Homebrew Sub-kick Project

[simmsdn]

I started building a homemade Sub Kick a week ago and though some might be interested in how I've been doing it. I haven't found a "start-to-finish" with pictures.

I bought an early 70s Ludwig shell for $.99. Don't worry vintage lovers, the plies were separating, black cortex was destroyed, badge destroyed...hence impetus to make something nice out of the shell.

I bought a 10" speaker and some hooks, eye bolts, and s-hooks...along with four small bungee cords.

I decided to mount it suspension style rather than hard mount it. It's in there pretty tight, but has some bounce to it.

I will wire it up and add those pictures in the next couple of days and then add the finishing touches.

[simmsdn]

OK, Finally got it wired up. I added a -20db pad to it based on some personal research.

Top left is the XLR mounted into the shell (from Switchcraft for about $4).

Note the .5w 180ohm resistor connecting pins 2 & 3.

Pin 1 is ground. I run it to the chassis of the speaker.

Negative from speaker goes to Pin 2 and Positive to Pin 3. In line with each is a .5w 680ohm resistor.

I kept the internal cables short and did my best soldering it together without making a mess.

I connected it to a preamp and then into my interface and it is sounding good just from a quick check.

I'm going to clean it up with some final pieces and post those pics in the next couple of days as well as give a sound sample from it once mounted and connected to my recording set up.

[simmsdn]

Here's a quick sound sample.

You hear a few different sounds in this order:

1st: Sennheiser e602 mounted on a Kelly Shu (raw)
2nd: sub kick (raw)
3rd: e602 (w/compression)
4th: subkick (w/compression)
5th: e602 (w/comp and eq)
6th: subkick (w/comp and eq)
7th: e602 and subkick (w/comp and eq)

I did not spend a whole lot of time getting this to sound perfect...I wanted to get something down so I can pack up and move.

Overall not too bad...I can definately feel a thump in my chest from the subkick when I play this back through my studio monitors.

[simmsdn]

A Second recording with the subkick mounted (as seen in pictures) first recording was it sitting on a cardboard box.

This is not my planned 'final' mounting method, just something that would work for the time being.

As always, feedback is appreciated. This was mostly just a fun project to see if I could do it, if I could do it for cheap, and because I had most of the pieces laying around to do it.

[mediocrefunkybeat]

There are some odd artifacts on the subkick recording. No idea if that's part of your Mp3 encoding or the device itself.

[simmsdn]

There are some odd artifacts on the subkick recording. No idea if that's part of your Mp3 encoding or the device itself.

MP3 encoding. I'd prefer to keep it a wav, but you know that'd be 40MB and not upload.