Subwoofer DIY from guitar amp???

[MN Mike]

Since I don't have a sub yet, I've thinking about how to use an old guitar amp. Could I somehow wire it to work? Or should I take the amp apart and make a sealed cabinet first? It has a 1/4 input jack, so I'd have to come up with a cable for SW out of the receiver to the 1/4 jack.

It has a 8" speaker and a 15 watt amp. Basically, it's a throw-away, but I was wondering if I could somehow use it even if for shortterm.

Thanks for any help.

[This Guy]

You would blow that speaker extremly fast if you used t as a sub. You see, guitar speakers have rather high resonant frequencies because they don't play much of the low frequencies. An 8" guitar speaker won't have much excursion because again, it doesn't need it if it's playing guitar. The cone won't move more than 1 to 2 milimeters. Even if it did have the excursion and power handlig, the resonant frequency is still too high for even a regular woofer in a 2 way speaker. If this amp was made for a bass guitar, it might be okay for temporary use, but still won;t be anywhere near adequate. And incase you're stubborn and want to try it anyway, get a regular subwoofer cable going from your receivers LF output, connect the other end into an rca to 1/4" adapter (find it at radioshack for like $2) and then connect it to the guitar amp.

-Joey

[MN Mike]

You would blow that speaker extremly fast if you used t as a sub. You see, guitar speakers have rather high resonant frequencies because they don't play much of the low frequencies. An 8" guitar speaker won't have much excursion because again, it doesn't need it if it's playing guitar. The cone won't move more than 1 to 2 milimeters. Even if it did have the excursion and power handlig, the resonant frequency is still too high for even a regular woofer in a 2 way speaker. If this amp was made for a bass guitar, it might be okay for temporary use, but still won;t be anywhere near adequate. And incase you're stubborn and want to try it anyway, get a regular subwoofer cable going from your receivers LF output, connect the other end into an rca to 1/4" adapter (find it at radioshack for like $2) and then connect it to the guitar amp.

-Joey

Thanks Joey. I think I'll start looking for a real sub!

[Geoffcin]

Thanks Joey. I think I'll start looking for a real sub!

While I think it's very worthwhile for you to look for a dedicated sub, you will not "blow" your guitar amp if you did hook it up. What you would get is not very good bass responce, as the speaker wasn't designed to work as a bass amp. I've had several pro bass amps, and if you had one of these it would work quite well as a sub. Of course nobody sane would need the ability to pump out bass in their listening room to the tune of 110db or better! Also, it most likely not work well with your decorating scheme.