How to convert a combo into a head and cab

Рет қаралды 31,007

5 жыл бұрын

At Zilla we are often asked if we can do a Combo to head conversion, usually due to weight but also for added flexibility. Here we talk through the process of turning a combo amplifier into a head and cabinet and some of the options we offer.
In this example we took a Mesa Boogie Rectoverb 1x12 combo and converted it to a head and cab. We also demonstrate the head with a custom Zilla 2x12 cab
www.zillacabs.com

Пікірлер: 106

@geetarplyr1 4 жыл бұрын

I have this same amp that I'm considering turning into a head because it weighs about 3000 lbs. Beautiful work!

@ZillaCabs 4 жыл бұрын

They are cool amps and so much easier to manage in a separate headshell. You can keep size down too as the reverb tank is inside the amp chassis. Thanks for the kind words, I'm glad you enjoyed the video.

@javiermp81 5 жыл бұрын

Fantastic job! The head + cab combination looks and sound awesome. Loved the video!

@ZillaCabs 5 жыл бұрын

Thanks Javier, that is great, I'm glad you enjoyed it. If you have any suggestions on what you would like to hear in other videos then let us know.

@RiotBadger 4 жыл бұрын

Love it! I've had a Zilla SFB for years and it's been perfect. Very tempted to get my Mesa Subway Rocket converted to a head.

@ZillaCabs 4 жыл бұрын

Awesome, thanks for that.

@ontherocks1026 2 жыл бұрын

Fantastic build !!! Excellent choice on the croc skin!!!

@ZillaCabs 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks mate, the croc skin is a cool finish.

@PereRevert 4 жыл бұрын

Oh, that's amazing guys, such a lovely wizardry !

@ZillaCabs 4 жыл бұрын

Thanks, glad you like it.

@frantisca 2 жыл бұрын

Good job guys: looks terrific !👍🏻🤘🏻

@ArtGuitarLTX 3 жыл бұрын

Good lord that was amazing, you guys did a mighty fine job there. Looks B E A utiful !

@ZillaCabs 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks mate, I'm glad you like it... it was one of our first videos so theres a bit too much talking but the amp looked cool at the end. Thanks for watching.

@tomsmeets4013 7 ай бұрын

Really artisanal work; he went out of his way with that box, he even has a beard at the end of the process ! Great job by the way.

@ZillaCabs 7 ай бұрын

Thanks mate, glad you like it.

@gerrykavanagh 3 жыл бұрын

Excellent job. I had been thinking of doing this with my Mk IV, and now I know how,. Thanks.

@ZillaCabs 3 жыл бұрын

Great. Let us know how you get on with it.

@givein1433 5 жыл бұрын

Great video man! really interesting to see.

@ZillaCabs 5 жыл бұрын

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

@nordgrenjoakim 5 жыл бұрын

Love your videos! Keep them coming :)

@ZillaCabs 5 жыл бұрын

Thanks Joakim, that is really kind of you. We have some cool stuff planned.

@albertarmen4839 3 жыл бұрын

ok time to drool, great choice of color scheme for this project... now after seeing this can't wait for what you guys come up with for the Lonestar project.

@ZillaCabs 3 жыл бұрын

haha thanks mate, I would naturally do it in this colour scheme but then I would probably end up with all our gear in that colour scheme if I didn't stop myself ;)

@albertarmen4839 3 жыл бұрын

@@ZillaCabs LOL well you certainly raised the bar for yourselves with that one. Now the pressure is on :)

@Funkybassuk Жыл бұрын

I have a Cornford Harlequin and I was wondering about how to turn it into a head and cab. Funnily enough, I only watched your Cornford Harlequin video about an hour ago and only found this video from a google search.

@ZillaCabs Жыл бұрын

Those are really cool amps. The Harlequin should be able to get converted over without too much fuss.if you wanted us to do it send us an email at info@zillacabs.com and we can send all the info over.

@DLC-music 4 жыл бұрын

Great video

@ZillaCabs 4 жыл бұрын

Thanks Daniel

@benmiddleton6827 5 жыл бұрын

Hmmmm fantastic job! And that SuperFatBoy looks very familiar :) Great stuff!

@ZillaCabs 5 жыл бұрын

haha yeah, perfect timing. Thanks Ben, I hope you are still enjoying the cab.

@benmiddleton6827 5 жыл бұрын

@@ZillaCabs it's nothing short of fantastic... and now I have to seriously consider finding a suitable head shell conversion :)

@ZillaCabs 5 жыл бұрын

haha that's what I like to hear!

@benmiddleton6827 5 жыл бұрын

@@ZillaCabs Sooooo, looks like I might be about to buy a s/h Mesa Mark V:25 head... which I might want converting to match the cab hehe :)

@ZillaCabs 5 жыл бұрын

@@benmiddleton6827 that's what I like to hear haha. You already have a stunner of a cab so you can go all matching.

@dummy0000000 3 жыл бұрын

Fatboy sounds so much clearer and wider. Hope I will order a cab from you guys

@0o0oo0o 3 жыл бұрын

Man, my Blackstar Ht Stage 60 is a heavy beast. Would be nice to have this done with it.

@Starch1b2c3d4a 4 жыл бұрын

Damn. Nice job.

@ZillaCabs 4 жыл бұрын

Thanks, glad you like it.

@axemanfishing2703 9 ай бұрын

WOW, this is exactly what I am looking for. I wonder if I could just order a blank head to drop the guts in for my Mesa Rectoverb combo. ??

@MarkSchuster-ym3iy 3 жыл бұрын

Sounds great

@ZillaCabs 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks Mark.

@scholarsofdecayiceland663 4 жыл бұрын

Beautifull 🤘

@ZillaCabs 4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for that.

@Williegrizz 5 жыл бұрын

beutiful job!

@ZillaCabs 5 жыл бұрын

Thanks for that, you can't go wrong with croc skin.

@jasonvolk2517 2 жыл бұрын

Do you guys sell the head shell for this by chance? I have the same amp and would love to do this conversion.

@heythere6983 2 жыл бұрын

I still can’t figure out if I want creamback speakers . They seem to sound like they have extra fluffy harmonics around the notes thank Most other speakers . I wonder if they can sound clean edge of break up-y or just go into that extra saturated mode . I remember playing a Mesa maverick with h75s and it sounded pretty dark, I didn’t get to play it very loud . I hadn’t played a maverick before so I wasn’t sure if the harmonics were the amp or the speakers. It sounded interesting but kinda different. I don’t know if I want to commit to that sound. I feel like other speakers sound “drier” if that makes any sense

@beautorrance3712 2 жыл бұрын

Subscribed! I could honestly watch this stuff all day! What wood do you like to use for your head builds?

@ZillaCabs 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks mate, that is very kind of you. It's good to have you on the team. We mostly use birch ply and stock 12,15 and 18mm. We hold a few other types for specialist stuff too but mostly the birch ply.

@lewisjones2230 3 жыл бұрын

How much would it be to convert a mesa tremoverb 2x12 combo roughly?

@durstgt 3 жыл бұрын

This is insane. I have a series 1 rectoverb combo and I was just going "moving this thing sucks, I wonder if I could turn this into a head and cab"

@ZillaCabs 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks Chris. Yeah go for it, they are actually a pretty light amp chassis, especially for a Mesa but the combo cases weigh a ton.

@DanielBobke Жыл бұрын

Have you ever done a Peavey 6505+ 1x12 combo conversion to a head and cab? I have this amp that I picked up recently and it seems a lot of people do conversions on them because the combo is like 70 pounds. Splitting it into a head and cab makes it a bit easier to lug around. I am considering this, but I don't have the woodworking tools to be able to do this myself.

@christopherharv 5 ай бұрын

I’m interested in the opposite of this, in a sense. I would love to be able to stack my amp on top of a 1x12, and then have the amp be able to be securely locked in place in top, so that I can carry it like it’s a combo. And then to be able to remove it with ease.

@wanderer12 2 жыл бұрын

Damn. I think im gonna need to do this. Just so that I can bring it home after jamming with it

@ZillaCabs 2 жыл бұрын

Do you have a rectoverb?

@aarongrimes2264 5 жыл бұрын

So sick guys!!

@ZillaCabs 5 жыл бұрын

Thanks Aaron. You are still the guy with probably the most out there cab design! It is good having you on board!

@aarongrimes2264 5 жыл бұрын

Zilla Cabs haha that’s good to hear! Can’t wait to eventually get the next one :)

@ZillaCabs 5 жыл бұрын

@@aarongrimes2264 Excellent, that's what I like to hear haha.... you know I loved that material so much I went out to their factory in LA. Absolutely love that material.

@aarongrimes2264 5 жыл бұрын

Zilla Cabs ah man how cool!! I’ve still not seen anything like it before :)

@ZillaCabs 4 жыл бұрын

@@aarongrimes2264 We were driving around LA with a roll of it poking out of the back of a convertible haha... still not as crazy as your cab.

@luizdiaz5196 4 жыл бұрын

Where can I learn more? I'd like to convert my combo into a head and cab.

@ZillaCabs 4 жыл бұрын

Hi Luiz, thanks for watching, our website is zillacabs.com and our email address is info@zillacabs.com

@19Cluj 5 жыл бұрын

That was super interesting. What would be the price of that job we see? (Using the combo as the cab).

@ZillaCabs 5 жыл бұрын

Thanks Thibaut, I'm glad you liked it. That head all a lot of extra features (embossed croc tolex, leather corners, wicker grill etc) so would be around £300 for the head. The standard price is more like £250 for a head conversion and around £75 for the combo shell to cab conversion.

@19Cluj 5 жыл бұрын

Zilla Cabs thanks a lot!

@phantasma669 3 жыл бұрын

Good job man. How much do you charge for this surgery?

@ZillaCabs 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks, I'm glad you like it. Had shells are normally around the £280 mark or so but this one does have a few custom extras on, croc tolex, wicker grill, leather corners etc.

@nickmetal131 2 жыл бұрын

Hearing a Mesa Rectifier through a Celestion M Creamback makes me wish I had never sold my old 2 channel Triple Rec half stack.

@peterfreimanis2869 Жыл бұрын

Did you have enough room for the reverb tank with these dimensions?

@ZillaCabs Жыл бұрын

Off the top of my head the reverb tanks are integrated in to the amp chassis on these ones... it's been a while but I think that's right.

@pistolpeter8747 Жыл бұрын

@@ZillaCabs On my rectoverb 50 it sits on the bottom below the speaker..maybe I’ll give myself 3” more just to be safe that it’ll fit.

@MarkSchuster-ym3iy 3 жыл бұрын

nice

@aronhallam6449 4 жыл бұрын

im going to do it myself and it'll probably look like the punk band's PA from Mike Reid's pop quiz

@ZillaCabs 4 жыл бұрын

Awesome, let us know how you get on with it.

@justinTime077 3 жыл бұрын

I almost bought one of these on the GC website, it was a 50, but I was like that looks WEIRD! I’ve never seen any like it! I finally figured it out, but was finally like hell no because the Mesa Engineering was gone, it looked nothing like a Mesa save for the Rectifier logo... i wanted that good old diamond casing anyway..

@ZillaCabs 3 жыл бұрын

Was it a combo to head shell conversion or the actual 50 watt head?

@justinTime077 3 жыл бұрын

@@ZillaCabs it was a combo conversion. I was super nervous about buying it because it looked weird, but probably would have been fine I suppose. Like I said though the diamond casing was iconic and I found one at the same good price.

@frownonline 4 жыл бұрын

Surprised you didn't remove the tubes.

@ZillaCabs 4 жыл бұрын

Why's that? It is quite common to leave tubes in the chassis when taking them out of a case.

@Clashborn 8 ай бұрын

I came here because I wanna do this to a Fender 65' Princeton lol. Eventually.

@OPPIDUM666 4 жыл бұрын

Fucking Great Video !!!!!!!! PS : I want a Hoodie like yours =) Zilla power

@ZillaCabs 4 жыл бұрын

We are getting a new lot in soon, I will let you know as soon as they come in stock.

@sparkyguitar0058 3 жыл бұрын

That would be nice especially since mine weighs about 80 lbs. But its wood and wicker. And also I already got a road case for this amp. But now it weighs 100 lbs or more

@alvaroruizruiz7538 2 жыл бұрын

Holy sh*t the creamback works definitely better with that amp

@ZillaCabs 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks, I thought it worked great in there too. Thanks for watching.

@killebrew69 3 жыл бұрын

Nice lookin' unit..but WHY? LOL

@ZillaCabs 3 жыл бұрын

Don't be cruel, that amp does have its place. I have to admit it isn't my favourite boogie ;)

@P4nzerk93 3 жыл бұрын

I came here to look if I could get this cheap and available combo turned into a head because I already have a better speaker in my cab than the combo has. Head versions of the same amp are way more rarer and expensive.

@jeffallen3382 2 жыл бұрын

Cool video but spit it put dude! 10 minutes in and you're just pulling the chassis out. Smh

@ZillaCabs 2 жыл бұрын

I know what you mean mate, to be honest, this video was supposed to just be to show how to do it for people who were actually ordering.

@jeffallen3382 2 жыл бұрын

@@ZillaCabs I understand. It's cool that you offer this custom service.

@fieldenwireman790 3 жыл бұрын

WAY too many UMMM !!!

@ZillaCabs 3 жыл бұрын

I agree, it was one of our first videos, I hope we've got better.

@guitmeister 11 ай бұрын

Sorry I lost you after 6 min's

@knutsulflow1062 Жыл бұрын

Why would you make a HOW TO VIDEO without showing the actual most essential parts. Such as putting the vinyl on the wood or the speaker cover canvas over the speaker front. Like i get that that is probably your buissness secret… but then why bother making a HOW TO video. That in order to turn it into a head i have to take the amp out of the combo is no news to anyone

@knutsulflow1062 Жыл бұрын

I mean of course its a wonderful job that you did and i dont want to sound like a hater. I just think that then you should have actually shown how it can be done yourself

@ZillaCabs Жыл бұрын

This video was done for our customers, more how to provide us with the information, so how to tae the measurements. We never expected people other than our customers to watch it for anything other than that.