Rat fur!!!! Why do amps have Rat fur?!

[JimiLL]

Rat fur doesnt tear nearly as easily as tolex.

Also tolex dries out and gets brittle

 

[tekhedd]

And then there's that stuff that Mesa uses. It looks great, but it tears like wrapping paper. So, it's *just* like wrapping paper, I guess.

 

[Cristo]

Someone found a way to make a buck off all those dead rats?

 

[Jeff K]

I like the red and black on my Bag End. Looks good, and like somebody said, it's handy for velcro. I take my cable ties and just stick them on the top/side of the cab.

 

[KevInDaBassment]

I thought you guys were joking. Seriously, amp makers have models with rat fur?

LOL That would be a lotta rodent hides! Something tells me that the base of operations would be New York City

 

[Bengals]

Had a nasty incident with a rat fur cab. Had to haul my 90 pound GK 410 up my narrow basement staircase by myself, barely made it up there and wound up with some nasty rug-burn for my trouble.
Really considering re-covering my cabs with tolex when I get the time.

 

[Kwesi]

After having both rat fur and tolex covered cabs, I've found that I like the rat fur best. Tolex looks badass... until it's blemished and blemishes will happen. My Bergantino has a nice padded cover and still it gets bruises here and there. Rat fur on the other hand will alway look... like rat fur, lol. I just picked up two rat fur covered cabs that are nearly 15 years old and with the exception of the corners they look pretty darn clean! I just like my stuff to look like it hasn't been touched, haha.

 

[Russell L]

I don't like rat fur, but I make use of it with Velcro stuff, like cable ties, etc. Always some dog or cat hair on my stuff, though, and a pine needle once in awhile. I just quit worrying about it, clean it once in awhile, and go forward.

 

[avi]

The rat fur does burn. I had my cabinet too close to stage lights once. Also...smells real bad when that happens.

 

[Plastalmonus]

6 years later and people still don't like rat fur.

 

[murphy]

and I still LOVE IT

looks good...durable...protects the wood......Doesn't tear....

Love

It

 

[murphy]

6 years later and people still don't like rat fur.

Oh...forgot to mention.....I LOVE IT

 

[2saddleslab]

HATE rat fur. It wears like hell, traps bad odors, and looks cheap. The only solution is to enter full recovery.

From this:

To this:

 

[chadds]

HATE rat fur. It wears like hell, traps bad odors, and looks cheap. The only solution is to enter full recovery.

From this:
View attachment 2858674

To this:
View attachment 2858675

Is that like 12 steps?

 

[chadds]

Don’t play places with bad smells, don’t live in places with bad smells. Those places aren’t good for you way before we talk about cabs. Very few smoking places around.
Actually RF cleans well and is replaceable if it gets bad. Takes hits without sending dents into cab. Had a cab get wet with clean water. It made some of the RF come loose. Had it reapplied by a PA company. It was funny to them to work on such a small cab. Took them ten minutes.
While I love the look of new tolex with chrome corners you probably weren’t moving Dual Showman cabs at 3am when those corners are half loose. Have you seen a flatback SVT cab with no tolex on one side? Stacking corners make for stable stacking. So the good old days aren’t always good. Meanwhile minty fresh rigs that only sit in studio. That’s another thing.

As usual on TB it’s personal preference.
Unless....”tolex and chrome corners sound better.” Actually they do because they are more resonant. Rat Fur dampens important frequencies. I know because vintage bassists used only tolex and chrome corners.

 

[2saddleslab]

Is that like 12 steps?

Let's just say it was a process.

 

[chadds]

Let's just say it was a process.

That’s a significant and beautiful redo!

 

[BassmanPaul]

HATE rat fur. It wears like hell, traps bad odors, and looks cheap. The only solution is to enter full recovery.

I envy your skill in the recovering process.