear that distortion in headphones, or studio monitors, or another amp and speaker setup, whatever you have available?
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I don't no, I have a couple of Red Sound MF10's and they work fine on the same output I've plugged the PowerStage into. And so do my studio monitors they work fine as well. Very strange don't you think?
 
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What's the wattage of your amp? I believe you need to be driving those speakers with somewhere around 400-500 watts, to have enough headroom, but don't quote me on that (I plan to do more research after I build my cabs, to decide on which power amp to purchase.)
 
Paulg2uk said:
I don't no, I have a couple of Red Sound MF10's and they work fine on the same output I've plugged the PowerStage into. And so do my studio monitors they work fine as well. Very strange don't you think?
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If you turn the volume way down does the distortion go away? That'd be the most obvious indication that they're underpowered.
 
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