Remember when "rat fur" cabinets were the latest thing?

[DJ Bebop]

I got my cabs cheap because of the fur.
I was looking for sound at the time.
Eden CX 110, Aguilar GS 112...

Nasty looking but good sounding

 

[City]

My cat says that my old rat fur cabinet is purrrrrfect as a scratching post.

 

[Killing Floor]

I used a lot of Ozite back then. I had to buy it in full bolts from a car parts dealer. But it didn't fuzz up as bad as the cheap stuff.
Depending on how nice you want your stuff to look or how little you care there may not ever be a perfect solution.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Agree completely. My old Hartke cabs still look good after 30-odd years of gigging. But I don't have pets and don't use my cabinets as drink tables.
That said, our old band had a set of P.A. mains covered in rat fur that someone's cat decided was a good spot to take a wizz. It was awful being in a van for a couple of hours with those speakers inside.

Years ago I had a 210 Hartke cab and kept it at a friends house. That thing was a cat magnet. If you tried to keep his cat away from it would howl and whine. Try to move it off, and 4 sets of claws would dig in. Pull one of those legs free and you were likely going to need a trip to the first aid cabinet. It ended up being such a mess, I just gave it it his daughter when she started playing bass. No charge of course. I really didn’t want it back.LOL!!!

 

[DJ Bebop]

I used a lot of Ozite back then. I had to buy it in full bolts from a car parts dealer. But it didn't fuzz up as bad as the cheap stuff.
Depending on how nice you want your stuff to look or how little you care there may not ever be a perfect solution.

Someone suggested Line-X type of spray-on truck bed liner stuff, rough but durable (?)

 

[sokolasty]

As I recall this was the promise of rat fur back then, no big scabs of tolex coming off you didn't need covers because well the things were carpet covered so indestructible right?

Wrong : )
As a DIYer with vinyl and carpet experience: carpet is cheap to buy, twenty times easier to apply, bends easily at sharp edges and joints aren't visible. It's forgiving: one can hide any poor workmanship as carpet doesn't reflect light and has no pattern. It's soft as well, one cut it with worn out knife, cut it skew, and anyone sees any difference.

Money talks

 

[lug]

One word.....microfiber!

 

[StereoPlayer]

Beat up amps never seemed to bother this guy…

 

[Riff Ranger]

When I started out as a teenager in the mid-‘90s, a lot of us went with rat fur cabs or combos just because of what we had available to us at the time.

Traynor’s new Small Block combos come covered in rat fur. I bought one—when I had options!—not quite a year ago. This, weeks after moving along a rat-fur-covered ‘90s Peavey cab that I find myself missing. I didn’t see any of that coming in the ‘00s

 

[JMarkD]

I never had an issue with carpeted cabs. In fact I still use one, an Aguilar GS112, and have used it for almost twenty years. It still looks great with no bare spots or tears. I don't use a cover on it either as the cover wore out years ago.
Oh I get the issues with the carpet, but some of us don't spill beer on them, handle them with a bit of care and clean them with a lint remover from time to time. I would never refuse to purchase a cab because of this covering. I also have Eden and Bergantino cabs with carpet that are older than the Aggie and still look great as well. To each their own.

 

[bolophonic]

I think you're seriously misjudging punk priorities.

Legit LOL over here.

 

[DJ Bebop]

rat fur = heavy (?)

no pics, but i still have a couple of rat fur yamaha monitor cabs that i use for some PA gigs that i do. i don't mind the rat fur so much, but the weight of those things is occasionally 'threatening' after a long day.

I hear yah, we have a pair of these old buddies.
Still use them, just roll them into and out of the shed to the backyard for parties anymore

 

[bolophonic]

I never minded rat fur when I first started seeing it everywhere. I had a Hartke combo that I loved and the fuzz held up alright. But I prefer bed liner. There is something about the ubiquitous utilitarian, no-frills finishes on bass gear that appeals to me more than tolex or fancy wood cabs.

 

[Pings Bass]

Working pro sound in the 80s rat fur wasn't seen as "the latest thing" but as something you'd see on non-pro gear, like what DJs would use.

The only rat fur i ever owned was an ashdown cab; my cat made short work of it. Glad to be rid of it.

 

[pfschim]

I remember back in the 1980's when smoking was allowed in clubs and of course EVERYBODY SMOKED IN CLUBS (even if you were not a regular smoker, smoking and drinking went together LOL).

We'd set up again after the gig for practice and as soon as I started playing my rig, puffs of cigarette odor would come emanating out from the shelf ports LOL.

Analogeezer

yeah, I was there playing clubs in the 70's and 80's while smoking inside was still common. I remember that when you played on a raised stage the smoke level would descend from the ceiling until by the last set, my head would be in the nasty haze zone. Everything stunk of cigarette smoke and general "bar stink" ... amp, cabs, basses ... everything! I had to keep my gig clothes hung up in my garage between cleanings because they would make my room stink like a club

good times

 

[DirkP]

I never had an issue with carpeted cabs. In fact I still use one, an Aguilar GS112, and have used it for almost twenty years. It still looks great with no bare spots or tears. I don't use a cover on it either as the cover wore out years ago.
Oh I get the issues with the carpet, but some of us don't spill beer on them, handle them with a bit of care and clean them with a lint remover from time to time. I would never refuse to purchase a cab because of this covering. I also have Eden and Bergantino cabs with carpet that are older than the Aggie and still look great as well. To each their own.

Same here. I own Markbass gear since many years and have played a lot of gigs with a 1x12 combo and still looks like new. I like it, that I can use the fur as a small pedal board that holds my velcro-pedals.

 

[Dincrest]

Reminds me of an article I read about the challenges of marketing to younger people. The article interviewed someone from Proctor and Gamble who said the sales of fabric softener were really tanking.

The spokeswoman said "part of the challenge of getting them to buy the product is to know it even exists. Most don't even know what fabric softener is" LOL

Analogeezer

During summer school (I work in special education with high school students) we were doing a life skills field trip to Rite-Aid. There, one of my colleagues bought some dry shampoo for herself. One of the students had no idea what dry shampoo is, the colleague was explaining it, then the kid saw me walking by and said, "Never heard of it. Mr. C, have you heard of dry shampoo?"

That was when I was telling him and my colleague about how great it was when I was touring up and down the east coast with various bands. When we would play multi-day camping festivals, we didn't have access to showers, so we often used dry shampoo so we wouldn't stink so bad. Their expressions were priceless!

Heh, and it was a young lady I used to be friends with who turned me onto dry shampoo several years ago. She was the lead vocalist in a heavily touring brutal death metal band. And I later on turned other bandmates onto it.

So yes kids, dry shampoo is a thing.

 

[Plain Old Barry]

MarkBass still uses it. I also have a Fender Bassman 250/210. Everything is holding up great, but I use Tuki covers on everything. I also have cats….

What the outside is covered with is way down my list when choosing new gear.

 

[micguy]

I was around before, during, and now after rat fur. Never had a piece of gear with that stuff on it. Matter of fact, I am now not only rat fur free, but also tolex free.

 

[Paul New]

Cat hair magnet.