Sound Demo and Review of this Roll up Drum Kit bought from eBay

 I bought this roll up drum kit from eBay ages ago. It's just now that I wrote a blog about it. The unit came with a pair of sticks but it's shorter than the regular sticks, the drum pad itself, two pedals and USB cable. You'll need to use your old phone charger to connect the USB cable. 

Even though this roll up drum kit looks like a toy or for kids, it still got a very decent sounds when plugged in to a speaker. 

Watch the video so you can hear and see the drum pad in action. 

Share your thoughts and if you own one of this, share your experience and reaction on the comment section below. Cheers!

DIY guitar speaker cabinet made of wooden wine box

 

I am very novice to this DIY but I still did it. So, I got an old DIY guitar speaker cabinet that was already built when I bought on eBay. It's working and it's fine. I've gigged with it and used it many times during rehearsals. Until I ask ChatGPT about this particular speaker cab. So I gave the specs especially the measurement of the cabinet and the size of the speaker which is 10 inch. ChatGPT said that the cabinet is small or slim for the speaker size. And that's when I decided to build a different speaker cabinet. 

Now being new to this, I bought a battery powered cordless drill because I know I will be needing it for my planned speaker cabinet. Then because of the price, I had an idea of buying a used wine box on eBay which is really cheap to convert it into a guitar speaker cab. Sounds like a good plan isnt it?

I put everything into pieces using the old stuff from the old speaker cab that I got. And, it didnt take long, I managed to finish it. And to my excitement, I went and tested it. Then that's when the disappointment starts to kick in. It sounded different, boxy, thin, and trebly. I lost the low end and volume with this cabinet. 

So I asked ChatGPT for help. And immediately when I mentioned the wine box plus I uploaded a photo of the finished wine box speaker cab. ChatGPT said it's not a good idea for a speaker cabinet because first of all it is slim. Typical wine box is between 10-12 mm versus the thickness that's required for a guitar speaker cab is around 15-18 mm. Then there's some unnecessary holes that was seen on the photo. ChatGPT said it should be air-tight. But I didnt listen or get what it meant. I though it meant the tiny holes around the speaker front panel and then the winebox itself where it's been put together using small nails. 

So I asked chatGPT for solution and it was like an easy fix. To put bracing, damping material and seal the holes as well as the edges where the top, sides and back are joined. So I did what ChatGPT said. I ordered a wood glue and polyester damping material. Did my homework and start putting things together. I renovated the winebox speaker cabinet using my old cab and just used whatever wood and materials in there. Technically, I sort of disassembled the old cab and glued them inside the wine box.

Then after I finished, I tested it. It's better but not perfect. It's because I left the gap on top of the speaker front panel baffle which is about 2-3cm. I thought like guitar cab got semi open back or open back and this should work better because it's on the front. But no. ChatGPT said, it should be air tight or solid on the front panel. 

Now I had hardtime on what to cover it and what to do. Until the stripped the remaining leather cover of my old cab. And that's what I used to cover the gap plus I put damping material on that leather. And guess what, it made a unique effect to the sound of my cab. It sounded loud, tight and bassy. I can't explain it in words but I love it. It sounded great now. 

When you watch the video, watch til the end of even just skip and go towards the end of the video. That's where you can hear the sound of the speaker cab and the camera was up close to it and it's on the floor tilted using my folding guitar stand. 

Leave in the comments section and share your thoughts on this one. May be this could be another innovation in the speaker cabinet assembling. 

Rotosound JK-10 Jumbo King gauge 10 acoustic guitar string set sound test

 Rotosound JK-10 Jumbo King gauge 10 acoustic guitar string set, I think is an underrated acoustic guitar strings. I've been using mostly D' Addario and Earthwood string set for my Fender DG60CE. I've tried super light gauge, etc. But this gauge 10 by RotoSound is just the right fit. It's considered extra light but still sounds thick and crispy. 

The other thing I noticed is that after I installed it, it didnt take so much time to adjust the tuning. Mostly you need to stretch the strings. But this one it was fine as soon as I put it. May be just a little bit after I tuned it to standard tuning. Then usually the following day, the strings will be out of tune. But this one stayed in tune. 

I think Im loving the RotoSound strings at the moment and may be one day soon, they will sponsor me hahaha. 

Leave in the comments section guys your experience using this strings. Cheers!

Subzero G110 Unloaded speaker cab and HH Invader 10

 Before we head straight to the speaker cabinet, let me tell you a back story of why I ended up building this guitar speaker cabinet. 

So I have a Vox MV50AC mini amp head and it's obviously paired with the Vox BC108. It's a good mini amp combination. Does the job but the trouble was, it's too small to compete with a loud drummer. Now I bought a DIY speaker cabinet with 10 inch speaker and it's from a Laney HCM30R. The problem with this one is that the cabinet is too small. Almost just the size of the the speaker and no room for air movement. It's very good for myself as a commuting musician because it's super lightweight and portable. But again, the sound seems a bit thin when the whole band is playing and with our recent three gigs, there's always someone commenting to turn my guitar up.

So here we are now. I found a proper speaker cab for a 10 inch speaker. It's being sold on eBay as an unloaded speaker cab and it's from Gear4Music. The Subzero G110.  Looks brand new. Sold cheaper but obviously without the speaker, which is generic or one from Gear4Music. Then, I found on eBay as well a selling who's got the HH Invader 10 that he took out from his Laney LC15 amp. Selling it super cheap as well. So I said to myself this is the perfect combination. Just under £80 for the cab and speaker plus postage. Hence I bought it and assembled. 

I've already gigged with this setup and the sound is amazing. I will say though that it still needs a little bit more to compete with a very loud drummer. Coz on our soundcheck, I thought I was already loud with the volume on 12 o'clock and gain 9 o'clock on my Vox MV50AC but they were saying I need to push it some more coz my guitar is still not that loud from afar. So I pushed it around 1 o'clock and Im afraid that the speaker cab might not handle it if I push it some more. But Im also plugged in the mixer through the Vox MV50AC line out that's why I don't want to push it full volume. Although I did it before when we gigged in a small venue and I was using the 8 inch speaker cab which was the Vox BC108. On our last song, I put the volume full blast. It didn't explode. 

Right, so tone-wise it's really good it's a perfect tone match for the Vox MV50AC most especially if I use a single coil pickup like strat type guitar. The cab is not that super heavy but it's also got a bit of weight. When it was empty the seller said it's 8.9kg but when I put the HH Invader speaker probably it went to 10kg. It's portable for some people and for me as well but not ideal if you're a commuting musician. It's a bit bulky as well. Not massive but i think it's more of the depth/thickness of the cabinet. 

Will have more gigs with this speaker cabinet so will keep you posted. But, if you've had experience with either the Subzero G110 speaker cab or the actual speaker that I put which is the HH Invader 10, please let me know in the comment section what your thoughts are. 

Thanks for visiting my blog.