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1X15: lightweight meets classic look & tone?

#81
bdplaid said:
I'm sitting here looking at my Mesa Subway 115. Looks like there might be barely enough room to wrap some cloth around the metal grille. Maybe, 1.5 mm all around, or a smidgen less.
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It would need to be pretty thin material.

Plain Old Barry said:
After the above, a spritz of 3M77 spray adhesive on the grille might help as well.

I "toned down" the look of some MarkBass cabs in a similar manner. In this case, the logo was simply taped on with double sided tape and a few dots of hot glue. It's all reversible when I sell them someday. I could have just as easily put the foam or cloth on the outside of the metal grille.

View attachment 4595884
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Notice that the foam is becoming detached in the upper right part of the grille, this is not uncommon and it's harder than it looks to adhere foam to metal grilles and have it look good over a long time. In the pro audio world it's done, but it's a pretty expensive way to go when labor is factored in.
 
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#82
jmjbassplayer said:
This, right here. To me, not caring about the vibe of your rig (especially when it's your job and you're on stage 4-6 nights a week) is equivalent to turning 40, putting away your cool band shirts forever, and surrendering to dockers and a fleece pullover. But to each their own.
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Maybe, so long as you aren't trying to imply those of us rocking Mesa have surrendered. I also submit that I never really cared what my rig looked like, and didn't really have the luxury of caring until I turned 40 and had some cash. My Mesa rig goes on the stage; my 1974 Fender Bassman with sparkly red Mojotone 2x12 cab stays at home. I still have the T's, don't own any Dockers, and might have a fleece pullover, but it stays at home for lounging. Sadly, I can't make my hair return (or my youth), but my jeans are black and so are my boots ;-). My band plays originals and not Mustang Sally.
 
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#83
lermgalieu said:
Maybe, so long as you aren't trying to imply those of us rocking Mesa have surrendered. I also submit that I never really cared what my rig looked like, and didn't really have the luxury of caring until I turned 40 and had some cash. My Mesa rig goes on the stage; my 1974 Fender Bassman with sparkly red Mojotone 2x12 cab stays at home. I still have the T's, don't own any Dockers, and might have a fleece pullover, but it stays at home for lounging. Sadly, I can't make my hair return (or my youth), but my jeans are black and so are my boots ;-). My band plays originals and not Mustang Sally.
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Just to note, most Mesa bass cabinets over the past say 20 years have used metal grilles. The only exception that I can think of off the top of my head were the Powerhouse traditional cabinets.

One reason is that for gigging large cabinets, the steel grilles tend to hold up better over the long haul. Of course road cases help, but steel grilles are a practical solution that keeps the cabinets from becoming ridiculously heavy compared with road cases.
 
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#84
agedhorse said:
Just to note, most Mesa bass cabinets over the past say 20 years have used metal grilles. The only exception that I can think of off the top of my head were the Powerhouse traditional cabinets.

One reason is that for gigging large cabinets, the steel grilles tend to hold up better over the long haul. Of course road cases help, but steel grilles are a practical solution that keeps the cabinets from becoming ridiculously heavy compared with road cases.
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This is one of the reasons I like them. The other is that they look cool, but we all have different opinions on that.
 
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#85
agedhorse said:
Just to note, most Mesa bass cabinets over the past say 20 years have used metal grilles. The only exception that I can think of off the top of my head were the Powerhouse traditional cabinets.

One reason is that for gigging large cabinets, the steel grilles tend to hold up better over the long haul. Of course road cases help, but steel grilles are a practical solution that keeps the cabinets from becoming ridiculously heavy compared with road cases.
Click to expand...
I think all the WA Scout combos and Scout cabs had a cloth-looking front as well - not sure what was underneath that cloth though.
 
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#86
lermgalieu said:
Maybe, so long as you aren't trying to imply those of us rocking Mesa have surrendered. I also submit that I never really cared what my rig looked like, and didn't really have the luxury of caring until I turned 40 and had some cash. My Mesa rig goes on the stage; my 1974 Fender Bassman with sparkly red Mojotone 2x12 cab stays at home. I still have the T's, don't own any Dockers, and might have a fleece pullover, but it stays at home for lounging. Sadly, I can't make my hair return (or my youth), but my jeans are black and so are my boots ;-). My band plays originals and not Mustang Sally.
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Cool, good on you. Again the sentence was, "not caring about the vibe of your rig". It wasn't "having a Mesa rig" or whatever else. The idea that your aesthetic choices are no longer of any value, whatever they might be.
 
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#89
I'm one of those guys who does like cool looking stuff, and I've been thinking about this most of the day. I have two Mesa 115 cabs and don't want to get rid of them, so I'm wondering what I can do to them... I wonder if a wrap would work on the grille? Yes, cut out the little holes. I'd have it done at a shop that does wraps. Doing that the sky's the limit.

I used to work with a drummer who would, on occasion, wrap his drums in fabric he'd find in stores like JoAnne's, etc. One time he had an underwater scene with cool looking fish. Sounded great, too; extra damping.
 
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#91
jmjbassplayer said:
This, right here. To me, not caring about the vibe of your rig (especially when it's your job and you're on stage 4-6 nights a week) is equivalent to turning 40, putting away your cool band shirts forever, and surrendering to dockers and a fleece pullover. But to each their own.
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If you ever come to NH, especially this winter you'll discover why we all love polar fleece up here:) The dockers I can live with out and I wear work boots or flip flops all year. And, right on I like aesthetics. Looks, balance, portability and performance are all important. But that's just me. And, stretching grill cloth and building the frame that will take the tension properly without distorting is not easy. It takes practice and some hair loss:) Same goes for tolexing.
 
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#93
lermgalieu said:
Maybe, so long as you aren't trying to imply those of us rocking Mesa have surrendered. I also submit that I never really cared what my rig looked like, and didn't really have the luxury of caring until I turned 40 and had some cash. My Mesa rig goes on the stage; my 1974 Fender Bassman with sparkly red Mojotone 2x12 cab stays at home. I still have the T's, don't own any Dockers, and might have a fleece pullover, but it stays at home for lounging. Sadly, I can't make my hair return (or my youth), but my jeans are black and so are my boots ;-). My band plays originals and not Mustang Sally.
Click to expand...

jmjbassplayer said:
Cool, good on you. Again the sentence was, "not caring about the vibe of your rig". It wasn't "having a Mesa rig" or whatever else. The idea that your aesthetic choices are no longer of any value, whatever they might be.
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We’re all bassist, are we not?
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#94
agedhorse said:
Just to note, most Mesa bass cabinets over the past say 20 years have used metal grilles. The only exception that I can think of off the top of my head were the Powerhouse traditional cabinets.

One reason is that for gigging large cabinets, the steel grilles tend to hold up better over the long haul. Of course road cases help, but steel grilles are a practical solution that keeps the cabinets from becoming ridiculously heavy compared with road cases.
Click to expand...
@agedhorse How hard would it be for someone to build a drop-in cloth covered frame instead of the metal grille?
One-off, of course.
 
#96
There was this "law" discovered or invented way back in the early history of the internet (Usenet? bulletin boards?). It was something like "all arguments arrive at references to [self-censored, reference(s) to historical persons/events] if they go on long enough".

Something like that happens on Talkbass too, but our threads don't converge to historical figures, fortunately.
 
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#99
abarson said:
@agedhorse How hard would it be for someone to build a drop-in cloth covered frame instead of the metal grille?
One-off, of course.
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Very difficult because of the porting. You could have a steel grille bent up with 2.5mm clearance around all sides, that would account for the thickness of the grill covering material. Can’t put much tension on it, but it could be done.
 
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