Guitar Amp Casters

[adam32790]

i'm thinking about putting casters on my amp. i was wondering if anyone else has done this with the hot rod deville specifically or has had any problems with it. please let me know to go about doing this the easiest and safest way. thank you

tyler

[Enzo]

Many people have mounted casters to their amps.

Mount them as close to the corners as possible. Otherwise, the amp can get tippy.

Casters come in a couple styles: screw on, and removable.

Screw on casters have a rectangular plate with a wheel swivelling from its center. Four screws mount the plate to the underside of the amp. Pretty simple.

REmovable casters have a plate also - usually round - and that is mounted to teh bottom of the amp. But instead of a wheel, there is a hole. The caster itself has a rod sticking up from the wheel asssembly, and that pops into the hole. SO that plate must have a place for that rod to go. In the center of the plate will be a cylinder thing sticking up. A clearance hole for that must be drilled into the underside of the amp. Make sure not to drillinto the edge of the speaker baffle or other sensitive spot.

The advantage of removable is you can roll the amp to the stage, then pop the casters out so the amp stays stable and there is no wheel rattle. The screw on casters are always there and don't fall out.

Screw on type


Pop out (mounting plate not shown)


But personally, I prefer to use a wheel board, you might call it a dolly.

Take a piece of sturdy plywood - 3/4" comes to mind - about the size of the amp bottom. Mount four screw on casters to the corners of that. Now you have a board the size of the amp that rolls around. Set the amp on it to roll the amp around. Lift the amp off it to set it in place. BONUS!!! Now the wheel board is free to roll another piece of gear from the van to the stage.

[JoeM]

....
But personally, I prefer to use a wheel board, you might call it a dolly.

Take a piece of sturdy plywood - 3/4" comes to mind - about the size of the amp bottom. Mount four screw on casters to the corners of that. Now you have a board the size of the amp that rolls around. Set the amp on it to roll the amp around. Lift the amp off it to set it in place. BONUS!!! Now the wheel board is free to roll another piece of gear from the van to the stage.

I like that idea. I've done that with a few amps in the past. I had a friend drill a hole (not all the way through) for the amps feet to sit in, and we drilled a hole in the center bottom of the amp (and through the board) and installed a 1/4" 'T' nut. A 1/4" bolt (there's some with kind of a thumb screw) goes in to hold the board in place, yet allows for easy removal.

[Enzo]

The old Ampeg Portaflex amps -the flip tops - used to come exactly that way. The wheel board was removable and one large screw through the center of the underside held it in place with a T-nut in the amp cab bottom. The screw was one of those with the large black plastic knob on it.

[adam32790]

thanks to you all. I've already screwed them in. i bought some from osh. Very easy to do and now it's much easier to move around.

[dentsinger]

From my experience, I've been saved by having removable casters. Sometimes trying to fit a larger cab (4x12) into a small vehicle comes down to give or take a n inch or two.

Going off of the caster board idea, you can also mount industrial strength velcro patchs to the bottom corners of the amp and the top of the board to hold them together.