How about a fluffy amp?

[demonstar]

I'm just marking out the MDF ready to cut ready for the mini amp head I'm making to house my next project the noisy cricket. (The heads only going to be 25cmx15cmx12cm). It's going to be well equipped should we say as I plan to make this one something special maybe with loads of flashing LEDs or a scrolling LED display. Something quirky. 

Here's the problem though... what to cover the head in? I'm not sure what to use. Fake leather maybe in purple read or brown. One of the other alternatives I've thought of is a thick fluffy fabric.

Any ideas or folks with experience in covering amps?

I'll upload the picture and diagrams I'll be working from into the gallery. The pictures only rough and if the diagrams are hard to read sorry I'm not experienced with wood work or tech drawings.

Thanks!

[demonstar]

I've uploaded the scetch of how I'd like the head to look in my gallery...

"http://aronnelson.com/gallery/Demonstars-Gallery"

I decided not to bother with the diagrams.

[michal_k]

why dont you use tolex?

[demonstar]

Tolex? Is that the stuff you get on most amps you buy? I wasn't shure where to buy it and wasn't shure how easy it'd be to work with. Have you used it before, michal_k?

[CGDARK]

Tolex? Is that the stuff you get on most amps you buy? I wasn't shure where to buy it and wasn't shure how easy it'd be to work with. Have you used it before, michal_k?

You can find tolex here: http://www.tubesandmore.com/

CG

[R.G.]

Take it to a shop that does bed liners for pickup trucks and have them spray it with the stuff they spray into truck beds to protect the steel bed. That stuff is TOUGH.

[trevize]

http://rebel.massberg.org/

check this one! it's another great 386 amp.

[axg20202]

Personally, I'd advise against the 'muppet fur' look. It's all a bit of a giggle when you get it in place, but the novelty soon wears off, particularly once it gets dirty, matted and even bald - makes an otherwise good amp head look like junk and stripping cabinets to recover is not a fun job. Tolex is the best bet and was designed for the job. You can get lots of funky colours and designs.

Here's one place I know of that stocks it and offers a discount too, but have a look around for more patterns.

www.vibroworld.com

The best glue for tolexing is a water-based contact adhesive - makes clean-up a lot easier than with solvent-based contact adhesive. Dry fit and practive first as it's called contact adhesive for a reason! Once you've tolexed, install some good corner protectors, a handle and some glides or rubber feat underneath and you're done. I have a great link for tips on how to do the corners - the corners and folds really make the difference in how professional the finished result is. See the tolex tutorials here:

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/casey4s/albums


Top tip 1): if you're not doing proper finger or dove-tail cabinet joints, do your butt joints with 'Mitre Mate' two part glue (cyanoacrylate liquid - "super glue" - with a spray activator) or an equivalent product (don't just use normal superglue). Then insert two countersunk screws per joint into pre-drilled holes (MDF splits easily when driving screws into the ends) for extra strength.

Top tip 2): drill holes for your handle bolts before tolexing.

Top tip 3): if you're planning on painting any exposed surfaces of MDF (for example, my custom tube head has a perspex front to show off the swanky innards so the inside walls are painted) - paint the untreated MDF with a watery solution of PVA glue first (really slap the stuff on liberally) and allow to dry completely - it makes a perfect primer for MDF and stops it just soaking up your paint and giving an uneven paint finish. I treat faces receiving tolex too.

EDIT: Top tip 4) after tolexing, don't be in a rush to fit all the external hardware like corner protectors etc etc. Tolex shrinks to a tight fit once the glue goes off properly - fit everything at least a day or two after tolexing.

[demonstar]

Wow, thankyou axg20202 you've stopped me from making quite a few mistakes. That site should be a great help too. I think I'll go down to the local fabric store and see whats there. I know tolex is the sensible thing to do but I've still got a burning desire to use fake leather. I believe marshall do custom orders on cabinets with real leather. The amp shouldn't be travelling to much so it doesn't have to be too hardy.

The corner protectors are a good idea though. Thankyou very much for what seems very sound advice.

If I was to go with fake leather any advice on what to watch out for? I'm going to read the corners tutorial now as I assume all corners are done the same regardless of the material.

[axg20202]

Wow, thankyou axg20202 you've stopped me from making quite a few mistakes. That site should be a great help too. I think I'll go down to the local fabric store and see whats there. I know tolex is the sensible thing to do but I've still got a burning desire to use fake leather. I believe marshall do custom orders on cabinets with real leather. The amp shouldn't be travelling to much so it doesn't have to be too hardy.

The corner protectors are a good idea though. Thankyou very much for what seems very sound advice.

If I was to go with fake leather any advice on what to watch out for? I'm going to read the corners tutorial now as I assume all corners are done the same regardless of the material.

Glad to help. As well as looking good and protecting the corners, corner pieces also hide less-than-perfect cuts and folds at the corners to some extent - if you're new to this, you'll probably need them for this reason alone! For me, an amp cabinet looks incomplete without them anyway.

For covering the corners, as the link shows, try doing one on a scrap piece first to get the hang of it and your corners will be good. Use a sharp craft knife. As for covering material, it is definitely fun to try other materials but make sure you don't choose something too thick or it will be very hard to work with and wont give pleasing results. If you're wanting a 'pleather' look, tolex is still the best bet IMO - it comes in lots of finishes like cowhide, elephant hide etc - essentially differences in the pattern of the 'creases and cracks' of the 'skin'. Snakeskin tolex is another alternative, but its a bit hairspray rock for my taste. I strongly advise you to investigate and rule out tolex first. Cabinet covering is not as easy as it seems and using the proper material makes the job a lot less hassle and gives far better results. For example, proper amp covering material like tolex is backed with a cotton gauze-like material which aids adhesion.

EDIT: Top tip 5) (this is getting silly  ) - apart from the corner cuts, which have to be done 'in-place', carefully precut your rectangles of tolex to size so that they overlap at the right places etc before glueing - don't be tempted to glue then trim to fit - it will end up looking like a pigs ear, trust me.

[demonstar]

I decided to go with green vinyl and have since covered the amp in it and there is a picture in my gallery. (will be in a minute)

"http://aronnelson.com/gallery/Demonstars-Gallery"

I haven't even started the electrics yet and the box is still work in progress but I'm very pleased so far. I'm not sure whether to put corners on it or not because I think they're quite neat without having to be covered up IMO. I'll just see how it goes though. I'm not even if I can get corners as small as I'd like. I know Radio spares have some small ones.

[demonstar]

picture is now in gallery. 

[GREEN FUZ]

Good job.

[axg20202]

Nice one. Looks like you made a tidy job of it.

[demonstar]

Thanks! I just looking forwards to doing the next bits on it....

Putting the handle on
The feet
Finishing of the back
corners if I use them
Putting the steel plate in the front and drilling it
Designing and transferring the logo to the silver plate
Designing other decals for the front plate

Then finally the electrics themselves.
With luck it'll sound great and I'll be making a matching cabinet.

Amp making... so far... has been way more fun than pedal building.   Except for having to saw everything by hand. I decided against using the jigsaw because I guessed it's a bit dangerous because it's broken so the blade won't stay in and it looks like it could fly out at any minute.

Anyway, I'll post a picture and maybe some sound clips when it's all done. Thanks for all the advice off everyone.

[Arn C.]

I have an amp with the same sort of coloring.   I find all my materials in the sale bins at the sewing stores, fabric stores and also at goodwill and salvation army second hand shops.   Same goes for the grill cloth!

Nice Job!

Peace!
Arn C.

[spud]

Hey, Great looking head! -  What are the dimensions?   Speaking about amp coverings, I was hunting for some intersting stuff to cover amps/speaker cabs with when I ran across....

http://warehousefabricsinc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=WFI&Product_Code=VILCRD&Category_Code=

also....

http://warehousefabricsinc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=WFI&Product_Code=VILSIN&Category_Code=vinyl-upholstery-fabric

or....

http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/yhst-48015105577255_1962_264763102

and the large sample of colors

http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/yhst-48015105577255_1962_84327359

Has anyone used any of this textured stuff?  Anyone have any links or sites that show examples of this.  I'm really thinking that I'm going to try some of this on one of my amp builds but I'm unsure of the flexibility and how it was bend/fit around corners and such.  I've already found some cheap vinyl at my local Walmart - 3.98 a yard for some very dark blue stuff - I bought about 4 yards of it.  I also found a fabric store that sells Marine Vinyl for about $10.00 a yard.  Not bad price - it's the non-strech kind.  I've read that this is better for doing amps and cabs. 

Anyway, like the amp and hope to see it when it's all done. 

Cheers -

[demonstar]

I think if I remember correctly the dimensions are 12cm deep by 15cm tall by 23 or 25 wide, I can't remember which.

The red stuff at the top looks great. I'd imagine it'll work just fine but if it turns out to be no-good use red vinyl.

I should have pictures and sound clips in a couple of days.