How to Build a Fender Style Amp Head Enclosure
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ส.ค. 2024
- Watch how I built an enclosure for a Fender Style amp chassis out of wood from an old IKEA dresser.
Website article: merwinmusic.com/2020/07/03/box...
Amp Repair Video: • Repairing a Mysterious...
Patreon: / merwinmusic
Website: merwinmusic.com/
0:00 Intro
0:15 Wood
1:13 Dimensions
2:57 Box Joints
4:16 Front Slope
5:22 Sanding
6:09 Finish
6:38 Chassis Support
7:30 Grill Cloth
9:33 Feet / Handle
10:04 Outro - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
Excellent work! I love the look of the natural wood on Fender heads and cabs.
The amp head turned out great! I'd vote yay on making the matching speaker cab if you have the time to do it.
so cool to see when someone has exactly the same hobbies. Great job👍
your channel is so underrated ! awesome ! I also love destroying ikea furniture :) I also like the fact that you did a Mathias Wandel style jig and you're not all smug about it
Awesomeness in your face....That was really nice. Please build a cabinet....the amp deserves that
Awesome job as per usual, man! Came out really nice, and I'd love to see a speaker cab build!
The project came out looking well made. You definitely did an extraordinary job and the use of the discarded Ikea furniture piece along with using what you had on hand is both brilliant and economical.
I’ve done similarly recycled sourcing of materials for a few of my own projects that I refer to as Home Depot Specials. At least the first two or three projects I did of this nature utilized left overs from other projects where I’d purchased the materials primarily from Home Depot and to a lesser extent Lowes. My favorite was a 1x18” air suspension bass guitar speaker cabinet that had an 8Ω, 18” Celestion bass guitar speaker that I bought new for about $75. Paired with a 8Ω, 2x10” bass guitar cabinet, another Home Depot Special build, and a 500 watt Ashdown bass guitar amp head, there was some serious air being moved. When completed, I had enough extra cash to buy a used MIM Fender Precision Bass Guitar.
I think retaining the current grill cloth is a good idea. The front panel of the amp definitely looks like it’s a veteran of many, many beer bar battles and club campaigns. Having the grill cloth sporting the same kinds of gigging war wounds complements the aged front amp panel and does not cause the newness of the cabinet to stand out or be as pronounced. Of course that’s just my opinion.
A question for you. You called the cabinet joinery technique you used, “Box Joints”. I always called what you utilized, “Finger Joints”. Are there any differences between Box Joints and the Finger Joints?
You know more than I do. I’m mostly self taught, having only the basics taught to me by my father and his knowledge gained working in and later with the trades as the Expediter for my uncle’s company. My uncle built large tract home developments in the Denver area in the 50’s.
Yes on the speaker cabinet. I learned what I know from watching others and I’m sure you employ better ways (I’m thinking it depends on the scope of the project) to build speaker cabinets than what I do. I have one method as opposed to other methods I’ve seen you rely on in your other videos of builds.
The old and used grill cloth looks great!
Sweet method for the box joints! Very helpful video, thanks!
Looks good, sounds good. You have a great amp there now. Good job sir and thanks for sharing.
New sub here! This channel needs to get huge! Such quality and interesting videos :p thanks for what you do ✌️😊👍
Thanks Merwin, I hope my current cabinet build turns out half as nice...
Definitely make an accompanying cab, it'd look great! I think this looks fantastic and I also wouldn't change the grill cloth :-)
i think the grill cloth looks fantastic personally, has a good story coming from the original enclosure you got it in, i'd leave it. Besides, great build really enjoyed it
Thanks for this! I’m thinking of breaking my Twin down into a separate head and cab, so this is super helpful. Awesome box joint jig! 👍
great work and video. thanks for sharing. 👍🏽
Nice work! I am actually planning on doing this exact thing with a Peavey amp I got (missing the original speakers, and the cab is in awful shape). I also have a kit for a Vox AC15 style amp that I'll also put in a head.
i like the grille cloth as youve done it - nice build!
above and beyond. good work
Excellent job! Very motivating!
Well done, looks amazing!
Wow, really nice work! Inspired.
Awesome job!
Nice job. Very instructive.
I might have sold the old cabinet and bought some serious wood to build the top from... maybe. Now you ve got that ikea look.
Beautiful.
Fantastic!!
Very nice job it looks great!
Enjoyed this build
Great build and video!
Excellent video! Wish I'd had a shop teacher like you.
Thanks. I wish I had shop at all, luckily I had my dad.
That's beautiful
Beautiful job!
The old cloth actually matches the scratched front panel! I'd say leave it.
Beautiful
Good job!! I like your idea! I love too recycle old forniture...👍👍
Good stuff!,.. I like building amp & speaker cabs also. My latest 2/12 angled british style cab sounds super!
Well done!
Looks fantastic 🔥
Awesome video!
Looks good!🤘🏼 Wish Fender made something like this!...
I love this project. I humbly suggest for the grille cloth. The material that you rejected as being too light in color could be dyed with some cordovan-colored shoe polish. Try it first on a small sample piece.
Yeah, I like that idea, or possibly lightening the colour if possible. Maybe using some diluted bleach would work?
Looks good! Go for the matching speaker cabinet for sure.
For sure. Just finished it: th-cam.com/video/3Lv1U7-hfFI/w-d-xo.html
Nice job!
Very very nice work!
Mate, that’s brilliant.
You know, I always wanted to turn my little U.K. garage into a woodwork shop with kit like yours inside. Then I’d start up a small business custom making wooden cabs for individual customer’s amps.
Do it!
Wow !!!! great Job bro...keep it up...
Yes we want to see you build a speaker cab!
You're in luck:th-cam.com/video/3Lv1U7-hfFI/w-d-xo.html
Pretty good for scrap from the garbage. I like it
Nice job!!
Great job dude, I did something similar with an old combo too.
So cool
Молодец, прекрасный столяр!
Dig the finger joint jig! Pretty cool. Amp came out nice I think 👍
Great job!!😀
Te quedó de lujo !
Looks awesome man!
Very nice.
Good project!
Nice video , reqlly well done
Feel a bit inspired now. Thanks
Great job bro 👍
awesome video, fantastic construction as well. as I sat here watching, 1 thought kept flowing through my mind; how about mounting 3-4 speakers behind the cloth, with a bypass switch. thus it becomes a sort of "all in 1" as well as being a driver for an external cabinet.... a little experiment I may take on in the near future....
I would love to see the matching cabinet beeing build
I love it!
Looks good !
Looks killer
The cloth looks great,...no need to change it because the amp paint is a little tattered as well. Perfect match...
Do it! This was awesome!
Love it...Would I be sad to say...I’d have made this into a small “Combo” if there were good enough speakers out there to replace the 10” sounding Greenbacks, if any? Great Job, I do like the original cover used. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I enjoyed watching that, thanks. As the enclosure ages then perhaps the cloth will look less out of place against the freshly sanded wood.
This is awesome man. Really wish I had a table saw, well actually not the issue, I just have no space for one. I'll stick to making pedals and small amps for now. Subbed.
Ce mec est un virtuose du bois!!!
Awesome
That is a great looking amp head. By the way, that's not a Fender style head. That is a Fender blackface "Showman" likely built before 1965. That cabinet it was in was not the original cabinet. You have a real classic, take care of it.
Maybe like a Dick Dale prototype. Pretty rare.
Feels like a knock off showman. Some of the pots and rear switches don’t seem right.
excelente!
nice, wish i had taken notice in woodwork class now lol
This looks so simple and easy to diy! One day I will build my own 2x12 cabinet.. Starting first with a pedal board with a simple hand saw. I need a workplace! But I hate the noise and dust of all that machines, a love and hate connection.
i bet u never made a cut with a handsaw your entire life. mr. love hate relationship with things you might imagine. theres a reason why power saws exist.
@@gantz4u you sure know how to party 🎉
Great build.
How about an array of small speakers behind the cloth ?
I think it would make it a great little practice-amp.
And with an on/off switch its stil perfect for your bigger speakers.
Salute from here!!!
I have a Marshall Valvestate 265R combo sitting in my attic that I’m thinking to fit to a head cabinet. Got some walnut sawn down from a large limb of a tree on my property - might be a perfect match...🤔
That seems to be an original Fender Showman head from the mid-1960s. It was originally in a head enclosure just like the one you made. Looks like one of the owners decided to make a home built combo enclosure for it. Since you restored it to it‘s former configuration, i would love to see the cabinets with black. Tolex
The guy that made it a combo is in a wheelchair now. Oh to be young and dumb again.
I don’t think this is a real Fender. First off, there are some Showman and other Fender prototypes out there on the market. Even then they still said Fender Electric Instruments or whatever under the Showman logo. Also, all Showmans I’ve ever seen put BRIGHT at the top of the switch. This has it at the bottom. Why bother changing that up. Third the screening job doesn’t look right. The notches above the pots are a bit too big. The raw metal outline is too wide. And as best I can tell, Fender always grouped the vibrato controls with the vibrato channel volume and tone pots. Why make them a separate entity if they only work on one channel? Later on, some models added a presence pot. That was at the far right in a box with the Showman logo, but not the vibrato controls. I think what he’s got is a homemade tribute to a showman. Which is still awesome...just maybe not as awesome as you thought.
nice!!
Great Job nice Look 🤟🤟🤟🤟👍👍👍👍
Enjoyable content! Any chance you could make a video showcasing your fancy box joint jig some more?
i cant believe someone would throw away such great looking wood.... nice won!
great video! i watched the whole thing to see how you built the back panel as i need to build one and need the dimensions. but you didn't. dang! still fun video.
That looks like a serviceman amp made in japan. cool build
Definitely build a matching cabinet for your head
a review on this amp, please !
that's a pretty Neat apron
edit: you could trim off some of the frayed grill cloth and use some spray dye to get a more solid color on it
I could...but then I feel like if I have to buy spray dye I might as well just by new grill cloth...
Красота!
You need to put holes in the front panel to allow air to circulate and cool the tubes.
Really good job on the cab. It looks fantastic. I wonder what holds the chassis in?. All the cabs I've had fasten the chassis to the top of the cab through bolts going through the top of the cab. Yours just seems to be resting on those internal posts you made (but I'm sure that is not the case or it would just be sliding back and forth, but I don't see how it is fastened). I also wonder what could have been done to refresh or replace the control face. It looked pretty banged up. Not sure if this amp had an old two prong plug and the infamous ground switch or had proper 3 prong grounded system. When I've done jobs like this to old amps I always put in a new cord (or a new bulkhead connector so you don't have to have a cord hanging out of your amp) that is properly grounded. You can just disconnect the ground switch. It can also be useful to add a power outlet (or even a power strip) to the back/inside of the cab (ground fault protected is not a bad idea) so your whole amp serves as sort of an extension chord. Handy for effects pedals.
First thing I did was replaced the power cord when I got the amp working again. I cleaned up the face plate and clear coated it so it doesn't get any worse, I measured it to see if a new replacement fender plate would fit and it wouldn't. I would have to make my own so for now it is what it is.
It's all resting on the wood supports and 2 screws from the back are what stop it from sliding forward and backward. (That and how tight it fits in the enclosure). It's not the way that I would have done it but that is how it was before so I didn't change it, plus I kind of like the look of not having the screws and metal strap on top of the amp.
It's probably not as robust as the normal Fender way but it is a tube amp, so if I drop it or something where that would matter there will be a whole bunch of other problems to worry about before that.
Nice work on an advanced level of cabinetry. But why didn’t you use the chassis mount screws and straps common to all Fender amps?
I built a new head cab for a Peavy VTM60 (if you see one you’ll understand why). I don’t have a proper shop so I have to work outside on the deck with simple hand tools. I did manage to locate the places for the chassis mount screws without too much trouble and cover the cabinet in tolex.
Did you attach any shielding foil to the inside of the top panel? Love the box joint jig!
Great Job, I need the exact dimension 24 inch wide to build an extended cabinet for my Vox AC15HW. Thanks
Looks Good, make a speaker Cabinet to match!
Awesome video. Ive either built or had them built for me, head cabs for all my amps. But a few years ago i got an ORange Tremlord and i cant find anyone who makes a head cab for it. So im gonna have to build my own, so thats my next project. Anyone know anyone who builds cabs for Tremlord ? ;-)
But I first started doing this about 20 years ago and i was able to tour with 2 Twin Reverbs with everything separated. I had 2 1x12 cabs and a single 2x12 cab. The 1x12's had JBL e-120's and the 2x12 cab had Jensen C12K's in it. Easy to move and feels like legos when you put it all together on stage, but this allowed me to tour with my favorite amp. Now i use a SMS CTP preamp into ART SLA-1 for my Grateful Dead stuff, but for over 20years I used a Twin Head.
Nice job man! Do you do custom orders at all?
Nice job!!! Did you make sure there wasn't any bedbugs in that dresser that you picked up?