Where to get Cabinets, Faceplates, and Chassis?

[eldredjames]

Hey!  Are there good places to get Cabinets, Faceplates, and Chassis?  Maybe that you go to regularly?  Or do you make your own?  Where I find on the net, the total is going to be more than the electronic parts total.

Jim

[MakerDP]

That kind of goes with the territory. Amp chassis and faceplates are so specialized and thus low-volume production their prices are pretty steep. Other than the transformers and sometimes the tubes, they can easily be the most expensive (and time-consuming) part of a build. You just got to keep hunting for a good deal.

Cabinets you just got to make your own or pay what people are asking. Even if you make your own... tolex, handles, corners, wood, etc all adds-up pretty fast too.

I just discovered that Avatar makes a DIY speaker cabinet kit that comes in a flat-pack for a pretty reasonable price. If you are handy with a router you can even turn it into a combo cabinet pretty easily. But even with that, you still need a router to round-over the edges and you have to do your own finish - sand, stain, paint, tolex, bed-liner... whatever. But for me $120 is worth not having to source my own Baltic Birch lumber, measure and precisely cut everything, recut when I discovered I screwed it up, deal with the scrap, cleanup all the sawdust, yada yada yada...

[Ed_Chambley]

Any sign shop that can print on aluminum can make faceplates.  You will need to find Dye Sub ink printer.  A laminate over helps too, but they are as durable as Fender.  Cabs, I usually watch Ebay for combo cabs, or make them.  Also, I have a friend who does laser wood engraving and it is fairly cheap and very cool.  I am sure someone around the corner from you does this type of thing.


If a sigh shop prints them for you, you have to cut them apart usually.  I use a table saw.  Easy.


If you get a few printed at once it usually does not cost any more.  I make my plates first, before drilling my chassis so I can drill through both at the same time.  Makes a great fit.

[Willabe]

I make my plates first, before drilling my chassis so I can drill through both at the same time.  Makes a great fit.

Yep,  do the same, works great! 

[bnwitt]

I've been buying my cabinets from various venders over the last 20 years with Mojotone being the most recent supplier.  In the last year, I've been building them myself.  This would be extremely difficult without my Incra I-Box finger joint jig.  That jig has made the woodworking part a breeze.  I can layout, cut, finger joint and glue together a BF combo cabinet and a speaker baffle board in one 8 hour day.  Tolexing and grill cloth take a couple of hours.  So 10 hours of labor and $90 in parts wholesale (not including shipping) is needed to build the cabinet.  At minimum wage you're at $190.  You're not saving much if you are a dealer and can buy cabinets wholesale.  If you're building amps to sell, it probably makes sense to setup a wholesale account with Mojotone and buy your cabinets there.   

If you are a do-it-yourself'er paying retail for everything and you have your own woodshop or one you can use then you can save around fifty bucks over the retail cost of a cabinet.  Doing a good job with the tolexing is the biggest challenge but with some practice you can do it.  You have to decide if saving fifty bucks is worth the effort and mess.  It's probably not.

I will say that Mojotone makes high quality cabinets that look great.  If I didn't enjoy working in the woodshop so much and the smell of wood (mmmm, wood is good)  I wouldn't bother building cabinets.  I guess I'm hooked on pine rosin cause I like the smell of soldering too.

As far as chassis are concerned, Doug has most models and faceplates.  If you are looking for a custom faceplate then Jeanne of BNPLasers who does awesome work.