Atomic CLR Fender Blackface Special Edition

lqdsnddist

Axe-Master
Atomic CLR is obviously a fantastic monitor wedge, but..... Its pretty darn ugly if you ask me. Functional, but rather utilitarian. Well, I just happened to have some spare Fender style grill cloth left over from another project I was working on, and looked at my CLR and though "hmmmm.... wonder how it would work to recover it?"

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Well, about $20 later, here is the result....

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Basically just took off the metal grill, added a little 0.5x0.5" square dowel around the edge of it so I could staple the grill cloth to it, bought a few $1 metal amp corners (need to make sure you get some for a 1/2" radius), a few stainless steel self tapping truss head screws to attach them (didn't even have to drill pilot holes, CLR isn't too tough lol) and then 'splurged" on a $8.99 Fender open tail style logo...
I think it looks pretty cool, and the speaker is still protected by the durable metal grill, and there is no change in tone from the open style Fender cloth. I haven't screwed the grill back on yet though as I'm not sure if I like it as a wedge, or a backline position.
 
Was thinking of doing a second one with some salt and pepper or large check basketweave cloth, black plastic corners and a 6” white “Marshall” logo in the middle lol
 
I thought about adding tolex and grill cloth to my CLR. Now I know it would look great. Thanks for the idea on how to attach the cloth.
 
Now someone needs to put Tweed on the outside!


That was going to be my first attempt actually, tweed narrow panel. Ended up seeming like a bit too much work given the shape of the cabinet, material costs, having to lacquer it, then distress it a bit etc. buddy redid a tweed cab before and it was like 20+ hrs to really make it look right.
 
Well done! Looks about 80 billion times better than the original cover which is butt ugly, IMHO.

Atomic: Randall called and they want their design aesthetic back. LOL.
 
So now we need to see one with Marshall speaker cloth and piping!


Quick (and poorly done) PS job with white lines for "piping" but it is kind of how a large check grill cloth and white piping would look, with a 6" marshall logo.

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Only "problems" I see are that the typical Marshall cab is a thick birch ply, with like a 1" diameter rounded edge, and the CLR is like 1/4th" or so, as such, it looks more like a Fender Bassman or similar external cabinet, than it does a Marshall cab, not to mention the depth of the grill is deeper on a Marshall.

Still though, does look like of cool

Could do a black and cream "Boogie" logo one..... a diamond pattern "Vox" one..... basketwave cane....etc, collect the whole set! lol
 
I'd move the MESA logo to the upper left corner like some of their cabs are done, just because of the nature of FRFR speakers and the tweeter being in the middle, but otherwise that looks fantastic.

Actually that grille cloth looks good enough that it doesn't even need the MESA logo, lol
 
Thinking of attempting a narrow panel tweed still...... Never worked with tweed before so might be a fun adventure.... though seems a fair bit of work with the shellac, tinted lacquer and all that stuff. Of course the one cool part about a narrow panel style is the CLR front grill attaches with the 4 screws in the face of the grill, which is exactly where the narrow panel parts go, so it really wouldn't be too much more than just adding two little 1" wide strips across the top of bottom for aesthetics.... might affect the sound a little though ? The wave guide for the tweeter is more horizontal though so might be sonicly pretty invisible... Of course cost of tweed, contact cement, oxblood grill etc actually starts to add up, so bit more than the $5-10 worth of parts and 30 minutes work my previous version did.....

2 minute bad PS rendering lol
tweed clr.jpg
 
I actually have a similar project and already do have the grillcloth. Could you just post a photo to show you installed this .5/.5 square dowel ? I do intend to keep the atomic logo though. I think BTW that CLR could make a buy option for such a feature.

The angle profiles are a good idea also as the CLR happens to be a bit fragile on handling and transportation.
 
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