What type of wood do you really use in Son Set Beach Speaker Cabs?
A good plywood cab, on the other hand, has plenty of desirable properties working for it, too. The best such cabs are generally made from 11-ply or 13-ply Baltic birch, which is dense, rigid, and has a good bending strength before breaking. The firmness of such cabs translates to a tight, clear, punchy tone—relatively speaking—which benefits clarity, articulation, and the ability to push the sound at you. Such cabs tend to deliver a more uncolored picture of the sound of the speaker itself, although they do toss their own resonance into the brew. Vintage Vox and Marshall cabs, to name just two, were made from Baltic birch ply, so this wood has long earned kudos in the tone stakes.
Cabinets made from poor or indifferent varieties of plywood, or from MDF or particleboard, can often sound somewhat dead or dull (although with the right speakers they might also surprise you). These are likely to be cheaper options, and while occasionally passable, they can make good comparative examples of how any cab is more than “just a box to hold the speakers,” and will likely sound a little inferior up against a quality pine or Baltic-birch cab.
Ultimately, though, solid-pine cabs aren’t inherently superior to high-quality plywood cabs: each just presents different characteristics, which can be selected to enhance the type of performance you seek from your amp and guitar. Be aware, too, that subtle or significant differences in other aspects of cab construction—the depth and overall dimensions, the stiffness of the speaker baffle and how it’s affixed, whether the cab is open- or closed-backed, or the way the whole box is put together—will often have as much affect on its sound as the wood that it’s made from.
How did Son Set Beach Speaker Cabinets begin?
For a few Decades now I have enjoyed the sound of the vintage marshall cabs. The 70's in particular were vibrant times for me personally as a guitarist and musician. I still have a few of these in our recording studio. I often wondered what it would be like to recreate and build these for other amplifiers and applications. After some great research it was clear that I would look into this.
It was a happy time when I found a person, then a group of highly experienced craftsman, that together we designed and manufactured the cabs for Son Set Beach. Like all good things it takes a dedicated TEAM. Over the years our team have made Cabs for Orange, Marshall, Fender, PolyTone, Bogner, Demeter, and most major Amp manufacturers. That experience has taught us mucho'. We have taught many companies how to build cabinets as well. Many of these companies you have most likely heard of. However we just keep going on from day to day, by the sweat of our brow...
Do SSB Cabs come with Speakers or can I get them Un-Loaded?
For a long time Son Set Beach only sold cabs with our signature speakers. We are a production dealer for Eminence and Jensen. We like that they are made in the USA and Italy. Their tones are best for what you money can buy.
Then after a year or so people wanted Son Set Beach cabs un-loaded so they could put their speakers in our new cabs. This is very popular now. We make the cabs pre-wired ready for your speakers. Heck we even include new bolts to install the customers speakers.So yes indeed we make cabs LOADED or UN-LOADED. Your choice.
I have started to offer all Eminence and Jensen speakers for our customers and performing artist. This web site will reflect more of these "options" as time goes on.
How long does it take for me to get SSB custom cabinets?
As we always make our cabs factory fresh, the normal production time is about 7-10 days. Then we ship it to you via FedEx. Not too bad for a custom shop!
When are you going to make Amplifiers to go with the cabs?
At the present time we are in the process of working with James Demeter of Demeter Amplification. The people at Demeter have become friends over the years and all involved are really special and talented individuals. So stay tuned as the custom Son Set Beach Amps by Demeter will be pretty awesome.
The cool thing is we can make the Amps & cabs to the colors and grill cloths you choose.
