Passive Radiator

[MusicStudent1]

Those small bass amps were never meant to produce solid low end. They are made to provide a little volume for your bedroom practice sessions. You are not likely to find one that is a tone monster. I built a lot of those little buggers in my 10 years at St. Louis Music (Crate and Ampeg). Even the little Ampeg amps really don't sound all that great. They are limited by size and power.

Bass frequencies require air movement, and that requires power. Even if you use the chassis to power a larger cabinet, while the tone will definitely get fatter, you still won't have enough power to move the air necessary to get solid fundamental tones at any kind of volume.

No way - you built Crate amps?! I have very fond memories of Crate. For me, they were very ‘80s. They were in all the guitar shops, they were pretty loud (good for playing Quiet Riot songs with, lol) and they were fairly inexpensive.

You are correct about everything you stated. This will just be a low cost project for practice and maybe recording.

Last year, I built a wired stereo enclosure for my iPad out of a $20.00 wine box and used two $4.00 speakers and a $20.00 amp. I plugged in my iPad and played some subwoofer bass demos...you wouldn’t believe the bass response. Too loud, and the voice coils will burn out but at a low volume, the bass is ridiculous. The box is sealed and the little 4” speakers don’t move that much but somehow the bass is there! (Just not very loud).

That little project sort of inspired me. Heck, I could just plug my bass into it and see how it sounds, come to think of it but I’d rather make the next one a tad bigger and power it with my bass amp.