New chassis for mesa F-50

Glaw343

Hi all, I have a mesa F-50 that I've converted from a combo into a head but I'm looking to make it a bit smaller if possible. seems like there's a lot of room inside the chassis, how practical would it be to have a new chassis made for it? and can anyone reccomend where I should look to have this done, roughly how much it would be and what material/thickness i should use to keep it as light weight as possible but still sturdy. Thanks

ICBM

@Modulus_Amps may be able to help.

It’s not going to be cheap though. You might be better looking for the cheapest F-20 you can find - not working, ideally -and use that as a donor. It would need the transformer mountings and power valve socket holes changing but I think should otherwise be feasible.

Modulus_Amps

Short Answer: Can it be done? Yes.  However you would be cheaper just buying the head amp second hand.

The problem with one off pre-cut/pre punched chassis is you have to deal with engineering companies at engineering rates, that's is if you can find one that will do one off jobs like this.

So you need a technical drawing for starters, so someone who knows about sheet metal design (3D CAD etc) and audio design to work out the layout and make sure when you put it all in a smaller chassis that it doesn't cause any audio issues.

I could form a blank chassis for you at a ok price, but you would have to do all the drilling and cutting out of holes to make it all fit. you would then need a facia panel to make it look good. Then you need a tech to do all the work of transferring the amp into the new chassis etc.

I don't know how much Dan Gower charges for his mods, but I would expect it to be up there price wise if not more. Certainly more than a f-50 head is worth second hand

Glaw343

Ah fair enough, thanks for your help both of you, looks like it'll be staying the way it is then. Cheers