Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

I had a customer ask me to make an amp cabinet for a custom amp he's having made. He wasn't too fussed about he timber for the out side, just something with lots of knots so I used Cypress pine ( Bunnings fence pickets ). He did want a front panel that was art deco so we decided on a sunburst. The burst is made from Cypress pine, radiate pine and Padauk, EiRW bindings between each piece which are 7mm thick. It was a nice little project to do which was a bit different for me. I have made a Huon pine face plate to go on the amp. the amp builder has that at the moment.
Wayne

I often wondered about that then most want to keep the Original as is I like the custom in anything ,cheers John.

Hi,

Looks great Wayne!
I did something similar, using Australian Red Cedar. I made the amp, and matching speaker box.
Thanks,
GregL.

That looks nice Greg, I like the dovetail. I have an effects cabinet to do for him as well, they'll be stacked. I also found a photo of the Huon face plate.
Wayne

Crikey I like the face plate that's the thing that makes a finished product

You fellas have got some good stuff going on here, always like the look of natural versus stuck on black vinyl.

Steve

Nice job. I have just bought a valve amp for the first time. I could have bought it in a 50's style tweed box as it is a 5E3 clone(Fender Tweed deluxe) but I am not so keen on replicas. It is not something I will be giging with so there is no need for the standard black box. The amp is made in Australia with almost all Australian parts, this includes the transformers, valves, those bits that look like Penny bungers and Tom Thumbs as well as the speaker.

So I have decided that as this is a 50's amp clone built they way they built them in the 50's, that is point to point wiring and turret board rather than PCB's that I better build some sort of retro box. I have not recieved it yet as it is in transit but I have made a start on the box, well the logo for the box anyway and so here is a photo of the brass logo I cut. Yep that is the brand of the speakers once made in Australia.

Hi Jim,

That's great!
The amp above is also a 5E3 clone (all valve) that I made, sourced from Evatco (great Aussie amp parts supplier), all point-to-point wired.
However, I didn't make a cool logo, nor do I have a cool Rola speaker! (Rola is highly regarded old Aussie speaker)

Thanks,
GregL.

The Rola speaker is not old, not too old anyway Greg. It was made in 2001 by the guy who bought Rola Australia, the buy included some speaker designs as well as stamps and dies so he made 100 speakers that are a 70's design 12peg speaker. As he bought Rola the amp although a popular clone is still a Rola made amp. About the only things not made in Australia are the valve sockets and pots. He has about 90 speakers left from that batch as well if anyone is interested

Oh and he did me some useful mods too, he added some sort of cascade preamp and a master volume so you can overdrive the 5E3 at low volume for practice and also a humbucker friendly switch, both switchable mods to get back to the original 5E3.

Hi Jim,

Do you have any contact info for the old/new Rola 12PEG? I might be interested in getting one.
Also, I'd be interested in the mods for the 5E3, if you don't mind. Mine sounds good when driven but very loud!

Thanks,
GregL.

Will send a email with plenty of detail later today Greg.

Thanks, Jim!

Thanks,
GregL.

Wayne, did you screen print that face plate or if not how did you go about the printing?

Greg, same to you where did you get the face plate made? Also did you get my mail?

Hi Jim,

The "faceplate" is just inkjet printed onto glossy paper, from a CorelDraw file. It's definitely not roadworthy (the same as the head cabinet and the speaker box), but it's fine for sitting in my lounge room!
I haven't seen any email from you. I tried sending a test message using the "Send email to GregL" in the "Members" section but it doesn't seem to have worked, even though the email address is correct. PM worked, however.

Thanks,
GregL.

Pm sent Greg

Hi Jim,

PM received!
Email sent!

Thanks,
GregL.