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Looking for project advice

M

mtglick

Oct 4, 2013
12
0
Thousand Oaks
#1
Hi, all--

I just picked up a cheap 1x15 Crate cab that used to be a 160w Crate combo for virtually nothing. Previous owner removed the amp section altogether, so now it's a 1x15 cab with a built-in 2" space.

I'm thinking about finding a cheap ~200w SS head and rehoming it into the cab, partly for fun (yeah, yeah) but also because I'd like the flexibility of rolling this out as either a combo or an extension cab. That said, I haven't done a lot of amp work (other than resoldering a couple of bad connections once). I can build (well, bend) a chassis, but virtually every amp I've looked at thus far is far taller than the 2" I have to work with, so whatever I pick up will have to be reconfigured, and cool enough to survive in a back-vent-only environment.

Trying to figure out if this is feasible, and if so, what should I be looking for in a project amp that I can tear apart and reconfigure into this very specific space?

Thanks!
 
#4
Wow--that was fast. Interesting solution. Will have to go find one and play it a bit, but it certainly has its merits as a fast and easy path to done. It's almost unsatisfying in that regard. Still open to hearing about how I would go about reconfiguring an amp into that space, sometimes I come across decent gear in trades.

Thanks!
 
#5
Look for other old, junk combos for cheap, like ones with a blown speaker.

Many of those amp chassis are just a bent plate that makes up the bottom, front and back, with the cabinet serving as the sides and top.

Some standalone amps that come in a headcsse instead of being rackmount are made like that too. The SWR Workingmans series and silverface Fender Bassmans are 2 that I know of....there's more out there.


Of course, there's always sawing the top off your combo, adding a little height, and reattaching it.
 
#6
I did take the amp part out of my Peavey TKO 115 combo and build it into a headcase. That's not more than 2" high and realky lightweight (most of the weight in those is the lead-infused pressboard they made the enclosures out of). Can keep an eye out for one of those. Should be cheap, but they're only 80 watts and 8ohm minimum, so no expansion. TNT combos might be made the same way. They can handle 4 ohms and many 2 ohms.....and they're 130 watts.
 

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