my new cab

[John_H]

I built this for my project amp today. The amp will mount to the top, and flip over to store in the cabinet like a porta-flex. I'll be covering it with some grey leather grain vinyl. The Jensen 10's on the bench will be going in it for now, but I'll probably upgrade. I haven't decided what grill cloth I'm going to use, but need to so I can get it ordered along with the hardware. The box measures 24wX20hX16d

[Regis]

Hi John,

Man that looks great. I wish I had cabinet skills but the Three Stooges had better carpentry skills than me.

I'm trying to retolex a Bassman 100 head cab right now and so far it looks like ass, my seams are pretty bad.

regis

[John_H]

Thanks Regis;

I'm a woodworker by trade so the construction is the easy part for me. We'll find out how my cabinet covering skills are today. This is a real low buck project. I'll only have 60-70 bucks in it when completed, including the used speakers. When I'm done I'll break down the costs for everyone. Stay tuned and you'll find out just what a cheapskate I am.

[jaydawg]

A buddy just asked me today about building him a porta-flex. How will the amp flip over into the cab. Do you have any pic's of the inside of the cab. It looks good so far.

jay

[John_H]

Thanks jay;
I don't have a picture of the inside yet, but I'll post one for you when I get one. The amp will attach to the top panel. Simply pick it up, and flip it over to store in the cabinet. I haven't decided how I'll attach it yet, but I want to come up with something different than ampeg. I've never cared much for the buckles on my B15S.

The picture shows what I got done today. The speakers sound much better than I anticipated.

[jaydawg]

I went and found some portaflex pics and your right, the buckels that attach the top don't seem like much. You'll have to show me what you come up with. Is the amp on top the amp that goes with the cab? Is it a rebuild and what version did you build (B-15)?

jay

[John_H]

I went and found some portaflex pics and your right, the buckels that attach the top don't seem like much. You'll have to show me what you come up with. Is the amp on top the amp that goes with the cab? Is it a rebuild and what version did you build (B-15)?

jay

Yeah the buckles are pretty wimpy. I built the cabinet for the amp in the picture. It's a fifty year old PA that I rebuilt, and modded for guitar. The design of the box was based on the size of the head, and the speakers. I didn't want it larger than need be.

I figured out how I will shockmount the chassis, and secure the top today. I'll gather the hardware for that this week.

I ordered grill cloth, and cab. corners from parts express last night. With any luck I'll have it by this weekend.

here's a picture of the inside..

[John_H]

Finished Cabinet

I finished it yesterday. This was my first effort at building something like this. I'm anxious to build more, but I don't have enough room for the gear I have now. I learned quite a bit while doing this one.

Total construction time was about twelve hours at a cost of around ninety bucks.

[jaydawg]

Wow, that looks great. How does it sound? Do you have any more pics? How did you secure to head?

jay

[John_H]

Thanks Jay;
It sounds great. The 10" Jensens that are in it aren't the best, but I only paid fifteen bucks for them. I plan to upgrade soon. The amp itself was a little noisy when I first rebuilt it, but after idling for a few hours on the bench the caps formed it seems and it's very quiet now. It's clean down low. Great sustain. At about 4 it starts getting gritty. So far I'm real pleased with how it's turning out.There are a few things I want to do to it yet. The next mod will be adding a reverb.

In the picture you'll see the pins above the handle (hardware store deluxe), and the block that it inserts into when the amp is flipped over. I secured the amp to the top with screws (installed before covering) into some shockmounts that I made out of more hardware store stuff. John

(I haven't finished trimming the seams. I need a sharp blade) edit

[Regis]

Jeez John that looks sweet! How about posting some clips?

I am retolexing my Bassman 100 and doing a crappy job. My skills in that sort of thing are very limited, yours are much better.

[Jag]

Excellent John, looks good. I'm with Regis, no woodworking or covering skills at all.

I've got an old Bogen PA amp that I bought a couple of years ago and mean to mod into a guitar head (I really think it looks cool). Haven't had time to work on it yet though. I bought a bunch of Bassman heads, Champs a Marshall JMP 100W and some other amps to learn on. I started by restoring some of the amps, running them for a while and then reselling. In the last year I've started modding some of the others and either selling them or keeping them in my personal collection. As soon as I finish the last few Fenders, I'll be tackling the Bogen and building my first original design.

As for the recovering, one of the Bassman heads I bought had taken a bad tumble before I got it and the cabinet was poorly repaired. I've stripped the covering and will be using the old covering as a pattern for the new covering. I'll need to reglue and clamp the cabinet first.

I hope I'll get some time for these things during the remainder of the summer. I'll post pics when I get mine done.

[John_H]

Thanks Guys;

Regis I'm sorry. No clips for now. I just built a new computer, and my old audiophile 2496 doesn' speak athlon very well. I don't have an audio interface right now. I'm having a hard time deciding what to get.

Jag I dig these old pa's. There are some nice amps out there that can be had for cheap. This one has been a fun project. I didn't want to spend much money on it, and so far I haven't.

[Alf]

John,

What kind of wood did you use ?

Alf

[John_H]

What kind of wood did you use ?

Alf it's called MDF which stands for "medium density fiberboard". It's very inexpensive and easy to work with. The bad side though is that the tone suffers some. I don't think I would use it for an open back combo amp, but for a box like this it's strong enough. MDF is available at most lumber yards in the USA. I don't know about your country, but I assume that it wouldn't be too hard to find.