Have you ever done, seen, or heard of a combo amp converted into a head and cab?

[Stricken]

So I've been thinking, "Gee, I like the sound of my old Fender. Some can say it could even bring br00tz. If only it weren't so large and bulky... If I were to join a band, I would deffinitly have trouble throwing a 4x12 combo amp in my car. Not to mention going up/down stairs."

Henceforth, as a college student with no job fantisizing about Dual Rectifiers, Blackstar Series One's, Peavy 6534+'s and other half stacks I've heard on Premier Guitar's Monsters of High Gain, I wondered how I could make due with what I had. Then I started to think if it was possible... to convert a combo amp into a head and cab.

Of course, I would never take a hack saw to a vintage amp to make life easier. That's why I'm asking you guys here if you've ever seen it be done. If it's possible.

I'd probably make my own inclosure for the head, then go to Avatar to get a complete speakerless cab to slap the Fender speakers in.

Now, I see a few advantages to this:

1) Easier transport

2) Variety! "I'm not feeling like playing through my 4x12 Fender speaker cab. I think I'll plug into my 4x12 Celestion Vintage 30 cab!"

3) My Fender has 2 speaker output jacks on the back. Maybe, I could play through two 2x12's in stereo instead of one 4x12 in mono.

4) Think of how my rig would look! My head with black vinyl and a wheat faux grill like the other Fender heads, sitting on top of a burgendy cab with an oxblood grill. Or maybe a nice dark stained-wood head and a blonde cab with a black grill. Mix-matching? SHWINGGG!


One thing I worry about in #2 and #3 is the ohm rating. Let's say I want a 4x12 with V30's.
My Fender says "total load 2 ohms" under the speaker outputs. And that's 4x12. The ohm rating has to double when you go in stereo right?
For example a 4 ohm head: One 4 ohm in mono versus two 8 ohm cabs in stereo I believe?
I don't see a 2 ohm 4x12 in Avatar's selection. Would this mean I just need to leave it at two 4 ohm 2x12's in stereo?

In conclusion, my idea is to remove the chassis from the inclosure, put that in a new home-made head, then get a new cab from Avatar and install the Fender speakers in there. The four speakers all connect to a 1/4" guitar-cable-style-tip (Can't think of the damned word...) and go into a output jack in the back of my combo amp chassis. And as I said, there's a second jack for another speaker.

So my final parting questions; How easy is it to remove the chassis from a combo amp? Is it possible to not break anything, in case I want to sell the amp as original one day? Am I at risk of electricution?

Discuss!

 

[Mark Wein]

Absolutely. Just googled this: http://www.qrp.pops.net/tube_amp.asp

Mojotone also has a series of empty speaker AND head cabinets: http://www.mojotone.com/amp-parts/cabinets-vintage-blackface-style

 

[Jeremy]

Didn't Fanuvbrak do this to a Peavey Classic 30 or something? It's been done/can be done, definitely.

 

[Help!I'maRock!]

there was a guy on HCFX who put his BF Vibro Champ into a head and added a cab. it was pretty cool.

maybe if i ever get a car, i'll convert my Allen Encore into a head with a 4x10 cab. that would be awesome. until then, it's a 2x10 combo.

 

[Denverdave]

Do it....

What amp are we talking about - A Super Reverb??

 

[Lerxst]

I flirted with the idea of doing this one time, years ago. In the end, I decided I wanted to retain the convenience aspect of the combo and just modified it with jacks on the back to make it easier to disconnect the internal speaker and drive extension cabs.

 

[Prages]

I converted my Classic 50 212 into a head.

One thing to keep in mind, just because you have two speaker outputs doesn't mean that you will have a stereo rig if you plug something into both speakers. Most of the time, the two outputs are wired parallel, so you get the same signal through both jacks.

Anyway, with my Classic 50, I built the head cabinet. Lino gave me his old 412 cabinet and I recovered it to match the head.

Before:

After:

 

[Chad]

An guy who played bass in one of my bands did it with a combo amp. If it is a Fender, there are a ton of places that sell heads to fit Fender amps. You could but one of those so you don't have to wreck your amp converting it.

http://www.mojotone.com/amp-parts/cabinets-vintage-blackface-style

 

[Stricken]

Mark- Thanks for the links!

Denverdave-Yep, my '72 silverface Super Reverb.

Prages- That looks GREAT! How easy did you find recovering the 4x12? Is there a kind of local store to buy vinyl or towlex or whatever else your use to cover it, or did you need to order it online? Also, what you said about the two outputs just being parallel and getting the same signal through both cabs, isn't that just what stereo means?

 

[Prages]

Prages- That looks GREAT! How easy did you find recovering the 4x12? Is there a kind of local store to buy vinyl or towlex or whatever else your use to cover it, or did you need to order it online?

It was a PITA to get all the wrinkles out and get the corners looking right (thank God for oversized metal corner covers). It wasn't really that hard though, just tedious. I actually bought the material from Walmart. It's not really durable, and has a fuzzy cloth backing which makes it a little tougher to use. I've also ordered real tolex from someplace online and that stuff is much easier to work and much more durable. Also much more expensive though.

Also, what you said about the two outputs just being parallel and getting the same signal through both cabs, isn't that just what stereo means?

A stereo signal would actually have different signals going to each side. Say you've got a stereo delay that has taps that ping pong from side to side. If you were running a true stereo setup, you would hear one tap of the delay on the left side, the next on the right. What you'd get running that pedal through most amps is the delay will come out of both sides at the same time.

Your Super Reverb is a mono amp, so while you could hook up two cabinets, you wouldn't get any stereo effects out of it...just a wider dispersion of sound.

 

[baimun]

I have a Fender Superchamp XD that I love... except for the 10" speaker.

I always use it plugged into my Mesa 1x12 closed back cab. I've been thinking about trimming the cabinet down and making a mini-head out of it. Then if I get one of those mini-rectos or an EVH mini head, I'd just set the SCXD head on top of that and plug in whenever I wanted (or get a 2x12 and plug each head into 1 speaker. )

 

[Stricken]

It was a PITA to get all the wrinkles out and get the corners looking right (thank God for oversized metal corner covers). It wasn't really that hard though, just tedious. I actually bought the material from Walmart. It's not really durable, and has a fuzzy cloth backing which makes it a little tougher to use. I've also ordered real tolex from someplace online and that stuff is much easier to work and much more durable. Also much more expensive though.


A stereo signal would actually have different signals going to each side. Say you've got a stereo delap that has taps that ping pong from side to side. If you were running a true stereo setup, you would hear one tap of the delay on the left side, the next on the right. What you'd get running that pedal through most amps is the delay will come out of both sides at the same time.

Your Super Reverb is a mono amp, so while you could hook up two cabinets, you wouldn't get any stereo effects out of it...just a wider dispersion of sound.

OOOOH. I get it now.. Well, maybe it would still be cool for a gig or something to have two 2x12's pointed in a V-formation.

I have a Fender Superchamp XD that I love... except for the 10" speaker.

I always use it plugged into my Mesa 1x12 closed back cab. I've been thinking about trimming the cabinet down and making a mini-head out of it. Then if I get one of those mini-rectos or an EVH mini head, I'd just set the SCXD head on top of that and plug in whenever I wanted (or get a 2x12 and plug each head into 1 speaker. )

That might be sweet. Two amp coming out of assigned speakers in one cab? Cool idea!

 

[baimun]

That might be sweet. Two amp coming out of assigned speakers in one cab? Cool idea!

I know a lot of guys who use two amps with an A/B/Both switch... but they often use combos. This would basically be the same thing but with the number of amazingly cool mini-heads out there, It would be the same thing but would make it much easier to carry two speakers if they're attached in the same box.

 

[Chad]

I know a lot of guys who use two amps with an A/B/Both switch... but they often use combos. This would basically be the same thing but with the number of amazingly cool mini-heads out there, It would be the same thing but would make it much easier to carry two speakers if they're attached in the same box.

I used to run 2 amps. It would have been much easier with 1 cab.

 

[Coda]

...I knew a guy back in my playing days who had an old silver face twin converted into a head...it...sounded like a twin...

 

[Prages]

There was a time (early-mid 90s) when I gigged with two Peavey Classic Chorus 212s. Each of those amps could actually operate in stereo if you had a stereo preamp. It had inputs on the back that bypassed the combo's preamp and went straight into the power amp, which was a stereo solid state power amp.

I used a Digitech GSP21 Legend as a preamp. Had the floorboard with the top row being different patches and the bottom row different effects. I used a splitter out of the left and right outputs of the rack unit so each output had two cables coming out of it, and I'd run both cables to the power amp inputs of each amp and set the amps on each side of the stage. Got some great tone with that rig...especially when I put on some modulation and/or ping-pong delays.

 

[Bob411]

Ken from Rose pickups made a head, and cab from a SCXD. It was awsome.

I bought this on Ebay, very cheap. Somebody had put a Crate Palamino V16 into a keyboard amp ? cab. Gain knob rubbed against cab.

When I bought it, my plan was to make a head out of it. It somehow turned in to this.

My take on a convertable back.

Here is before, and after.

Being cheap, i wanted to try decopaugeing fabric, instead of Tolex. I didn't like what the decopauge did to this fabric. It lost the two tone look, and it feels like suede.

Still wanted to try decopaugeing, so I had a lot of left over crap sitting around. The cab the Crate came in,

Son's first practice amp. and a Celestion Rocket 50 that was part of a craigslist trade. Son picked out the fabric. Neither of us expected it to sound as good as it does.

What I love about decopaugeing is it's cheaper than Tolex, there are so many more options to do something unique, and best part, the glue you use to attach it, is what you put on top of it. Get some glue where it's not supposed to be? Doesn't matter, gonna cover the whole thing in it. I use Mod padge brand, that I get at Hobby Lobby.

Then things got silly. Or more silly, if that's possible.

Back on topic. Bro in law's 4x12s. More fun withMod podge.

Before

During.

After

 

[Help!I'maRock!]

that is one flaming cabinet.

 

[Bob411]

Forgot I had a pic of it, after I brought it back to his house, and put the handles back on, and corners.

Also forgot what i started to post, and forgot. A combo turned into a head. Bought this, Tuesday. Guy took a Sawzall to it. One thing is for sure, when people butcher something, you can buy it cheap.

 

[Stricken]

I am REALLY liking that pink/black zebra amp... Oh no...