Anyone ever use one of these for an economic amp chassis?

[olddawg]

Stupid Deal of the Day | SDOTD | Musician's Friend
It's a rack mount, steel box, power conditioner for $29. Seems like it would be an inexpensive, sturdy chassis and you would get a convenience outlet to boot if you wanted it.
Plus you get a nice power switch and cord.

[Tom Phillips]

Never used one but I sure have thought about it every time a see similar units chucked into the electronics recycling bins. There is a lot of computer networking equipment being changed out that seems to be feeding the supply. I brought a few home for free but eventually sent them back to the recycle bin because I just have too much stuff to store.

Good Idea!

[Alan0354]

One rack space is not very useful. Your choice of PT and OT is very limited. You have to put all tubes side way. Even for SS, you don't have room for heat sink. In order to be useful, you need two to three rack space so you have room to build your stuffs in.

Also rack mount stuff only useful if you have a rack to haul around. It is quite danger to use it as a stand alone as there are a lot of sharp corners. BTW, the front panel is quite weak in the picture, the AC plug literally cut the front panel apart. There is no support from the top panel, from the ones I work on before, rack mount box are not that strong. They supposed to be screw onto a rack.

You want rack mount, they do sell rack mount kit you can choose the rack height, side, front, bottom and back panels. It's just won't be my choice.

[J M Fahey]

One rack space is not very useful. Your choice of PT and OT is very limited. You have to put all tubes side way. Even for SS, you don't have room for heat sink. In order to be useful, you need two to three rack space so you have room to build your stuffs in.

Also rack mount stuff only useful if you have a rack to haul around. It is quite danger to use it as a stand alone as there are a lot of sharp corners. BTW, the front panel is quite weak in the picture, the AC plug literally cut the front panel apart. There is no support from the top panel, from the ones I work on before, rack mount box are not that strong. They supposed to be screw onto a rack.

You want rack mount, they do sell rack mount kit you can choose the rack height, side, front, bottom and back panels. It's just won't be my choice.

It's a joke, isn't it?

OF COURSE the proper use is as a CHASSIS, putting sockets and transformers (and chassis mount caps) ON TOP of the cover, using the inside space for an eyelet board and the front panel for pots and jacks.
Then you put this CHASSIS in a standard tolexed plywood CABINET or upside down in a COMBO. .

[olddawg]

It's a joke, isn't it?

OF COURSE the proper use is as a CHASSIS, putting sockets and transformers (and chassis mount caps) ON TOP of the cover, using the inside space for an eyelet board and the front panel for pots and jacks.
Then you put this CHASSIS in a standard tolexed plywood CABINET or upside down in a COMBO. .

Yeah.. I didn't mean mount the tubes and the transformers inside. Lol. I have even had old mil spec PA amps with pp 6L6 outputs and huge transformers on a single rack space chassis. The problems come when the chassis isn't deep enough. This one looks plenty deep. Most would probably get rid of 8 of the 9 AC outlets and put a plate across the back..... but the top, bottom and front are a clean slate. And, it would slide cleanly and easily out of a standard box for service, mods, or experimentation. I ordered one nonetheless just to check it out.

[Alan0354]

It's a joke, isn't it?

OF COURSE the proper use is as a CHASSIS, putting sockets and transformers (and chassis mount caps) ON TOP of the cover, using the inside space for an eyelet board and the front panel for pots and jacks.
Then you put this CHASSIS in a standard tolexed plywood CABINET or upside down in a COMBO. .

No it's not a joke. People use Rack mount to put in the rack. You don't put components on top because the good thing about rack mount is modular that you can mix and match different electronics in the rack to tailor to your need.

If you are talking about putting in a wood cabinet like the ordinary chassis, the front panel is very weak because of the AC plug. Unless this is designed totally different from all the rack mount chassis I used before, they are not that sturdy. They make out of individual panels screwed together, nothing like the bent and weld chassis.

[Justin Thomas]

Think outside the rack box! I for one think it's a cheap-as-hell way to get a chassis. Some of us either insist on doing it the hard way or have to for our own reasons. Am I gonna put my 100W mega-blaster on it? No, but I'll find some creative use for it. Couple a cleats will hold it in just fine. Drilling & making holes is easy. Great project for those of us with enough time but not $#!+loads of money... I prefer to use a ready-made chassis, but I'll use whatever I have to to get the job done. Kinda like the pedalboards being built into old fabric suitcases. Have fun with this stuff!

Justin

[olddawg]

No it's not a joke. People use Rack mount to put in the rack. You don't put components on top because the good thing about rack mount is modular that you can mix and match different electronics in the rack to tailor to your need.

If you are talking about putting in a wood cabinet like the ordinary chassis, the front panel is very weak because of the AC plug. Unless this is designed totally different from all the rack mount chassis I used before, they are not that sturdy. They make out of individual panels screwed together, nothing like the bent and weld chassis.

You don't use a standard rack box. You build a standard size head cab and set the bottom of the chassis on the bottom of the box. The 4 front mounting screws just keep it from sliding out the front. Allen head screws look sharp. For a combo you just use a couple of ledger strips as needed.

[tedmich]

real cheap

Prof. Eric Nybergs's broiler pan amp

[eschertron]

There's a thread here (didn't look it up, but it's here somewhere) with all sorts of oddball amps. I've got a few ATX power supply boxes to use for 'living room' sized amps. the last one I picked from the work recycle bin was chrome plated! I have no idea what to put in it, but it is truly pretty.