Researching beater cabs available for cheap builds

[J M Fahey]

The "1"-3" flakes " stuff is OSB and is water resistant by design. Each individual piece is soaked in water resistant varnish which also glues it to others.

The "sawings residue" stuff where individual pieces are clearly visible is chipboard.
In fact there is a machine called wood chipper to turn any residue into this.

The stuff where wood is boiled in lye so fibers separate and make some kind of "cotton" is pressed into MDF.

Enlarging the picture I can see smooth beige floor and sides, probably MDF, and whiter chipboard used for struts where front and back panels are screwed. Chips and rough edge are clearly visible.

Sexy VOX type leatherette covers and hides anything, and is all customer sees.

FWIW this is a relatively expensive (compared to similar SS amps) tube AC4.

[bob p]

Sexy VOX type leatherette ...

What's next? Sexy VOX Latex?

[The Dude]

What's next? Sexy VOX Latex?

Ribbed for her pleasure.

On a more serious note, I've wondered why nobody is making molded plastic guitar amp cabinets. It seems to have caught on in the small P.A. market. It also seems to me it would be a logical progression. Light, strong, cheaper to mass produce, lower shipping costs, etc.

[bob p]

Why not molded plastic guitar amp cabs?

GAF*? (*Gutiarist Acceptance Factor)

Bass players seem willing to accept change. Guitar players not so much.

Most bass players would accept a lightweight plastic cab if it was lighter and could deliver the goods. To get guitar players to accept a molded plastic speaker, Marshall would have to introduce it and say it's better than their 1960A 4x12. Somehow I don't see that happening.

[The Dude]

GAF*?......

*Gutiarist Acceptance Factor

That's probably true. But, I'm not sure it would be such a big deal. Amps would be cheaper to ship- saving the end user. They'd be lighter, which (I'd think) would be attractive to many. From the audience perspective, who would know?

[olddawg]

That's probably true. But, I'm not sure it would be such a big deal. Amps would be cheaper to ship- saving the end user. They'd be lighter, which (I'd think) would be attractive to many. From the audience perspective, who would know?

I've used two 15"ABS plastic passive wedges for bass a couple of times. And once I used an ABS 12" plastic wedge for guitar but I had to disconnect the crossover and the horn. It worked... not great but it worked. It may be difficult to mold into a functional rectangle that won't collapse. Lol.

[Enzo]

PA tops, but I can;t offhand think of a PA sub made of plastic. That may impact the bass amp market.

Guitarists love tradition, but we see more and more of the computerized amps, like Line 6, the Fancy Vox ones and even the entry level ones from Fender, Peavey ,et al. people accpet those now. Neo magnet speakers are showing up. Who made the tiny lunch box amp like ZZTop use, I forget. AA metal lunch box, hey, why not plastic. I think it has to start with a basic level amp to introduce to the market.

On the other hand a basic small wood cabinet from China costs about 8 cents, with little more than blue prints and a table saw, a plastic needs to have molds made etc.

And speaking of plastic, there sure are a lot of pros playing those Ovation guitars...

And like those, why does a guitar amp have to be a rectangle?

[Leo_Gnardo]

Ribbed for her pleasure.

Maybe this is what explains the popularity of Kustom's tuck'n'roll look. 50 years later people still love 'em.

Meanwhile other companies that tried to emulate Kustom, for instance Earth and Plush, covered some very crappy ply boxes with their tuck'n'roll.

On a more serious note, I've wondered why nobody is making molded plastic guitar amp cabinets. It seems to have caught on in the small P.A. market. It also seems to me it would be a logical progression. Light, strong, cheaper to mass produce, lower shipping costs, etc.

Molded plastic cabs have been the norm in large PA as well. Those hanging arrays you've seen at big concerts, most are lightweight plastic, loaded with neodymium magnet drivers so that a dozen or more can be hung from each rigging point. This started to become common right at the turn of the millenium.

Fender offered a version of the Blues Junior in a molded plastic enclosure in early 2000's. I forget what it was called. Styling recalled amps of the late 1940's. List price was sky high, around $1000. One hung around a local music store here collecting dust for years, what the sales managers call "a stone," you can't move it. One of my friends picked it up cheap due to their frustrations selling it. Turns out it's a well-engineered tough enclosure, and to my ear sounds better than the wooden/MDF box Blues Jr's. Nice surprise!

[J M Fahey]

To get guitar players to accept a molded plastic speaker, Marshall would have to introduce it and say it's better than their 1960A 4x12. Somehow I don't see that happening.

Saying is not enough ,they would have to pull Jimi Hendrix`s remains from the casket and have him play with one.
While burning a few guitars to better deliver the message

That said, tough public, guitar players still respect **Tweed**

EDIT: as of:

Quote Originally Posted by J M Fahey View Post
Sexy VOX type leatherette ...

What's next? Sexy VOX Latex?

I see no fault in:

[Justin Thomas]

That said, tough public, guitar players still respect **Tweed**

You mean, "Non-Master-Volume (read as, "GOOD!") Marshall," right? Because apparently the best way to get authentic Marshall tone anymore is with a big Fender tweed clone...

Justin

[J M Fahey]

You mean, "Non-Master-Volume (read as, "GOOD!") Marshall," right? Because apparently the best way to get authentic Marshall tone anymore is with a big Fender tweed clone...

Justin

You mean *this*?

[J M Fahey]

Or this?

funny thing I notice is that used with its intended guitar, a Strat (and probably even more with a Tele), even as used here with all knobs on 10, sound is not really "distorted" but sharp, quite articulate, and in the intended place, a large barn turned into a Country ballroom with horrible acoustics, heard clearly even at the farthest ends.

VERY well designed amp, and clearly tweaked by ear to perfection in the actual "battlefield".
You certainly canīt miss that bright piercing sound.

Notice that original AC30 also had a similar bright jangly piercing sound, probably for similar reasons.

The current craze among bedroom rockers about clipping bright caps in their amps is missing the point big way and just reinforcing the idea that they *are* bedroom rockers, best case living room or garage ones.

The "nails on a blackboard" sound they complain about makes sense in a cavernous hall with hundreds of people (if not thousands).

[bob p]

funny thing I notice is that used with its intended guitar, a Strat (and probably even more with a Tele), even as used here with all knobs on 10, sound is not really "distorted" but sharp, quite articulate, and in the intended place, a large barn turned into a Country ballroom with horrible acoustics, heard clearly even at the farthest ends...

I haven't watched that video recently, but I remember thinking how clean the Tweed Bassman's tone was when I watched it.

I think that the -16dB (!) of feedback* has a lot to do with the articulation and clarity. The power section of the Tweed Bassman is actually designed to be a very clean amp. I think that most of the grit that people get out of that amp comes from overdriving the PI, and from speaker distortion in the P10, rather than from the power tubes themselves. If I had to guess, I'd expect that he didn't have the guitar's volume at 10.

* I think that I can count on one hand the Fender amps that used that much NFB.

[bob p]

I see no fault in:

THAT is more along the lines of what I was thinking about with the latex reference ... but in a rubber-fetish sort of way.

[bob p]

That's probably true. But, I'm not sure it would be such a big deal. Amps would be cheaper to ship- saving the end user. They'd be lighter, which (I'd think) would be attractive to many. From the audience perspective, who would know?

To get a lightweight injection molded plastic cabinet accepted on stage in lieu of a Marshall stack, the stage crew would probably have to do this: