Marshall 4x12 refurbishment.
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- NippleWrestler
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Marshall 4x12 refurbishment.
This is a 1985 Marshall 1960a. It's from the JCM800 series.
It looked like this:
ruined tolex, water damaged sides, a crumbly back panel, a cab full of dings and scrapes and a big gouge in the top by the skid pan covered in layers of duct tape going back decades judging from how brittle it was.
Let's strip it back:
The tolex just came off in brittle strips. It would flake off in your hands and had lost all pliancy so it was like hard plastic. It all went in the garbage sadly, which felt very irresponsible but there's not much I can do with flaky crap tolex. I sanded it smooth and crap-free with 5 80 grit discs.
That's a broken off drillbit in the cab. Quality British construction.
Maybe Ron is the guy who left the drillbit there?
nice ply though.
That's the date from the speaker codes.
Here's where it gets interesting. I'm not using tolex. I actually hate the stuff and hate dealing with it and don't really see any upsides to using it that aren't rooted in tradition or doing it because it's what everyone else does. I'm using this https://www.livesound.co.nz/collections ... r-cabinets which I bought from Livesound. I've used that for PA cabs and stage gear. Tolex seems to be a holdover for guitar cabs for some reason while the rest of the audio trade moved on.
Anyway. I used the trial kit which is enough for 3 coats of a 4x12 cab this size. The texture comes from the roller and you can soften it or make it more aggressive if you dilute the stuff, or leave it neat. It goes on dark grey/blue but dries black so don't worry if you think you bought the wrong stuff. It cleans up with water while wet and is hard AF when dry. There's no fumes and it's generally very easy to work with and is touch dry within the hour.
First coat:
Second coat:
You can see it's not quite dry in the first pic. The unevenness on the side panel disappeared once it had dried. It's self-adhering and can be touched up with a brush down the line if need be.
I made a new back from 18mm ply, also Duratex coated, and installed a new metal jack plate to replace the plastic funnel thingy that was stock.
The original plan was to replace the grille cloth but I think this looks 100% badass as is so I left it. The hardware is all original, I just touched it up where I could and fixed the dodgy wheel.
Nice level 3 project.
It looked like this:
ruined tolex, water damaged sides, a crumbly back panel, a cab full of dings and scrapes and a big gouge in the top by the skid pan covered in layers of duct tape going back decades judging from how brittle it was.
Let's strip it back:
The tolex just came off in brittle strips. It would flake off in your hands and had lost all pliancy so it was like hard plastic. It all went in the garbage sadly, which felt very irresponsible but there's not much I can do with flaky crap tolex. I sanded it smooth and crap-free with 5 80 grit discs.
That's a broken off drillbit in the cab. Quality British construction.
Maybe Ron is the guy who left the drillbit there?
nice ply though.
That's the date from the speaker codes.
Here's where it gets interesting. I'm not using tolex. I actually hate the stuff and hate dealing with it and don't really see any upsides to using it that aren't rooted in tradition or doing it because it's what everyone else does. I'm using this https://www.livesound.co.nz/collections ... r-cabinets which I bought from Livesound. I've used that for PA cabs and stage gear. Tolex seems to be a holdover for guitar cabs for some reason while the rest of the audio trade moved on.
Anyway. I used the trial kit which is enough for 3 coats of a 4x12 cab this size. The texture comes from the roller and you can soften it or make it more aggressive if you dilute the stuff, or leave it neat. It goes on dark grey/blue but dries black so don't worry if you think you bought the wrong stuff. It cleans up with water while wet and is hard AF when dry. There's no fumes and it's generally very easy to work with and is touch dry within the hour.
First coat:
Second coat:
You can see it's not quite dry in the first pic. The unevenness on the side panel disappeared once it had dried. It's self-adhering and can be touched up with a brush down the line if need be.
I made a new back from 18mm ply, also Duratex coated, and installed a new metal jack plate to replace the plastic funnel thingy that was stock.
The original plan was to replace the grille cloth but I think this looks 100% badass as is so I left it. The hardware is all original, I just touched it up where I could and fixed the dodgy wheel.
Nice level 3 project.
- sizzlingbadger
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- jeremyb
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Re: Marshall 4x12 refurbishment.
That looks great, nice work!
Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.
- Dharmajester
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Re: Marshall 4x12 refurbishment.
Ah Duratex presumably. I've been looking at that with a view to de tolexing and painting my Redplate which has dirty cream coloured finish on it.
It's not in rough shape just a f'ugly colour and that stuff looks the ticket. I wondered if it was just for speaker cabs though and might not like the heat from a head???
It's not in rough shape just a f'ugly colour and that stuff looks the ticket. I wondered if it was just for speaker cabs though and might not like the heat from a head???
“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench - a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side."
Hunter S. Thompson
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Re: Marshall 4x12 refurbishment.
It can live comfortably under stage lights and it says it's rated to 90c on the packet so I wouldn't think it an issue. The outside of my dual rec doesn't get too hot as is.Dharmajester wrote: ↑Fri Aug 14, 2020 1:49 pm Ah Duratex presumably. I've been looking at that with a view to de tolexing and painting my Redplate which has dirty cream coloured finish on it.
It's not in rough shape just a f'ugly colour and that stuff looks the ticket. I wondered if it was just for speaker cabs though and might not like the heat from a head???
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Re: Marshall 4x12 refurbishment.
I'm sure theres a disclaimer about using it as a paint on prophylactic!
Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.
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Re: Marshall 4x12 refurbishment.
id let it dry first! it is very close to durex, so i understand your confusion.
- Cdog
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Re: Marshall 4x12 refurbishment.
Nice job! Looks the biz... Do you think the duratex will be as durable as tolex?
- NippleWrestler
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Re: Marshall 4x12 refurbishment.
More so. You can drop pa cabs down many stairs and the paint will survive. And if you do scratch it off you can fix it with a paint brush and a fresh application. I'm done with tolex.
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Re: Marshall 4x12 refurbishment.
did you get one of the duratex trial packs or commit to a bucket?i'm just trying to see wether i can justify a bucket i do have a lot of 15"cabs though...
- NippleWrestler
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Re: Marshall 4x12 refurbishment.
Just the trial pack. I don't need it for anything else right now, although I still have about a quarter left.
- Dharmajester
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Re: Marshall 4x12 refurbishment.
Think you bought the last one.NippleWrestler wrote: ↑Sat Aug 15, 2020 12:08 pmJust the trial pack. I don't need it for anything else right now, although I still have about a quarter left.
“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench - a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side."
Hunter S. Thompson
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