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Why on earth do they put carpeting on cabs?

Should cabs be covered in carpeting?

  • Absolutely! It works great!

    Votes: 61 19.2%
  • Not on your Life! I'd as soon carpet my dining room table!

    Votes: 123 38.7%
  • I really don't care, as long as they sound good.

    Votes: 108 34.0%
  • Only if it's carrot-coloured.

    Votes: 26 8.2%

  • Total voters
    318
I've been playing for 25 years and the people I play to absolutely care what my gear/band looks like. I'm not talking about cover bands though, I'm talking about bands that play in certain scenes that have an image to go along with the musical genre. For me, it's a fact of life, for you apparently not. Totally fine either way!


Do you think "Jaco" cared about how is bass and amp looked?
Do you think "Victor Wooten" got his gig with Bela Fleck and The Flecktones because his 1980's Fodera Monarch bass was in pristine condition.

Bottom line, you can play bass or you can't, doesn't matter what gear you use wearing a tuxedo or not.
 
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I freely admit that I have trouble understanding the reason many cabs are covered in carpet or "rat fur". To me, it just means that the cab will attact dirt, be difficult to clean, and generally look fuzzy and worn very quickly. I like my gear to look good, so carpeting is a deal-breaker as far as I'm concerned.

What do you guys think? Do you like carpeting or not, and if so, why?



I can remember back.....40 something years?
Every player around at that time was complaining about how Tolex wouldn't stand up to heavy use and some manufacturer should come up with something better.
Ampeg was the first I saw Tuff-Rug being used on.

IMHO, Tuff-Rug made a huge improvement in the durability and longevity of equipment.
I'm in a working, constantly gigging, semi-touring group.
I'll take durability and longevity over cosmetics/looks every time.
 
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I can remember back.....40 something years?
Every player around at that time was complaining about how Tolex wouldn't stand up to heavy use and some manufacturer should come up with something better.
Ampeg was the first I saw Tuff-Rug being used on.

IMHO, Tuff-Rug made a huge improvement in the durability and longevity of equipment.
I'm in a working, constantly gigging, semi-touring group.
I'll take durability and longevity over cosmetics/looks every time.

Good points, but you also have to keep in mind the plastics of today are way advanced over back in the day. I wouldn't make a claim that vinyl will outlast rat fur, but it certainly would outlast the plastics of the 70's and 80's. Remember when they first started making plastic shoes? They cracked out in a month. I would guess the most durable today would be the textured spray on stuff, but that is only a guess.
 
Do you think "Jaco" cared about how is bass and amp looked?
Do you think "Victor Wooten" got his gig with Bela Fleck and The Flecktones because his 1980's Fodera Monarch bass was in pristine condition.

Bottom line, you can play bass or you can't, doesn't matter what gear you use wearing a tuxedo or not.
So because some famous players didn't care what their gear looked like, I'm not allowed to care? I could care less what those guys thought about their gear. I only care what I think about MY gear. Bottom line, I prefer Tolex to rat fur because I like the way it looks.
To be clear, I would never look down on someone or think they are a terrible player because their cab is covered in rat fur, and I would never think someone is cool or a great player because they have a cab covered in Tolex ha ha this has gotten totally ridiculous... Maybe there should be a thread created to allow people to argue about caring about image, equipment, and relic bass finishes. One massive bash thread to rule them all!
 
Do you think "Jaco" cared about how is bass and amp looked?
Do you think "Victor Wooten" got his gig with Bela Fleck and The Flecktones because his 1980's Fodera Monarch bass was in pristine condition.

Bottom line, you can play bass or you can't, doesn't matter what gear you use wearing a tuxedo or not.

...unless your gig requires wearing a tux....you know, for those of us that operate in the range slightly below Jaco and Victor......
 
Rat fur might not be beatiful, but it sure beats the padding that some companies put on their gear in the 60s and early 70s. You know, the stuff that looks like the equipment was upholstered by a diner builder? IIRC, Kustom was one of the brands that did this.
 
If your cab is dressed in rat fur, maybe a python covering can be used to abate it.

python legend.jpg
 
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Interesting topic to revive. They're still making carpeted cabinets - I just picked up the bottom cab last week from Thomann.

I don't know what they're using, but the top cab has been easy to maintain and doesn't pill up like some of the black rat fur cabs I've had in the past.

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