Amp headshell for rack gear

[Richie_B]

I hope everyone is doing well. I haven't had a lot of time to look in lately.
Anyway, I've been looking for a new rack case that resembles a scaled down amp headshell. The ones I've seen look pretty cool. Unfortunately they aren't all that common over here. I'm looking for recommendations on where I may be able to pick one up in Australia. Getting one shipped from overseas will cost more than the actual unit.

[Harley Hexxe]

What kind of rack case specifically?
I was looking into something like that a few years ago, but for what the price was, and what you get, I decided I would be better off just building my own, and installing the power supplies myself.
It would probably be more cost effective to do that.

Harley 8)

[Richie_B]

Hey Harley, I'm looking for something like this. https://casesmithcustoms.com/index.php/rack-case/modern-rack-cases.
Also btw, it was me you replied to on Leon's youtube vid with the mxc foot switches  :)

[Harley Hexxe]

Hey Richie_B,

     Okay, that looks simple enough.

     I thought you might be looking at something like the RMC cases I was looking at a few years ago.

     Have you looked into buy materials to just build your own? I know you can buy tolex, and rack rails, and amp corners, so all that's left, is to just buy the lumber and a few power tools and you can make your own.

     Just food for thought.


Harley 8)

[Richie_B]

I think I could build it if I had the tools. I could have the wood cut to size. It may be costly depending on the tools needed. The most I've built is a coffee table  ;D

[Harley Hexxe]

Hey Richie_B,

   If you built a coffee table, you could build a rack case. It's just a box if you think about it.
   All you need to do is figure out the opening to accommodate your rack gear you want to put in it, and if you want to add removable doors on the front and back, and of course, the depth.
   
   For tools, all you really need is a circular saw, and orbital sander, a drill and a screwdriver.

   You could have lumber yard cut your wood to the correct width, You could cut the length of the top and sides yourself. How you want to secure the corners is up to you. You could notch and glue them, which would make it easier to round off the sharp corners, and sand them. Or, you could round off the outside corners, and shape them, then fasten them with screws. Once that is done, then you only have to sand the surfaces smooth, and spray paint the insides black, then apply countertop adhesive to the outside surfaces to stick the tolex on it. When that's dry, you attach your rack rails, amp handle, amp corners, and rubber feet, (after you pre-fitted all these things of course), and you have an amp-like rack case!

    That's what I'm going to do for my ADA preamps, and some of the power amps.

   I was looking at these a few years ago, https://rackmountconcepts.tripod.com/id1.html  But decided against it for three reasons:
    One, the cases are a bit to shallow for my ADA preamps and the Micro-tube power amps.
    Two, they don't have removable doors for the front and back.
    Three, the power boxes you see attached to them are not power conditioners, they are simply parallel wired outlets.

    So I decided I'll look for grey Ozite material like ADA covered their cabs with, locate some electronics project boxes that would be the right size to put on the side, and buy a couple of Furman power supplies, to strip the guts out of the rack cases and transplant them in the project boxes, then build the amp cases around that to whatever rack size I need, which I think will be 4U each.

    The rest of the hardware will be easy. I think it will be a lot cheaper than what he's charging.

Harley 8)

[Duke of Metal]

here you go:
http://www.splawnguitars.com/acc_page.htm

scroll to the bottom of the page. :-)

[Harley Hexxe]

Hey Duke,

     Not exactly what I was thinking, but are these available in Oz?

Harley 8)

[Dante]

If I recall, Kim built one out of an existing head....I think it was on the original Depot

[Richie_B]

Those splawn cases look nice but bigger than what I am looking for. Unfortunately I don't have the tools to build one. If I was to buy them, I would likely be getting close to the cost of the case. Having the wood cut to size would go a long way. I'll do some research. I'm amazed that there is nobody building these locally, not that I've found anyway.

[Harley Hexxe]

Those splawn cases look nice but bigger than what I am looking for. Unfortunately I don't have the tools to build one. If I was to buy them, I would likely be getting close to the cost of the case. Having the wood cut to size would go a long way. I'll do some research. I'm amazed that there is nobody building these locally, not that I've found anyway.

That might have something to do with the fact that rack gear is considered to be generally outdated by popular opinion. Most people are looking at pedals these days because the quality is on the same level as the rack gear back in the day. So it's not surprising that the only people building rack cases are the commercial companies that provide for television and sports entities.

Harley 8)

[Kim]

If I recall, Kim built one out of an existing head....I think it was on the original Depot

I did build one, but instead of re-purposing some other amp head case I just started from scratch.