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How to make moving a heavy combo amp easier for back challenged player?

#101
Back problems and you drive an F150 with a 4" lift?
A lower vehicle would be my suggestion. Sorry id it's been mentioned previously. If another ride isn't realistic, try steroids or a roadie.

(I regularly load two Ampeg 810s, three basses in HSCs, a pedalboard in a flight case, and a 68lb 10space power section in a Volvo XC70.... previously it was an Xterra, but now I don't have to lift anything higher than my waist to load it in the vehicle, and the XC gets through every bit of snow, ice, and slush as the X every did on any road..."
 
#102
FWIW Sweetwater does 24 months/no interest financing, too, and their service and support are top-notch.

$900 for a PF350 (8lb) and 2 SVT210AV cabs (26lb each) cost less than 6 weeks of physical therapy (I've been down that road and don't ever want to do it again).

Listen to a pair of the SVT210AVs locally if you can. I think you'll be pleased, especially with them stacked vertically.
 
#103
Hey, the 150 is a LOT shorter than the CJ-7 on 37s it replaced... (And a lot more functional!)

Actually with me at 6' tall, it is just the right height for me to get in / out of, I don't have to bend / stoop / fold myself funny... Most cargo I haul is easily loaded in / out, but this thing is just a chunk is all...

My other car is a Saturn SL2. I *#$% hate getting in / out of that thing.
 
#104
If you must insist in insanity of tinkering and spending a dollar to save a dime. Mounting a set of casters to the top rear of the cabinet or to the dolly would certainly work. You can purchase hand trucks that have casters and belts at the top of the unit for the purpose of strapping the unit and then tilting it in to the bed of the truck. Both options are still fairly rediculous in comparrison to abandoning the idea of keeping your amps in favor of buying a quality used lightweight system that is readily available on fleabay and the like for a few hundred dollars. You could create a grossly over engineered mounted crane in your truck to lift the unit that you shouldnt be lifting in and out of the truck, or purchase one on craigslist. or you could accept a few humility pills, admit to yourself that you are not able to lift what you used to be able to and bite the bullet and get a damn lighter amp.
 
#105
Duke is on to something there. And can you maybe bolt some wheels/castors to the back of the combo so when you have the thing ready to lift it is more a case of just pushing the weight in instead of lifting? The castors would need to be about 1/4 from the top.
 
#107
Your original choice, maple will build a beautiful cab.

In hardwoods, I would go with nominal 1" stock.

Generally the greater the wood density, the heavier the cab and the brighter the sound.




Big Hoss said:
Mahogany is a big tough to source up around these parts. Not impossible though...

Native woods by me are Pin oak, White Oak, Pecan, Mesquite, Cedar. I can get most of the common north american hardwoods for reasonable prices, it's when we come to exotics / imports that things get spendy...

I'd have to take some measurements and get bd/ft pricing, but Mahogany isn't exactly a cheap project wood. When I have used it in the past, it has been about 50% higher cost than say Black Walnut which runs about $5.00 bd/ft for 4/4, so I would think Mahogany would run about $7.50 bd/ft. A VERY rough guesstimate of the lumber needed would be approximately 20 bd/ft, that would put me at $150.00 in materials not counting glue and biscuits to actually get the depth I need since I can't handle flattening 15" wide lumber I would have to join narrower boards to make the panel (unless I want to flatten them with hand planes, that is time consuming...)

Weight calculators show 20 bd / ft of kiln dried honduran mahogany 1/2" thick would weight 28.3 lbs.
Similar American Black Walnut would run 31.6 lbs...
Similar Silver Leaf Maple would run 25.38 lbs.

Any good reason accoustically not to use silver maple?
Click to expand...
 
#108
davy4575 said:
If you must insist in insanity of tinkering and spending a dollar to save a dime. Mounting a set of casters to the top rear of the cabinet or to the dolly would certainly work. You can purchase hand trucks that have casters and belts at the top of the unit for the purpose of strapping the unit and then tilting it in to the bed of the truck. Both options are still fairly rediculous in comparrison to abandoning the idea of keeping your amps in favor of buying a quality used lightweight system that is readily available on fleabay and the like for a few hundred dollars. You could create a grossly over engineered mounted crane in your truck to lift the unit that you shouldnt be lifting in and out of the truck, or purchase one on craigslist. or you could accept a few humility pills, admit to yourself that you are not able to lift what you used to be able to and bite the bullet and get a damn lighter amp.
Click to expand...

I was asking about temporary solutions due to budget.

Downunderwonder said:
Why wouldn't you just pull the amp from the combo to make life easy?
Click to expand...

How much weight would that shave from the combo?
 
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#111
Big Hoss said:
LOL... I love it! The biggest issue has been getting into and out of the truck at the house... My wife isn't very helpful loading stuff up...
Click to expand...

You like the free beer idea or the 37 lb GK?
I work in construction management and there was a time when you could literally get hundreds of dollars of extra work done for a 12 pack of Bud. Those days are over with my industry but that work ethic had to go somewhere. What does your wife drink?
 
#112
JACink said:
This would work, but it would be cheaper to get the lighter rig:

Truck-Crane-Liberator-5000.gif



Maybe you could rig some king of manual pulley system into the back of the truck?
Click to expand...
Maybe his F 150 has the man-step feature.
 

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