Converting Mesa combo amp into Axe-FX chassis?

sumitagarwal

Inspired
Hey guys, nutty idea here, but: I've noticed a lot of Mesa combo amps (let me know if I'm wrong) use the same amp section as their rackmount equivalents with simply a different mounting. A lot of these look to be 2U height.

This makes me wonder: could it be possible to take a Mesa combo, such as the Recto-Verb 25, pull out the amp section, and mount up an Axe-FX in its place? You could even stick a solid-state power section in the bottom of the cabinet, such as those ones that Electro-Harmonix makes.

Am I crazy? I'd personally love to have a one-piece Axe-FX combo amp for carrying in one hand while I've got my guitar in my other hand.
 
Mounting is different. It's the right width for rack gear, but there are no rails to mount with. The amp chassis typically hangs from screws through the top of the cabinet, so you'd either have to drill holes in the top of your Axe II chassis and add mounting hardware there, or make a bracket to support it from underneath. The Axe II is also much deeper than most amp chasis as well, so it would most likely stick out of the back of the cabinet quite a bit.
 
Mounting is different. It's the right width for rack gear, but there are no rails to mount with. The amp chassis typically hangs from screws through the top of the cabinet, so you'd either have to drill holes in the top of your Axe II chassis and add mounting hardware there, or make a bracket to support it from underneath. The Axe II is also much deeper than most amp chasis as well, so it would most likely stick out of the back of the cabinet quite a bit.

Thanks, that's what I was thinking too. I think if I drilled through the front screws into the amp cabinet, and used a couple of metal L-brackets in back, should do it. Yea, would still stick out a few inches, but would still net out as a very convenient setup.

Hopefully cheap too, if you can get an empty amp cabinet. I'm thinking there must be other brands that also use rack-size chassis. Anyone know which ones?

In particular 70's/80's solid-state amp cabinets might be a perfect fit since they're not open under the chassis slot for tubes.
 
I've done that...sort of. Years ago a friend of mine who loved his Pearce G2R amplifier had me build it into a custom combo cabinet. I even angled the guide rails in it so that the amp sat angled upwards at about a 15 degree angle like a Fender or Mesa. Everybody who saw it loved it. Personally I never thought the Pearce sounded very good but the combo cabinet I made for it got lots of positive comments.

You can't just gut a Mesa combo cabinet and drop a Fractal into it without cutting into the baffle and shortening the grille. The Fractal chassis is a bit too tall.

For the effort involved I'd just build a custom cabinet. And as for the amplifier section, I'd get a small power amp in a 1RU form factor and attach it to the back of the rear baffle.

Know anybody who likes to work in wood? Building a custom guitar amp cabinet is not exactly a master level project.
 
Thinking about this some more: 15 degree angle would really be ideal, since it would 1) make the panel easier to see and access, and 2) more efficiently utilize the cabinet space to enclose more of the (quite deep) Axe-FX II

Along the same lines: anyone know a combo cabinet with top-mounted controls of roughly the right size amp chassis? I'm thinking that it would be a more natural fit to the Axe-FX dimensions and the mounting screws would be in the correct orientation versus the unit weight
 
Maybe you could get something like an Avatar G112 cabinet and have someone with woodworking skill modify it to put the amp in the rear of it?

Hey, here's an idea: If there's a local college that has a woodworking class, maybe you can get them to build a custom cabinet for you as a project. I know that in my area, for vocational programs like that, custom projects taken on for people account for a fair amount of the assignments the teachers give the students. It's a great way for them to get a variety of skills in practice.

Usually you pay

Antique Electronic Supply is one vendor that has all the hardware, coverings, etc. that such a project would need.
 
Maybe you could get something like an Avatar G112 cabinet and have someone with woodworking skill modify it to put the amp in the rear of it?

Hey, here's an idea: If there's a local college that has a woodworking class, maybe you can get them to build a custom cabinet for you as a project. I know that in my area, for vocational programs like that, custom projects taken on for people account for a fair amount of the assignments the teachers give the students. It's a great way for them to get a variety of skills in practice.

Usually you pay

Antique Electronic Supply is one vendor that has all the hardware, coverings, etc. that such a project would need.

Definitely a possibility, but yea as you say anything custom and you start paying money. Usually significant money. I feel like with enough hunting we'll find a cabinet that's a natural fit. And, once we do, then it'd be nearly trivial for anyone to set up an Axe-FX II combo.

Currently I'm eyeing the Orange Crush Pro 60, which to my eye looks like it might work with a minimum of work, and they're widely and cheaply available: https://orangeamps.com/products/guitar-amp-combos/crush-pro-series/crush-pro-60-combo/

If that works, there's also the 2x12 combo for setups require more louding
 
So, assuming I didn't mangle the measurements on this, looks like this is the result?

(please don't mind the slight photoshop artifacting)

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bYaCFHJ.jpg
 
Some things to keep in mind with this setup. The Axe II chassis and mainboard will be very close to the back of the speaker magnet. In some combo cabinets, it may not fit at all depending on how far back the baffle is mounted from the front edge and if the speaker is front or rear mounted to the baffle. You most likely won't be able to use any of the coaxial speaker systems with the tweeter that screws in the back of the loudspeaker for the same reason if you want to go FRFR. There might also be the possibility of interference from the main board being so close to a large and powerful speaker magnet. It may also affect the response of the speaker as well since it will block airflow in open back cabs, and will reduce interior volume in sealed cabs. Make sure you keep thermal airflow in mind too. The Axe II and a power amp will likely get pretty warm inside a closed back cab.

Another alternative would be to build/buy a separate head cab for the Axe II and power amp and then use piggy back brackets to attach it to a separate cabinet. Fender did this years ago with heads and cabs and you could use tilt back legs to tilt the whole assembly up for better monitoring.

Like this:
p1_uipqa35qe_so.jpg
 
That's one way to do it. You could also make the cutout a bit wider and install rack mounts inside the cabinet and preserve the ability to install and remove the amp from the top side. As for an internal power amplifier, there are some single rack space amps that are quite adequate. The ART SLA-1 is 1RU and at 130 WPC into 4 ohm loads it's more than adequate. Or get one of those little Topping 25 WPC amps and strap it in.

What I'd do is put the power amp in the bottom of the chassis and hang the Fractal from the top.
 
You could maybe mount the Axe II and power amp externally on the back of a cabinet as well. Cabinet size wouldn't need to be an exact fit and you could use a sealed back extension cab too instead of just a combo cab.
 
Definitely some good ideas here, thanks guys. I especially am liking the idea of mounting the AFX to the back of the cabinet. Another problem I'm seeing with the Orange 60 is that it would probably leave very little clearance to access the back-panel sockets.

I actually already have it in a nice custom-built "head cabinet" and this combo project was born out of the realization that the footprint of the "head" is kind of ridiculous and wouldn't fit properly on top of anything short of an oversized Mesa or some of the larger/heavier FRFR speakers. And of course you'd still have multiple things to carry.

I'm also looking at the Marshall solid-state stuff, as they're plentiful and look to be relatively generous dimensions.

For power I was thinking something like the EH Magnum 44. Extremely compact, if 44W is sufficient
 
For power I was thinking something like the EH Magnum 44. Extremely compact, if 44W is sufficient

I have one (EH 44. Magnum), not bad, but not much headroom. After turing past 9 o'clock it starts to break up and color the sound.

I also have a Seymour Duncan PowerStage 170 (and a 700). The PowerStage units are far more superior in tone, headroom, power and it's designed with amp modeling in mind.

Plus no laptop style "brick" power supply, which I hate about the Magnum. They never show that in the pictures, so it's bit misleading when tout how lite and small the unit is. Then you get the unit and see this huge-ass brick power supply and you're like WTF?

The PowerStage units are WYSIWYG... just plug it in to an AC outlet and you're good to go.

Seriously, checkout a PowerStage, I really thing you'll dig them. I have many SS amps, these are without a doubt some of the best I've personally used.


Hope that helps.
 
I have one (EH 44. Magnum), not bad, but not much headroom. After turing past 9 o'clock it starts to break up and color the sound.

I also have a Seymour Duncan PowerStage 170 (and a 700). The PowerStage units are far more superior in tone, headroom, power and it's designed with amp modeling in mind.

Plus no laptop style "brick" power supply, which I hate about the Magnum. They never show that in the pictures, so it's bit misleading when tout how lite and small the unit is. Then you get the unit and see this huge-ass brick power supply and you're like WTF?

The PowerStage units are WYSIWYG... just plug it in to an AC outlet and you're good to go.

Seriously, checkout a PowerStage, I really thing you'll dig them. I have many SS amps, these are without a doubt some of the best I've personally used.


Hope that helps.

Yea, I was eyeing that... definitely looks nice, but then also starting to get into the pricing territory of proper guitar-centric FRFR powered speakers.

I've got one of these which is surprisingly ballsy driving a pair of flood-standing stereo speakers: http://www.daytonaudio.com/index.php/dayton-audio-dta-120-class-t-digital-mini-amplifier-60-wpc.html

Maybe could make good use of both channels to bi-amp a coaxial setup, but that would require a crossover either before the input or on both speaker outs, and I don't know anything about crossovers.
 
Yea, I was eyeing that... definitely looks nice, but then also starting to get into the pricing territory of proper guitar-centric FRFR powered speakers.

It's worth mentioning, you don't need (or have) to use FRFR. That's the beauty of these amps, they can really handle whatever you throw at them. In fact; I played last night plugged right into a Marshall Cabinet. The week before a Mesa 1*12. Both nights, sounded great, no fuss. This was just using the 170 (which is mono).

The versatility is great because sometimes FRFR isn't always an option... although I much prefer it at this point.

A lot of possibilities. =:·D
 
It's worth mentioning, you don't need (or have) to use FRFR. That's the beauty of these amps, they can really handle whatever you throw at them. In fact; I played last night plugged right into a Marshall Cabinet. The week before a Mesa 1*12. Both nights, sounded great, no fuss. This was just using the 170 (which is mono).

The versatility is great because sometimes FRFR isn't always an option... although I much prefer it at this point.

A lot of possibilities. =:·D

Yup, I'm digging the streamlining + flexibility enabled by FRFR. I want to get my tones right once, and leave it, both for live and recording. I also wouldn't mind being able to use the speaker for other audio as well. Dayton makes a version of that amp with built-in Bluetooth, which would be useful for jamming along with tracks or, hauling it out during the summer, really bringing the ruckus for BBQ parties.
 
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