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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
Carpeting absorbs odors, and liquids. This is not good. Also dirt, etc. I think it looks awful and cheap even when new.

me too. i do not care for the smell it emits. bad enough all my instruments smell like stale tobacco smoke...but the carpet is much, much worse at absorbing, retaining, and emitting the stink. obtw that is also why i do not have any basses refinished in rat fur 8-)
 
Never had a "rat fur"amp.
Everthing I've had was Tolex covered.

Tolex is definitely easier to clean.
Some 409 and a sponge.
I prefer Tolex if I buy a cabinet or combo, but I do hate that the texture is impossible to keep clean.

I've made a few combo cabinets and cabinets to hold heads and covered them with heavy duty upholstery fabric. I'm surprised more folks don't use it. It's tough, easy to work with, glues well, and looks great and doesn't soil easily depending on the pattern and color you choose. My last head was housed in a very cool Egyptian motif fabric that used to get me a lot of questions after gigs. The good stuff is more like a heavy canvas than a fabric.

Fabric stores often have really good sales, plus it's a great place to meet a potential mate!
 
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Reactions: Omega Monkey
Why on earth do they put carpeting on cabs?

Because anything is better than Tolex?


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Chuckspringrelease.gif
 
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.


Reading through the responses leaves me baffled.

You all know there is this thing called a vacuum cleaner right? It takes minute to plug it in and run over the cabinet. It uses suction to remove debris from the surface of flooring, carpeting, etc. It really is a neat little invention.

I could not care less what a cab is covered with. All I know is my Epifany UL2's driven by a Mesa D-800 is music nirvana. And using that neat little invention once a year keeps them looking good.
 
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17+ years I've had a pair of carpet covered cabs that I've used for hundreds of shows and they look like the day I got them. I just do my best to take care of my gear. That said, I've seen some really rough looking carpet covered cabs over the years! It all comes down to personal preference and how you treat your things. If you abuse a cab, it won't matter what it's covered in... it'll look abused. If you take care, anything can stay looking great. Some of the worst looking cabs I've seen were tolex-covered 8x10 cabs. They're so big and bulky, it's hard to be delicate moving them and loading them in and out of venues and such. If I were dealing with an 8x10 or really any cabs that were taking a beating for whatever reason, I'd probably cover the entirety with spray-on truck bed liner honestly.

To each his own, my fellow bass player!
Jacob
 
Rat fur could be a problem if you have cats. The solution is simple: upgrade your cats to dogs.

1. Cats will definitely claw your rat fur cabs.
2. Cats don't care whether you live or die; you're just a servant to them.
3. Dogs are better.

Dogs are like P Basses with tort pickgaurds and flats running into an SVT. (Which is, ironically, not covered in rat fur)
Cats are like Guitar Center.