Turning my boring black box into a flash of purple awesomeness

[5F6-A]

I really like this mid 80s Marshall combo but the looks were a bit boring. So I decided to give it some TLC and s slightly tonal change (aesthetically speaking). This was not a pro job but an experiment. Take everything that I say with a pinch of salt.

Anyway, this was the amp in its original form.

Then I took all the components out and cleaned the tolex with Tuff Stuff.

Covered the corners and handle in masking tape as removing any of those was really difficult and I was risking snapping some parts.... a compromise but it kind of worked.

Primed the whole thing for the paint to have something to adhere to. Tolex is not ideal to take on paint.

Painted it in purple a la vintage Marshall... not unhappy with result so far....

 

[5F6-A]

More to come....

 

[RedSkwirrell]

Wow!
Marshall make "keyboard" amp's?

 

[5F6-A]

Wow!
Marshall make "keyboard" amp's?

Yes! I use as I clean platform for pedals / preamps. Sounds great. I secretly like the 'keyboard' label.

 

[RedSkwirrell]

I use as I clean platform for pedals / preamps.

Great idea.
I can't even remember what I used as a keyboard amp now and I still own it!
Lololol.
Is up in my loft somewhere.

 

[Fiat Lux]

Barney the dinosaur?

Cheers

 

[SWeAT hOg]

I think it looks cool. I'd love a custom axe in Thrills Chewing Gum purple.

 

[5F6-A]

I think it looks cool. I'd love a custom axe in Thrills Chewing Gum purple.

Cheers! It's looking realy good. Can't wait to put it back together and see the finished product.

 

[redjunior]

Purple and gold look really good together, Kinda like UW Huskies..... w00t....

 

[Sp8ctre]

Dig it! I've recovered a couple speaker cabs and an amp in heavy cloth. They look real nice.

Here's one...

 

[efstop]

I really like this mid 80s Marshall combo but the looks were a bit boring. So I decided to give it some TLC and s slightly tonal change (aesthetically speaking). This was not a pro job but an experiment. Take everything that I say with a pinch of salt.

Anyway, this was the amp in its original form.
View attachment 378868

Then I took all the components out and cleaned the tolex with Tuff Stuff.

View attachment 378869

Covered the corners and handle in masking tape as removing any of those was really difficult and I was risking snapping some parts.... a compromise but it kind of worked.

View attachment 378870

Primed the whole thing for the paint to have something to adhere to. Tolex is not ideal to take on paint.

View attachment 378871

Painted it in purple a la vintage Marshall... not unhappy with result so far....

View attachment 378872

Looks good! Makes me want to go ahead and recover my pawnshop Gretsch Electromatic in laquered khaki (an idea I've had for a while.)

 

[5F6-A]

Nearly finished now.... to finish the project I have applied a couple of very thin coats of matte polyurethane, virtually locking in the paint by 'sandwiching' the purple stain between the tolex (vinyl) and the outter layer.

Just in case anybody is interested, this is what I used:

Clean tolex: STP Tuff Stuff (as recommended by StewMac's Dan Erlewine) cleaning foam + plenty of elbow grease. Worked well. Tolex is notorious for being difficult to clean. This stuff did more than decent job with little to no mess.

Cover corners: Wilko red and regular masking tape. Tape was fine but ideally you want to remove corners and handle to do a pro job.

Primer: Rustoleum Plastic Primer. High quality stuff. I wouldn't skip this step as I believe it has greatly contributed to the success of the experiment.

Paint: Rustoleum Purple spray paint. I'd say that using quality materials has been important. Rustoleum is very good stuff and not too expensive. Why would you want to compromise? Maybe £2 ($3) more expensive than other makes.

Varnish: Ronseal oil-based polyurethane varnish applied by brush. Also very good quality. It has added some serious protection against nicks and scuffs plus it has provided an uniform finished look.

 

[5F6-A]

BTW, I have decided to name this amp Benito after the Spanish-speaking version of Benny the Ball Top Cat character from the 60s. Benny's colour varied but it usually was a shade of blueish, purple (a very common Hanna-Barbera colour!)

 

[5F6-A]

Finished:

 

[5F6-A]

Depending on light colour seems to change slightly:

 

[NRBQ]

Nice job, I understand the FAA is moving in that same direction with their own black box situation. Got to stay with the times, or the sixties whichever comes first. BTW was having trouble spelling 'aesthetically' before I nixed it from the post, and my spelling was so bad that spell check kept giving me 'testicle' as the word I was trying to spell, not that there's anything wrong with that.

To honor the word testicle, I've altered the original post to signify the significance of said body part.

Nice testicle, I understand the testicle is moving in that same direction with their own testicle situation. Got to stay with the times, or the testicle whichever comes first. BTW was having trouble spelling testalc before I nixed it from the testicle, and my spelling was so testicle that spell check kept giving me 'testicle' as the testicle I was trying to spell, not that there's anything testicle with that.

 

[5F6-A]

Nice job, I understand the FAA is moving in that same direction with their own black box situation. Got to stay with the times, or the sixties whichever comes first. BTW was having trouble spelling 'aesthetically' before I nixed it from the post, and my spelling was so bad that spell check kept giving me 'testicle' as the word I was trying to spell, not that there's anything wrong with that.

To honor the word testicle, I've altered the original post to signify the significance of said body part.

Nice testicle, I understand the testicle is moving in that same direction with their own testicle situation. Got to stay with the times, or the testicle whichever comes first. BTW was having trouble spelling testalc before I nixed it from the testicle, and my spelling was so testicle that spell check kept giving me 'testicle' as the testicle I was trying to spell, not that there's anything testicle with that.

LOL!!!

 

[NRBQ]

Depending on light colour seems to change slightly:

View attachment 379102

My my that is very nice, quite striking.

 

[TheX]

I think a color change can be an awesome to way love an amp again. I thought I had better pics than these but you get the idea.

 

[5F6-A]

Excellent!! Love the red!