If you love the Vox MV50 mini amp heads, you know they sound incredible. But Vox left a glaring hole in their cabinet lineup. [1]
They give us the tiny BC108 (1x8) and the larger BC112 (1x12). But where is the BC110? A 1x10 speaker is the absolute sweet spot for portable gigging punch and British chime.
Since Vox wouldn't make one, I had to build my own. Here is the story of how a cheap winebox, a disassembled donor cab, and a disastrous "Rubik’s Cube" phase turned into my ultimate, gig-tested MV50AC companion.
📊 Project Breakdown At-A-Glance
- The Shell: Cheap wooden winebox
- The Reinforcement: Disassembled thick DIY cabinet panels
- Acoustic Type: Front-ported (via a lucky 2.5 cm baffle shortage)
- The Speaker: Celestion VT10 Jr.
- The Amp Companion: Vox MV50AC
🍇 The Skeleton: A Winebox Hybrid Design
I wanted this build to be budget-friendly, so I started with a cheap wooden winebox. While the box had the perfect footprint, standard winebox wood is far too thin to handle the acoustic pressure of a guitar amplifier.
To fix this, I took a dismantled, proper DIY guitar cabinet and used its thick, heavy-duty wood to reinforce the inside of the winebox.
The Accidental Front Port
During assembly, I ran into a classic DIY hitch. The heavy-duty donor baffle fit perfectly into the sides of the winebox, but it was 2.5 cm too short vertically.
Instead of scrapping it, I leaned into the mistake. By leaving that 2.5 cm gap at the bottom, the enclosure naturally became a front-ported cabinet. This accidental design choice actually boosts the low-end bass response, making this small box punch way above its weight class.
🔊 The Heart: Squeezing in the Ultimate Vox Match
For the speaker, I dropped in a Celestion VT10 Jr.
Pairing this 10-inch driver with the Vox50AC (AC30 voiced) head is absolute tone perfection. The VT10 Jr. retains that classic, gritty British midrange and top-end chime that Vox is famous for, but the 10-inch speaker pushes significantly more air than Vox's stock 8-inch cabinet. [1]
🎨 The Ugly Phase: From "Rubik's Cube" to Pro Rig
Every great DIY project goes through an awkward prototype phase. Mine just happened to look like a children's toy.
To protect the wood from the bumps and bruises of the road, I wrapped the cabinet in pieces of a multicoloured rubber floor mat. In my head, it was a genius, shock-absorbing armor. In reality? It looked exactly like a giant Rubik's Cube—blue on the back, green on one side, yellow on the other, and red on the bottom.
I actually gigged with it like this! It certainly turned heads, but not necessarily for the right reasons. After watching me play, my brother pulled me aside and gently stages an intervention: "You need to paint that black so it looks professional."
Taking his advice, I stripped the toy mats and gave it a clean, sleek, stealth-black finish. Now, it looks just as professional as it sounds.
🎸 The Verdict: A Winebox That Can Gig
This cabinet isn't a prototype anymore; it is a proven road warrior. It proves that you don't need expensive boutique tools to fill the gaps left by major gear manufacturers. With a little bit of scrap wood, the right Celestion speaker, and a can of black paint, you can build the exact rig your tone deserves.
The true test was when I used it during our gig at Alderbury Picnic in the hall.
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