FINALLY FINISHED closing my F-30 combo's open back!!

[MusicManJP6]

My dad and I cut the piece out today (mostly him really). He's a wiz at the power tools. Knocked it out in like 10 minutes. It's not perfect, but it's darn close. I ended up using 5/8" to leave room for the tolex and velcro so it will be flush with the stock piece when stuck on. I need to get some tolex now. I've got some velcro I ordered for my pedalboard, so all I lack is the tolex. Any tips applying the tolex would be much appreciated!

 

[NDRU]

I'm interested in the results because, like you, I'd rather not purchase & carry another heavy piece of equipment.

But somehow i think maybe an extension cab is the way to go. The F30 has bass, sometimes it's even bassy, but it's not clearly defined bass.

I know the tubes play a part, but it's also a very small cabinet, not like my Fender Deluxe Reverb, which has great bass (and 6V6 tubes)

 

[MusicManJP6]

I'm interested in the results because, like you, I'd rather not purchase & carry another heavy piece of equipment.

But somehow i think maybe an extension cab is the way to go. The F30 has bass, sometimes it's even bassy, but it's not clearly defined bass.

I know the tubes play a part, but it's also a very small cabinet, not like my Fender Deluxe Reverb, which has great bass (and 6V6 tubes)

That is precisely what this does - it adds definition to the bass. It makes it sound 'harder' if that makes sense...

Here's a pic of the new piece. It's not perfect, but it makes a difference and will look good once I tolex it. I ended up adding a place for the power cord and footswitch. I think the hole at the center of the speaker at the bottom of the piece could have been smaller, but I was trying to be safe and leave enough room for air flow...

 

[NDRU]

interesting, and you really hear the difference?

 

[MusicManJP6]

yeah, i think it does! it's not like a "holy sh!t, who's amp is this" type of difference, but there is definitely a difference. I ordered some tolex to make it look official because there is enough of a difference to please my ears. I hope to get the piece covered this weekend if the tolex comes in soon enough.

ALSO - In an effort to get the best tone possible out of one cabinet, I took the pouch for the footswitch as well as the reverb tank out of the cabinet. Removing them made a noticeable difference too! I then added the custom piece and these two modifications combined makes the amp less muffled and more natural sounding with harder, more defined bass. I'm pretty happy with it!

 

[MusicManJP6]

Not sure if anyone is still following this thread, but I got the tolex in yesterday and painted the inside of the piece (side toward the speaker) so it is black and ready for the front to be tolexed! I'm hoping to be able to do it tonight, but by the end of the week at the latest...

 

[MusicManJP6]

I got this far tonight:

I'm covering all the 'easy' angles by wrapping it around. Some of the smaller odd angle i'll 'patch' in...

 

[MusicManJP6]

I finally had time to finish this project and it came out better than I expected! I still have to add the velcro, but that's cake compared to this (my first) tolex job...

It's not a perfect match, but i'd say I could hit the combo with a armer all wipe and rub on it until it's not greasy with a rag afterwards and they would look about the same. I'm not too worried about it though...

 

[MJ Slaughter]

MusicMan,

I'm glad you tried this because I am thinking of doing the same to my DC-5 combo. Did you say that you think you could have made the opening behind the speaker smaller?

I've been tempted many times to get a closed extension cabinet for this amp for the fun of it but don't want to carry any more crap to a gig than I already do.

 

[AustinK]

Good work. The hole for the power cable is a great idea.

 

[Ukalali Solo]

Man looks great, there is a noticeable difference between the new tolex and the old tolex, but its negligible really. Great work

 

[MusicManJP6]

MusicMan,

I'm glad you tried this because I am thinking of doing the same to my DC-5 combo. Did you say that you think you could have made the opening behind the speaker smaller?

I've been tempted many times to get a closed extension cabinet for this amp for the fun of it but don't want to carry any more crap to a gig than I already do.

Yeah, I think I could have either foregone the hole behind the speaker altogether, or at least made it about 30%-40% smaller... I was trying to take air ventilation into consideration, but after seeing the back of a stiletto, I think I would have been fine to take the hole out completely... oh well! It looks cool...

 

[MusicManJP6]

Man looks great, there is a noticeable difference between the new tolex and the old tolex, but its negligible really. Great work

Yeah, not a huge deal, but like I said, I could (and probably will) use some armor all and get the old tolex back up to a dark black like the newer stuff. I've done it before with great results. I just used one wipe and kept rubbing on the tolex until the wipe was drying out a bit and then used a t-shirt to wipe off as much excess as possible. It made my old thieles (when I had the Mark IV) look like they were brand new!!

 

[sixtonoize]

That looks freaking AWESOME, man!

Good job!