Two quick questions about the Recto diamond plate grill....

[BLUElightCory]

Hey all - I'm a long-time lurker, first-time poster. I did some searches but couldn't find the answer to either of these questions.

I just bought a revision F Dual Rec and I want to have the chrome diamond plate grille converted to blackface. I'm not an expert on this stuff so here are my questions:

1. Are the early 90s blackface grilles anodized, painted, powder coated, or something else? I'd like to get it as close to stock as possible.

2. Is the diamond plate grille made of steel or aluminum?

Thanks for your time!

 

[domct203]

Welcome to The Board.

The diamond plate is aluminum. I believe the black is anodized, that is how it appears on my Roadster.

I've seen some that were DIY painted black, they looked pretty good in the pictures I've seen on the net but I've not seen one in person. Don't know how that would hold up over time though, I would guess it would be easy to scratch it, exposing the silver aluminum underneath.

The plate is attached to the headshell with extremely strong adhesive. If I were going to paint it, I would mask it off and paint it in the shell. I've seen that some players have had success cafefully using heat to loosen the adhesive. If you go that route protect the Tolex as it will loosen with heat well before the aluminum gets up to a decent temp.

You could also call Mesa and get a new headshell the way you want it. If the one you have is a little beat-up, and especially if you got the amp for a good price, it might be worth the $$$ to "upgrade".

Dom