Mark overcame the standard layout of the N5X (which is a chassis that would normally sit valves-upwards) for his combo, which was built into an old Trace Elliot cabinet.
“As promised, now I’ve finished all the cosmetics heres a couple of pictures of my NX5. The cab is a bit old and battered, but Im not much of a handyman at that sort of thing so I didn’t bother trying to recover it.
“You’ll see that I added a Fender-style indicator lamp (just for fun really) and the rear view shows quite nicely I where I fitted the second octal socket to allow for taller valves that otherwise wouldn’t clear the speaker cone. I also fitted Fender-style valve grips, mainly because if it is hanging loose the spring type tended to catch in the speaker when I was manipulating the amp in an out of the cabinet.
“All in all, mounting the amp upside down worked pretty well. Obviously I had to use the blank side of the control panel so I recreated the design in CorelDraw and used laser printed transfers. I was surprised how well that worked and a few coats of clear acrylic coating on top has given a reasonably robust finish that, although not as good as the proper printed side will certainly be good enough for normal use. The only real pain was the mini-toggles. Ideally I would have relocated them in the chassis so that they matched the pre-drilled holes in the front panel but that would have put them very tight against the main turret board, so I decided to leave them and drill new holes in the front panel. This does mean that the original holes are still there but you hardly notice them unless youre pretty close up to the amp.
“And finally once again I must say how great the amp sounds and compliment you on the quality and thoroughness of your kits.”
