Building Custom Head Cabinet For Peavey Special 112

[TomCarlos]

MEF members....

I picked up a Peavey Solo Series Special 112 amp. It was at a local Guitar Center, advertised for $100. When I get there for a test drive, there is no audio; except for some hiss and the Banging Reverb Tank when you give it the whack test. Given that the amp was "not working", I got it for $60. It was that or GC would need to send it out for repair - and they really don't want to do that for a used amp and priced at $100.

And of course, the culprit for the no sound was the dirty Effects Send and Receive jacks on the front panel. (Notice that I was smart enough not to try this while there??) I cleaned up those jacks and the other jacks, pots, connectors on the reverb tank, etc, and this amp is ready for use. It came with a Scorpion SP 12425 (4 ohm) speaker that sounds just fine!

And now, the bad news - this thing is heavy. There are worse and heavier combo amps out there, but this thing is heavy. So I am ponder separating the "amp" from the speaker.

I have seen projects where guys build a custom amp head cabinet. While trying to save space, I am worried about a reverb tank being too close to the Power Transformer. I know that amp heads with spring reverb tanks have been build for many years with much success. So is this a nothing burger and plow forward or do I need to be concerned with the reverb tank proximity to the chassis?

Thanks,

[g1]

Before you do any building or chopping, pull the chassis and tank and do the proximity testing.
Or maybe there is room there to just leave the chassis in place and hold the tank up to it.

[TomCarlos]

Ok.... Proximity testing is a very good suggestion.

(There is an issue with the reverb (motor boat when the amp is turned on and then goes away) but I will open a separate thread for that. For now, I think I will build a pseudo shelf in the cab and see what happens when I pull the reverb tank closer to the chassis.

[Jazz P Bass]

I had a Peavey Triumph 120 that came through and the reverb pad was mounted on the front panel.
The pan had a plate mounted over the input section of the pan mounted on standoffs.
I would imagine that it was to reduce the transformer interaction to the pan.

[TomCarlos]

So the plate must have been grounding and acting as a shield... interesting idea. I'll see if I can find a pic of that (if that is how it was shipped).

[Jazz P Bass]

Well it may not be what I thought.
The shield is on the top & the bottom of the pan at the Output jack.
Which happens to be at the first input tube.

[TomCarlos]

Gotcha.... so I wonder ... if covering half the tank, why not cover the entire thing? I have some light gauge sheet metal. I think this would be a good experiment along with the Proximity testing.

[Enzo]

Could be they already had the smaller plates in inventory, why make up new?

I have seen full length shields, half length like that, and un-shielded.

[Bill Moore]

I just noticed this thread. I don't think there will be a problem, I built a head for a silverstripe Bandit, and had no problems with tank proximity.

[nevetslab]

Well it may not be what I thought.
The shield is on the top & the bottom of the pan at the Output jack.
Which happens to be at the first input tube.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]53114[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]53116[/ATTACH]

Those shield plates look like M6 Grain Oriented Steel.

[TomCarlos]

I just noticed this thread. I don't think there will be a problem, I built a head for a silverstripe Bandit, and had no problems with tank proximity.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]53269[/ATTACH]

Nice Bill .... Did you design that cab on your own or follow a plan?

I still have the Special 112. I am also getting the older "Special 130." That amp was the sister model to the Peavey Jazz Classic. Once I decide which of the two will be my choice, I'll attempt to build a cab for the winner!

[Bill Moore]

Tom, I just used the dimensions of the chassis, and left some room for the tank. I anticipated having to shield the PT side, but it wasn't necessary.
I built a cab for a Special 130 a while back, but ended up selling the chassis, I have a Special 150 that I need to get working, and see if I can find some love for it installed in the cab.

[TomCarlos]

And two tone tolex.... nice touch!

[TomCarlos]

Project Done!

Just an update and a few pics to circle back and close this post.

The first attempt to build a custom cab was a disaster. Ok, I admit it, I am not a cabinet maker. So I decided to opt for the get a 19” Rack Cab, 5 Units tall, and make it work. 5U is a bit taller than I needed but it would be too much work to cut this down do size. I was able to center the amp side to side (with small gaps) and the same for front and back. I could have used an extra half inch in depth. The case is 9" but I could not find a 10" depth case - oh well. The reverb tank is on the bottom of the amp (still in the bag and no feedback). I then took the standard Peavey Yellow/Blue output wires and ran those to a 1/4" jack.

For the grill, I was able to salvage standard Peavey cloth and metal sides from an old Peavey bass amp. I also had some rubber trim to help protect the cloth. The old wooden frame wasn’t worth saving so I used some maple that I had in my scrap pile- very sturdy but hard to nail and sand (because I didn’t measure super accurately).

The cab is definitely not as pretty as Bill Moore’s project but the end result is something I can live with. This amp is now very "liftable" and can be used with a variety of cabs and speakers.
Yes, I saved the rest of the original amp cab and am converting that to an external cab. I will put a front filler plate where the chassis resided. I have an old EV12LM speaker that has a frame slightly larger than a Scorpion. So I needed to shave the bottom of the speaker’s grill cover frame. I also added a back cover and 1/4" jack. Yes, this cab is heavier than your average small cab, but blame the EV speaker!

Thanks everyone for your input to help me get this one "done" !!!

[J M Fahey]

It ended up very nice looking