If, like me, you're all fingers and thumbs when it comes to woodwork, here's a solution: buy a ready-made cabinet. I've worked with a British cabinet maker to make a set of cabinets designed to accept Amp Maker chassis and kits. Chris, the cabinet maker, is also an amp builder and a guitarist, himself, so he knows good tone.
You can buy them covered in a wide variety of tolex and grille clothes. The photos on the right show a small range of the colours available.
Range of cabinets The cabinets available cover a wide variety, from tiny head cabs for the AC03 small chassis to a full 2x12 stack with medium head cabinet to suit higher-power amp builds. Here's a list showing the cabs available and the chassis and amp kits that fit them:
Tiny head cab: AC03, AC04, WF-55
Small head cab: AC01, AC02, AC05, SE-5a, PP-18, SL-18
Medium head cab: AC01, AC02, AC05, AC11, SE-5a, PP-18, SL-18, PP-36
Classic 1x12 combo: AC01, AC02, AC05, AC11, SE-5a, PP-18, SL-18
Chunky 1x12 combo: AC01, AC02, AC05, AC11, SE-5a, PP-18, SL-18
Chunky 1x12 speaker cab: any amp kit using the tiny or small head cabs
Slanted 2x12 speaker cab: any amp kit using the small or medium head cabs
Straight 2x12 speaker cab: any amp kit using the small or medium head cabs
Dimensions & info All of the cabinets are made in the UK, from quality void-free birch ply. They're made by hand and finished by hand. For a ZIP file of photos, click here for tolex and grille cloth.
Here are the sizes of each cabinet (HxWxD):
Tiny head cab: 190x284x205mm
Small head cab: 205x510x210mm
Medium head cab: 230x585x215mm
Classic 1x12 combo: 500x610x229mm
Chunky 1x12 combo: 530x590x280mm
Chunky 1x12 speaker cab: 530x590x280mm
Slanted 2x12 speaker cab: 645x645x300mm
Straight 2x12 speaker cab: 645x645x300mm
Price & ordering Cabs are made to order and are ordered and sent from Chris. This means that there's typically a short wait for your cab (2-3 weeks) to arrive. If you're ordering a cab to go with an amp kit, your amp kit will be sent immediately, so you can assemble that while your cab is being made.Get in touch with him directly to discuss the cab and finish. His email address is:
chris@c-and-l.freeserve.co.uk
The following is Chris' pricing as of Feb 2010. The price shown includes finishing in standard materials (black tolex, piping, string, handle, feet, grille cloth). If you want custom options (coloured tolex, etc) you can discuss these directly with Chris during the ordering process.
Tiny head cab: £75
Small head cab: £95
Medium head cab: £100
Classic 1x12 combo: £195
Classic 2x10 combo: £200
Chunky 1x12 combo: £175
Classic 1x12 speaker cab: £180
Chunky 1x12 speaker cab: £160
Tall 1x12 speaker cab: £180
Slanted 2x12 speaker cab: £225
Straight 2x12 speaker cab: £210
| |
 Here's the WF-55 kit housed in the covered version of the tiny head cabinet
 Small head cabinet with a PP-18 kit installed
 Classic 18W combo cabinet in white levant
 A customer's SE-5a kit built into a chunky 1x12 combo
 Chris does custom orders and colour combinations - here's an SE-5a half stack in white and red elephant grain tolex
 You can order the medium head cabinet with an extra ventilation grille (£10 option, as shown here) for housing a high-power amp
 The full enchilada - a pair of matching 2x12 cabinets topped by a small head cabinet. Note the custom options - including no side handles for the speaker cabinets |