Painting your grill cloth

[Sin Nis]

Has anyone tried this would it negatively effect your sound any. I have a 6-10 ampeg cab And a 1-18 ampeg cab I have been thinking about doing this to

 

[Jim C]

One could make a point that any coating over grill cloth would alter the high freq. characteristics although probably not audible.
You would use a lot more paint making a black grill cloth white so keep that in mind.

 

[Funk With Me]

Back in the day when I carried 16 10's everywhere I went, the grills used to get a little scuffed up. A can of flat black (my preference) spray paint would keep them looking new. Didn't hurt a thing.

 

[Sin Nis]

Well I was going to have a friend paint a mural of some sort on there grill she is a hell of an artist. But was not sure how that would effect the overall sound if any

 

[3684799953275]

If you have the $$ to spare, order a second grille and test it out. Leave one original....

 

[Jakeman]

Semi-related question - how would one go about tie-dying a grill cloth? Thoughts?

 

[Sin Nis]

Semi-related question - how would one go about tie-dying a grill cloth? Thoughts?

View attachment 3975836

I know you can order them

 

[Redbrangus]

I think the tie-dyes you see are conventional (cotton?) fabric, not actual woven grill cloth material. Most grill cloth material is synthetic, and the finished product doesn't accept dye too well.

Paint will fill the tiny openings in woven grill cloth material and the effect is to block HF energy; whether this matters with a bass cab is highly subjective.

Edit: I do think that a grill cloth, rendered fully acoustically opaque by a 100% coating of paint would start to act as a secondary diaphragm and effect the sound considerably.

 

[Funk With Me]

Well I was going to have a friend paint a mural of some sort on there grill she is a hell of an artist. But was not sure how that would effect the overall sound if any

If it's an air brush mural it's not a problem. If it's rollered and/or brushed to the point where it fills in the grill cloth you may hear a difference. I have no experience with that so I can't say.

 

[BassmanPaul]

Painting a grille cloth is a bad idea all around. Don't do it!

A Grille is supposed to be acoustically transparent. Paint is not.

 

[GwenOnBass]

Semi-related question - how would one go about tie-dying a grill cloth? Thoughts?

View attachment 3975836

This'll do ya Speaker Grills

 

[Gizmot]

For probably less money and certainly a lot less hassle, I'd simply buy new grille cloth. You've got a lot of options and it will make your amp look better too.

 

[Bassdirty]

..Paint will fill the tiny openings in woven grill cloth material and the effect is to block HF energy; whether this matters with a bass cab is highly subjective.
Edit: I do think that a grill cloth, rendered fully acoustically opaque by a 100% coating of paint would start to act as a secondary diaphragm and effect the sound considerably.

I agree. I also think it depends on the cloth. if its a really tight sorta weave, a thick coat could bind the "openings" together, or at least make the openings smaller, which Id think would affect the sound a bit.

If the fabric "weave" is more open, or "larger", so to speak, paint may have vary little affect. So, I think it depends.

I would perform a test on one before risking on my own gear..or have a backup I spose.

YMMV

T$

 

[dalkowski]

Audio fidelity aside, my fear would be of the paint rubbing/flaking off and making an unholy PITA mess everywhere.

 

[micguy]

The Acoustical resistance of a hole is inversely proportional to the FOURTH power of the hole diameter. What that means to someone not steeped in Physics: if the paint you use starts to close up the holes between the fibers in the grill cloth, things change VERY quickly. If you're gonna paint it, use only as much paint as you absolutely have to, and hope that it doesn't mess things up too much.

 

[Uncle Walt]

I had an 810 fridge and instead of painting the grill cloth, I painted the baffles (inside under the grill) Then I added some LEDs. With the lights on you could see through the GRILL. It was pretty cool.

 

[Jeff Hughes]

I spray painted an Ampeg grill cloth because it had some nasty sticker residue. I did 8-10 coats of black spray paint, and it had no averse effect. Just sucks that you can't go backwards. Maybe make a new grill cloth to preserve the original.

 

[HardNHeavy]

maybe if using an airbrush and not too heavy with the paint rattle can :/ otherwise check out a fabric store with different patterns/colors etc....It would be cool to see your friends artistic abilities on a cabinet, as long as the fabric can breath out those frequencies as said above

 

[BogeyBass]

People paint grills all the time
using a airbrush or spray paint stencils then brushed details.

does not change the sound
long as your not moping on paint lol.
airbrush or spray paint covers thin and easily
going over black, to get vibrant lighter colors like reds/ yellows/ pink etc
its easier to airbrush those areas silver first.
colors come out brighter

you can use white based grease pencil or basically white fabric pencil for
marking patterns on fabric
to start or draw out a bass line/ image guide sketch on the grill

 

[BogeyBass]

you can also use the thin black speaker grill cloth that most use for home stereo speakers.
its similar to theatre scrim or mesh fabric or vinyl coated mesh.
all those fabrics paint easier than heavy woven grill material.
theatre scrim is designed to be painted with a image, if you backlight it its transparent.
very similar to the thin black cloth used for home stereo speakers