Stonefield Launches Mighty Mini Amp Cabs

We’ve not heard a lot out of our friends over at Stonefield Music for a while and now we know why.  Stonefield’s main man, Tomm Stanley has been in touch to let us know of their work this year to develop a new line of amplifier cabinets and that they’ve been working hard to get the first of the range together just in time for the winter NAMM show in Anaheim, CA.

Tomm tells us, “Over the past five years or so I’ve been watching the interest in small, lightweight amps and amp cabinets grow.

Not many people are aware of it but before I had ever built basses I had designed and built both amplifier and p.a. cabinets.”  As with so many young musicians, Tomm’s band was in need of good p.a. gear but didn’t have the money for it.  “I was around 20 years old and had already been into woodworking for several years and figured I could learn how to build speaker cabinets as well as I could build furniture.  I got hold of the David B. Weems book,Building Speaker Enclosures that Radio Shack was selling and wow, what an eye opening experience.  Who’d have thought so much went into the design of ported speaker cabinets?”

Learning how to interpret T/S parameters and getting his head into the mathematics, he worked out designs for horn-loaded enclosures with 15-inch drivers.  “They were okay but yeah, a first effort at best.”  That first experience was repeated twice more in a later band, with the progressively more difficult designs being built by the father of the band’s guitarist.  “We used those cabinets for years and years.  Somewhere in that time frame I also built the cabinets for my 18/15/2-10 stack … good ‘ol 1980’s sized gear.” he chuckles.

Which brings us back to today and the breaking news of Stonefield’s Mighty Mini series of amplifier cabinets.

The line-up will begin with the two cabinets that will be making their debut at NAMM.  Both contain drivers with carbon fibre cones and neodymium magnets that carry an impressive punch for their size.  The Mighty Mini 106 has a 6 1/2-inch driver that can take a 200W input and the cabinet weighs in at only 13lbs/6kgs.  The Mighty Mini 108 runs an eight-inch driver that can take 250W and that cabinet comes in around 17 lbs/8kgs.  These numbers put both cabinets firmly into range of lightweights that have been growing in the market.  Adding to their versatility, Stonefield have also equipped them with series/parallel switching on the combined 1/4-inch/Speakon output connector.

Tomm tells us, “We’re using these high-tech drivers along with aircraft grade laminates to keep the weight down.  The cabinets are covered in a surfacing compound that I’ve developed and it offers a close approximation to vinyl, Tolex or other fabric-based coverings but it’s more durable and far more easily repaired if damaged.”  Perhaps the most attractive feature of the surfacing compound that we noted during our discussion is its availability in a wide range of colours … even custom colours can be done by request.

Tomm wraps things up with a final insight, “They Mighty Minis actually make me laugh when I play through them.  The wall of sound they produce is entirely disproportional to their appearance and that’s how they got their name.  They are Mighty and they are Mini.”

For more on the entire line of Stonefield products check out their website at www.stonefieldmusic.com and also their social media channels with FB, IG and YT all under Stonefield Music.