How do you organize your amp heads?

[fireandglass]

I am starting to get quite the collection of vintage amp heads for my studio but im finding they are hard to do anything but just pile up everywhere.

I have 2 problems.

1. Is there some equipment where I could have them all connected to say a footswitch and I could select which one out of 1-6 i would want to use? And also select the speaker cabniet? Im asking because this is a lot of set up/cables and when im running a session I want this to work as efficiently as possible. I have an A/B/Y box but i guess im looking for a 6 channel version of that. An A/B/C/D/E/F box?

2. How do you guys organize your amp heads? Certain shelves or anything? Post pictures! I have been eyeing up some aluminum shelving but i was wondering if there was any better/cheaper/different solution

[popote_jr]

Hi there!

For your question 1, you should check out RADIAL products, they do these sort of things - connecting a single guitar to multiple amps, connecting multiple cabs to an amp....there's a solution out there.

Radial JD7 Injector guitar signal distribution amplifier

as for routing the heads to the cabs....sounds like a patch bay to me...but you should check the impedance of the heads/cabs....

QUESTION 2:

I use GORM shelving units from IKEA. Be sure to screw them to the wallm as they are not that sturdy.

You could check their metal units also

[FFTT]

James Lugo made up some industrial shelving with plywood for extra
support.

You might check with him on how he has it all connected.

[fireandglass]

Never heard of reeves amps but im considering selling one of my body parts for one now. holy sh*t those sound amazing

[drbob1]

I have extremely heavy duty shelving-from Menards, comes with 6-7-8' side panels and 4-8' rales that take 18" shelves. The 412 cabs sit underneath and there's room for 3 heads above, with 12 heads fitting in an 8' section over 2 412 cabs and a 212 cab. I'm trying an Ampeg head switcher with 8 amp inputs and 8 speaker cabs, but I don't really trust it, and may end up going back to having a short pigtail of speaker wire that comes out to the front of the amp, then a longer piece from the cabinet and either having a female 1/4 jack on that or using banana plugs to allow me to plug each amp head into each speaker cab...

[nedorama]

For the amp switching, you want something like the Radial Headbone VT, but with multiple switching options.

Tonebone Headbone VT valve tube amp head switcher - introduction

The challenge you have is that your vintage amp heads need to see a load on the speaker out when they're on, or else you risk frying them. Radial's headbone VT lets you safely switch between 2 valve heads and 1 cab without that problem.

I'd contact Radial and see if they've done custom versions for folks; I would imagine they have with more than 2 valve heads.

[teleharmonium]

I have this Ampeg rack unit that was never sold as a product, but was distributed to retailers so people could demo their bass heads and cabinets. It has 8 sets of ins and outs and 2 rotary switches so that you can connect 8 heads and 8 cabinets and dial up whatever combo you want. The only slight downside is that only 2 of the pairs have a dummy load to give an extra measure of protection. But I just turn off the amps in between switching, as I usually have it narrowed down to a couple or three choices anyway.

The idea is that the wattages start low and ascend from there as you go up the dials, both for the heads and cabinets. I don't have 8 cabinets.

You might look for one of those on ebay or build something like it with all 8 set up with dummy loads.

[CrownBox]

We found attractive and stable shelving to organize heads, cabs, and combos. Although there are some quality switching systems available (Radial, etc.), we have yet to locate a commercially available switching system with sufficient ins/outs and dummy load features. I sure would like to know more about the Ampeg unit referenced by Teleharmonium before having one specially built.

[caseycoughlin]

I just bought a book case type thing at Ikea for $55. I weighted the shelves with about 50 lbs of weights for a few days right in the middle of the shelves just to make sure that they're not gonna break on me. But since the feet on most heads are close to the support on the edges, there is little chance of the shelves breaking. The Marshalls are very looong heads so you'll need to find or make something pretty wide. My JCM900 measuring in at 31.5"

Underneath the heads is the Ampeg System Selector that teleharmonium was talking about. A real time/life saver in situations where one needs to test out multiple head/cab combos. Just remember to put the heads on standby or turn them off before switching between them.

[CrownBox]

Originally Posted by caseycoughlin

Underneath the heads is the Ampeg System Selector that teleharmonium was talking about.

Where can I get one?

[caseycoughlin]

Lots of searching. I took me about 3 weeks of searching almost every night before I found one on www.daddys.com. I paid $57 and change for it shipped.

Although, mine didn't come with the caps on the knobs so I have no idea where the knobs are set at unless I count as I'm turning. I can't find any new caps or knobs at all.

I attached a PDF of the manual that was sent out to stores with it.

[Andy Hamm]

Why not just rack them all up on a wall and use one input and make up a relay system to select heads and cabinets? On the cabinet side, for the tube amps, you will want to make sure that you connect to a dummy load when no cabinet is selected, just in case someone turns the amp on and tries to run it without a load.

[CrownBox]

Thanks Casey. I'll have to be patient and watch. Conceptually, such a system should be easy to build but everyone who assures me it will be "done right" wants a small fortune.
Regards

[TAVD]

Originally Posted by caseycoughlin

Lots of searching. I took me about 3 weeks of searching almost every night before I found one on www.daddys.com. I paid $57 and change for it shipped.

Although, mine didn't come with the caps on the knobs so I have no idea where the knobs are set at unless I count as I'm turning. I can't find any new caps or knobs at all.

I attached a PDF of the manual that was sent out to stores with it.

I found mine on ebay for $20.

The knobs are made by Sifam. Good luck getting a replacement cap.

I made this rack to hold small tube amps, large effects and rack gear. It began as a 32" wide cabinet purchased from Staples. I cut the shelves down to size and installed rack rails in the bottom. Here's a couple of older pics.

[Pasta4lnch]

Costco has some good heavy duty shelving (500lb max I think) that's pretty cheap here - there are other sizes too. . . I just keep them on top of my racks - I may have to get another full rack of gear if I get anymore amps!!!

I keep them wired into my patchbay that all go to a single mic'd 4x12 in my liveroom. . . pretty easy switching



the cab

[Talpa]

https://www.sevilleclassics.com/products.php?pid=190

commercial grade says holds 500 lbs/shelf on feet. 100 lbs/shelf on wheels, should be more than enough for most heads. like the portability & reviews (on Amazon as well) seem ok..

spare shelves are listed too

[Sofa King]

Originally Posted by fireandglass

I am starting to get quite the collection of vintage amp heads for my studio but im finding they are hard to do anything but just pile up everywhere.

I have 2 problems.

1. Is there some equipment where I could have them all connected to say a footswitch and I could select which one out of 1-6 i would want to use? And also select the speaker cabniet? Im asking because this is a lot of set up/cables and when im running a session I want this to work as efficiently as possible. I have an A/B/Y box but i guess im looking for a 6 channel version of that. An A/B/C/D/E/F box?

2. How do you guys organize your amp heads? Certain shelves or anything? Post pictures! I have been eyeing up some aluminum shelving but i was wondering if there was any better/cheaper/different solution

Hi,
I havent found a switching solution that Ive liked the sound of.
But heres the rack I had built.
Its like a flight case without the caps.

best of luck,
Sean

[drbob1]

I've used the Ampeg switcher now for a few years and I'm moving away from it. Basically, I don't trust it. It was designed primarily for solid state amps, and occasionally it seems to malfunction (as in no noise). Since I can't tell if that's an open (dangerous) or closed (safe) short, I just don't trust it. What I've gone back to is a short cable with a female 1/4" socket on one end, male jack on the other plugged into the speaker out on the head. Then longer speaker cables on the speaker cabs. I can just replug whatever cab into whatever head I want quickly and easily. The heads sit on the shelves I mentioned earlier, and there's enough room to drop a cover over them (if you own these things long enough, dust becomes an issue). The slant speaker cabs are nice: the jack is at the bottom so I can slide the cover over the cab with the cable plugged in, just slide it up and I can be rocking in a few minutes. The combo amps sit sideways on the shelves (lighter ones) or on rolling dollies (heavier) under the bottom layer. All in all, I can store 50 or 60 amps/cabs in 32 feet of wall space...

[stephent28]

I would consider going to a high-end audio store (meaning expensive...somebody that sells B&W, Theta, Krell, Meridian, etc).

For years they have had the ability to flip a switch or plug into a patchbay and let you compare different heads (tube and ss) connected to different speaker combos.

I bet they would let you check out how there system works and even tell you the parts and manufacturers.

[drastic]

I'm looking for shelving at the moment too. I have a shelf I bought from target, but I'm up to 8 heads and 3 combos now and need to find something a little more solid. Lugo's racks look like what I need. Maybe Home Depot?



On another note, is it safe to hook up amps to a patchbay? Never thought of doing that.

[Ron Vogel]

Originally Posted by TAVD

I found mine on ebay for $20.

The knobs are made by Sifam. Good luck getting a replacement cap.

I made this rack to hold small tube amps, large effects and rack gear. It began as a 32" wide cabinet purchased from Staples. I cut the shelves down to size and installed rack rails in the bottom. Here's a couple of older pics.

I just did a double take...I thought that was my old Supro! I sold it to a guy out east a few years back...looked at my pic, but yours has more tolex wear on the front. I'm still kicking myself for selling it; plug a tele into it at full volume and play any Jimmy Page...whoa; it's an amazing little amp!

[drastic]

Anybody else?

[dabigfrog]

hire a carpenter and buy some wood...this whole thing set us back 300 dollars.... you could easily build a custom one for your set up...

[alerte338]

NRV RECORDING STUDIO | Facebook


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[drastic]

Cool pics. Probably gonna build something here in the next few weeks.

[FFTT]

Originally Posted by dabigfrog

hire a carpenter and buy some wood...this whole thing set us back 300 dollars.... you could easily build a custom one for your set up...

DAYUM, nice collection!

Must be wonderful to have that many variable source tones to choose from.

[dabigfrog]

Originally Posted by FFTT

DAYUM, nice collection!

Must be wonderful to have that many variable source tones to choose from.

well....thats why we have been collecting them....no axefx here!
several get used ALL the time!

61 princeton brown, 50 airlines, 55 gretsch electromatic deluxe, 66 vox cambridge, 77 twin, 40's oahu...... all have special tones/crunch/breakup for textures for that pesky second or third guitar part.

for us it is easier to pull an amp down, turn it on, mic it up, than it is to try and dial up some digital simulator, but to each his own...most ppl don't have a selection of groovy tube amps at hand!

a friend who does storage auctions last week gave us a sweeeet, original, unmolested 1968 plexie super bass and matching cabinet....perma loan, i said let us watch it for you for the next ten years while it doubles in value...





now we just need a great player les paul for the studio.....never sure which one.....gibsons are sooo expensive!

[muziekschuur]

Gibson studio Goldtop. Affordable and killer looks.

[nedorama]

Product :: CAE Amp Selector

Pricey, but if you really have to audition multiple amp heads at the press of a button...

[rumbletone]

I'd call bob bradshaw (cae) or bruce egnater. they've both made multiple head switchers (for at least four amps - which may be enough - since you'll surely be using different cabs - For example, four marshally heads into a closed 4x12, vox/matchless/65 amps into open-back alnico, etc. - i.e. you wouldn't want every head switching into a single cab).