Clearsonic plexi shield query

A few years ago I made some small W shaped shield for two 2x12 cabs I was using. I used the same extruded plastic hinge material ClearSonic uses (which isn't real cheap) and the nicer, thicker panels of plexi, (also expensive). I cut the corners at 45 degrees, the whole 9 yards. It was a royal pain to get the panels into the hinge and until I was finished it wasn't a huge savings over just buying one from them. But I wanted to make my own.

Also have a taller V shaped one I made with a regular screw in hinge and used thinner, much cheaper plexi material. The effect is pretty similar but the thicker stuff is much more stable and works a little better at isolating the mic, and containing volume.

So that's my take on two different options of DIY shields. I'd say if you want a good one, email them. The make just a regular, single V shaped shield for your 4x12. Or if you're content with a regular screw in piano hinge, you can pick one up and some thick plexi if you have the resources nearby. That will save you some $ and only takes a short while to make.

This may be a silly question, but would a plexi baffle make any difference for home use? Or is it just a live thing?

Thanks!
Logan

The VV shape is quite exaggerated. It was more of a very soft W, basically. The middle "hinge" wasn't folded in right close towards the grill cloth. It was just bent slightly in the center. Using a 2 panel shield will have the same effect of facing your cabinet into the corner of a wall. It will allow the sound to collect and shoot upwards toward the ceiling. Having a 3 panel, all folded at 90 degrees, doesn't have the same results.

You're just using a 4x12, all you need is a V shape.

Logan: using a V shape shield of any sort softens the high end sounds, and the mids seem more pronounced. However, when you're placing a mic on the cabinet- behind the shield- the mic is hearing what's coming out of the speakers, and not what you're hearing necessarily by standing on the other side. You'd compensate by aiming mic toward side of cabinet, not at speaker.

I have some of these Weber Beam Blockers, they do almost the exact same thing, and it's less to carry around. Unless you want the "look" of plexi shields, I also recommend these. I have them in my combo amps. My speaker cabs I use the plexishield still.
http://www.webervst.com/blocker.html

- Nic from Detroit... posting on JB's Forum since 6-2-2006
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I'm curious to know how, or if, the plexi screens affect the tone picked up by the mic. With something like a SE reflexion filter (for vocal recording) the aim is to minimise reflections getting back to the mic and colouring the tone. Surely plexi screens are just reflecting a whole lot of energy back at the mic and colouring the tone. I guess they work great for protecting Joe's ears and reducing spill to the vocal mic, but how does the sound reach the front of house? Is there a direct feed through a speaker emulator? Is there some tweaking that has to be done to the mic sound?

I wondered if the distances between screen, speaker and mic were such that any phase cancellation issues would be outside the critical frequency range, but having done a quick c=fl calculation suggests any problems would be right in the middle of the guitar's range.