How does internal bracing in a cab affect tone

[blackba]

I have read that having more bracing in a cab is a good thing in both guitar cabs and Hi-Fi cabs. But I am curious what additional bracing does to the sound. Also, can you have too much bracing? Anyone added bracing to their cabs?

I have seen some posts where people want to know why Cab A is better than Cab B as far as construction, bracing I believe is one of the reasons.

 

[glpg80]

bracing makes for more solid low end when the speakers are moving air. due to how guitar amplifiers are voiced not to move alot of the lower frequencies because of blocking distortion, the bracing on the cabinets would not need to be as braced as much as you think and would shift the sweet spot with the volume you are playing at versus the settings on the amplifier.

im sure it could be used in lighter cabinets to get a more directional and solid cabinet.

cabinets that are 13 ply birch though - really dont need much except for solid corners. anything internal more than the normal will take away cu./ft of airspace and virtually make it seem like a smaller cabinet than what it really is.

that cant be a bad thing though - i have heard some mini marshall cabinets that kicked some serious tonal ass

 

[moltenmetalburn]

The cabinet wood resonates and vibrates freely.

Bracing the cabinet lessens the vibrations and resonance of the cab and makes less of the cabinets own "voicing" apparent. More of the natural speaker tone and less of the cabinet singing and adding its own thing.

Enthusiasts of cabinets that sing tend to go for the solid pine cabinets. It seems to me the heavier style guys want less of that .

 

[Gainiac]

fwiw, I pulled the center bracing out of a jcm800 cab years ago and it farted out on the low end constantly....

 

[glpg80]

alot of internal bracing was for the speaker baffle in marshalls

mills accoustics take it to a whole new level. the only difference for me is that i dislike any oversized cabinet - no matter the internal design or attack to solve resonance. i just dont like how they sound. they have a boomy "whoom" character to the bass.

the marshall's internal bracing serves many purposes in regards to the baffle - and less of the cabinet outer walls or cubic feet.

they were also installed in earlier marshall cabinet models with just your average 2x4 to help support the cabinet's baffle on its back.

bracing is needed. and does help project bass frequencies. guys who run professional bass stereo competitions build some serious boxes with internal bracing and throw alot of math into it - more than what guitar cabinets have done so far i believe.

 

[thegame]

mills accoustics take it to a whole new level. the only difference for me is that i dislike any oversized cabinet - no matter the internal design or attack to solve resonance. i just dont like how they sound. they have a boomy "whoom" character to the bass.

Marshall has made some really small 4x12s. Approx 26 inch x 26. So the conventional Marshall 29 x 29 dimensions is oversized relative to that. Yet you like those. So why state all "oversized" cabs are not to your liking when, and correct me if I'm wrong, you have not tried them all (especially Mills) ?

 

[sg guy]

The cabinet wood resonates and vibrates freely.

Bracing the cabinet lessens the vibrations and resonance of the cab and makes less of the cabinets own "voicing" apparent. More of the natural speaker tone and less of the cabinet singing and adding its own thing.

Enthusiasts of cabinets that sing tend to go for the solid pine cabinets. It seems to me the heavier style guys want less of that .

this seems to be what i have found as well,...the bracing lessens the movement of the "outer shell" of the cab,...i have found it takes quite alot of internal bracing to effect the volume of the cab,...i have experimented with the verticle "baffle/divider" (aka mills,with the holes)...this seems to lessen the sound waves and makes the cab act like two smaller cabs,...with the benfit of the bass freq. being more focused,....kind of like having the best of both a small tight cab,..and a large oversized cab...

 

[Qweklain]

mills accoustics take it to a whole new level. the only difference for me is that i dislike any oversized cabinet - no matter the internal design or attack to solve resonance. i just dont like how they sound. they have a boomy "whoom" character to the bass.

I played a Mills locally with a few different amps, and I never heard any kind of boom or whoom character to the bass. Granted different people have different sensitivities to sound, but Mills is one of the few cabs that actually does exactly what it says. It was a 4x12AB straight w/V30s and it was very balanced, and really did fill the room. The Bogner straight 4x12 (pretty sure it was an uberkab) right next to it was much more punchier and direct, no room filling qualities like the Mills.