# Pics of a new cab I built for an old Garnet Granada stencil amp



## SurfGreenTele (Jan 24, 2010)

I figured this might be of interest here...not too many Garnet stencil fans on the Gear Page haha. 

I picked up this Granada earlier in the summer for $60. This is my first cab build/tolex venture - it was an ordeal, but satisfying. I was only going to replace the baffle, and re-tolex the original cab...my friend had given me a bunch of green levant tolex. So I bought a sheet of 1/2" birch ply, made a new 2x8 baffle, then realized I had exactly the right amount left to just do a whole cab. The original cabinet was weak and mildewy particle board anyway. I used 3/4" poplar pieces (Canadian Tire has them!) for bracing/butt joints, wood-glued and screwed in. I'm no woodworker, but it's solid and rattle-free now! Mounted in the bottom of the cab is a Hammond isolation transformer because this is one of the circuits (the Garnet 10P-T) that has no power transformer...just runs on straight 120v wall power with 2 x 12ax7 & 2 x 50C5 tubes.  It's a surprisingly nice sounding amp, really twangs with a Tele, nice breakup, and great trem. I gotta get some fancier knobs - probably white/cream chickenheads.

Some special info for my Canadian friends sourcing parts in Canada:
- The grill cloth is Mellotone DF6003-36 (NextGen & Q-Components sell it), in case you were wondering what it looks like. (I couldn't find any pics of it installed before I bought it).
- The speakers are the RifTone G825C-8 from Q-Components - they are great - really full and smooth sounding 8's...they wouldn't reveal which US company makes them, but they seem to have the same cones as the WGS 8" models (WGS confirmed they do not make them though).


Before:









After:




































Uncle Doug's youtube tolex & grill tutorials REALLY helped.









Added in a speaker jack...dig the old school lamp cord? I find it works well as speaker cable.









I should probably install a fan since there is no top vent (although it doesn't run that hot, and the original cab had no vent either). For the shielding I had a first aid heat reflective foil blanket that I cut and stapled in. Not sure if that's a good choice of material but we'll see.


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## KanataGuy (Mar 25, 2014)

Great job! Tolex looks perfect. I like the piping.. I am going to have to try that.


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## SurfGreenTele (Jan 24, 2010)

Thanks a lot!! Well it's not quite perfect...the closeup is of one of my cleaner corners lol. Plus there are a couple of spots that are a little bubbled up, where I probably skimped on the contact cement a bit. I am happy with the results though. I practiced a lot with scrap pieces before actually cutting, and I probably watched Uncle Doug's vids about 20 times.


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## Alistair6 (Jul 9, 2007)

drastic improvement. very nice job.. enjoy it


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## whywhyzed (Jan 28, 2008)

beautiful. tasteful, clean and unique.


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## SurfGreenTele (Jan 24, 2010)

Thanks for the kind words!


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## sambonee (Dec 20, 2007)

Really nice job. Well done. I just wanted to mention the dangers of these amps because I've been electrocuted twice using these stencil amps. Given that they do not isolate from the voltage in the wall, there is a higher risk of electrocution.

Perhaps in The future you may want to think of getting another amp built into that cabinet to fit exactly your tone and wattage specifications. It's important to also say that the danger only occurs if you're playing with other musicians or singing into a microphone from PA system. That is when you ground out and get the shock.

I shocked myself so badly once with one of these amplifiers that the shielded wire from my bridge to my body of my guitar known as the ground wire melted the shielding completely off inside the guitar. people in the audience saw a blue spark on my lip which Got burnt because of the electrocution contact point. The mic was a shure vintage Elvis style mic.


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## SurfGreenTele (Jan 24, 2010)

Thanks for the warning Sambonee - they are scary. I am running it through a Hammond 1:1 isolation transformer right now to protect myself. But my next plan is to build a new circuit in the chassis. Probably a blackface Vibro Champ!


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## jbealsmusic (Feb 12, 2014)

Good job. Looks classy!


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## SurfGreenTele (Jan 24, 2010)

jbealsmusic said:


> Good job. Looks classy!


Thanks man! I had ordered black tolex and the white piping from you...I was debating on black or green, but I think I'm going to use the black for a future project. Glad to see you guys just got the real tweed and oxblood/gold grillcloth in.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

That looks really good! Play loud and proud!

I'd keep the black knobs myself


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## jbealsmusic (Feb 12, 2014)

SurfGreenTele said:


> Thanks man! I had ordered black tolex and the white piping from you...I was debating on black or green, but I think I'm going to use the black for a future project. Glad to see you guys just got the real tweed and oxblood/gold grillcloth in.


Cool! I love seeing pics of stuff people build using parts they ordered from us. Somehow, it makes me feel like part of the final product. Be sure to post pics of that project as well.

Keep up the good work and thanks for the support!


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Looks cool--that original one is similar to my first amp--also a Garnet Stencil.


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## Davestp1 (Apr 25, 2006)

That is a really interesting Marshall. What model/year is it?


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## SurfGreenTele (Jan 24, 2010)

Budda said:


> That looks really good! Play loud and proud!
> 
> I'd keep the black knobs myself


Thanks! I actually do like the black knobs too, I'll probably leave them.

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jbealsmusic said:


> Cool! I love seeing pics of stuff people build using parts they ordered from us. Somehow, it makes me feel like part of the final product. Be sure to post pics of that project as well.
> 
> Keep up the good work and thanks for the support!


Oh yeah for sure!! Thanks for carrying these parts. 

Do you think you guys will get any blonde tolex in again?


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## King Loudness (May 3, 2010)

Looks great, Jim. The green tolex definitely looks far superior on your rig than it would have on my Marshall. Glad you found a use for it! Enjoy!

W.


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## SurfGreenTele (Jan 24, 2010)

zontar said:


> Looks cool--that original one is similar to my first amp--also a Garnet Stencil.


Nice! Did you ever get zapped by it? haha


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## SurfGreenTele (Jan 24, 2010)

Davestp1 said:


> That is a really interesting Marshall. What model/year is it?


It's a '79 JMP 2104 combo - probably the best amp I've ever owned!!

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King Loudness said:


> Looks great, Jim. The green tolex definitely looks far superior on your rig than it would have on my Marshall. Glad you found a use for it! Enjoy!
> 
> W.


Thanks Will, I appreciate the donation big time haha. Your Marshall definitely needed the classic black elephant stuff.


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## bolero (Oct 11, 2006)

nice job on that, looks great!!


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## SurfGreenTele (Jan 24, 2010)

bolero said:


> nice job on that, looks great!!



Thanks a lot!


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

SurfGreenTele said:


> Nice! Did you ever get zapped by it? haha


No zapping from that one or from my larger bass amp--also a Garnet stencil (That one is a tube amp)
but some of the school's Garnet's weren't as kind--but nothing serious.


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## SurfGreenTele (Jan 24, 2010)

Good to hear.  

I made a noodly clip of it with my Les Paul. The recorder clips a bit at the end when I dig in more, but oh well:
[video=youtube;plhC8X1IHqA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plhC8X1IHqA[/video]


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## bolero (Oct 11, 2006)

nice playing!!

what kind of delay pedal do you have there?

that's a solid little amp


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

The amp sounds great and I enjoyed your playing very much!!

Thanks for the posting the video/sound clips.

Cheers

Dave


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## SurfGreenTele (Jan 24, 2010)

Thanks guys!! The pedal used was an Hermida Reverb 3 - great reverb pedal!


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