[nanahachi]

A friend of mine saw Wodgy's beautiful Wood 'n Steel amp, and decided he wanted to follow that example and come up with innovative case designs for amps (Meta).

We are just working with designs right now, and I was wondering if there were any materials you guys&gals would like to see amps placed in. something feasible, nothing ridiculous.

These cases and amps could be for mass production (say for head-fiers) or just for individual instances. For instance, he said he wanted to try to make a diamond plate case...oooooh shiny!

anyway, I'm just collecting ideas, so feel free to be creative!

 

[bdb55]

Titanium

 

[TimSchirmer]

I think glass might look kinda cool.

Kinda like the stuff that mitchell and clearaudiomake.

Another good material would be delerin.

 

[mlchang]

Platinum?
Carbon Fiber?

Seriously though, a frosted glass or acrylic amp could be really cool looking...hmmm.

 

[andrzejpw]

I've always thought a glass amp would be cool, but then you have the problems of glass. . .

how about a nice wooden amp? Like the RA-1. . .

 

[PinkFloyd]

seamed silk... with resin impregnated Yew wood frame..

Oooooh errr Missus

 

[LobsterSan]

How about something in the same vein as the Apple computer line... y'know, something like the G4 cube, or the G4 towers, or the ibook casing. It's a tough clear plastic over a colored plastic interior. I really like the way they look... very clean, and very durable.

In lieu of glass, high quality plastic may be the ticket...

 

[sacd lover]

How about a nice wood case with an acrylic top so we could admire the interior.

 

[nanahachi]

sacd,
yeah, i was thinking something like that! but of course, inspiration and credit go to Wodgy!!

great ideas so far, tho i wonder how expensive some of that would run...

entirely clear plastic/acryllic cases would be cool, and prob pretty easy too

keep the ideas coming. would anyone even want one of these cases if we decided to build them? i wonder if theres a demand for them, or if it would just be for my own needs.

 

[00940]

I seriously think to get a meta if I can grab a better pair of cans.

I'll have around 200$ to put in, but it will not be before some months...

I suppose your amp woudn't be portable (with wood, I would be surprised..) ? Which size do you plan ? Big for wallwart and a max of component or small ?

 

[smokey]

I personally would like to see a thick wooden case like the one Wodgy did, except with matching wooden top and bottom plates.

The bottom plate would be attached by screws to the sides and bottom, but I'd like to see the top plate be fitted as a little tongue and groove slider. Kind of like old Cigar boxes. That way you could open the case and show off the components without ever touching a screwdriver.

FWIW

 

[puck]

if you want to do a clear or colored transparent case, plexiglass is the way to go. its easily machinable and i have seen some cases for lab equipment made from it that look very cool.

personally, i am into wood and am working on some designs myself. black walnut and curly maple make a great combination!

 

[eric343]

24K Gold Bullion case, titanium hardware, WBT Topline jacks, platinum volume knob...

Seriously, though, how about brushed steel?

Marble-anodized aluminum?

Acrylic with inset-silicon accents?

A big, black-anodized aluminum heatsink, bent in an oven to form an artistic sculptural case? (with mounting places for TO-220 form factor transistors, of course!)

LEGOs?

Old vacuum tubes with the bases cut off, a Sijosae amp inside, and wired to use the original pins, then reassembled? (using a tiny orange power LED, of course!)

Inside a Faraday cage at the tip of a Tesla coil? (with optical signal in/out and battery power, of course!)

Shaped, smoothsanded hardwood, with a hidden lid and secret compartments for extra batteries/Etys/etc?

Inside a hollowed-out copy of The NPR Guide to Building a Classical Music Collection? Calculus of Vector Functions, Second Edition?

A double-thickness (four CD) jewel case?

A big padlock?

One of those head-bobbing car-dash figurines?

A block of glass, lit with blue LEDs?

wholey crap, I gotta get working on homework! is it 6:20 already?! see ya...

 

[Wodgy]

This is a great thread idea! (I would have posted earlier, but I just got back from Istanbul last night.)

Some ideas that have been running through my head:
- exotic woods (beautiful ones, like snakewood or bloodwood)
- fired porcelain or clay (like shiny tiles, but in organic shapes)
- leather (stiff)
- musical instruments (here in Seattle old electric guitars can be had for $95 at the right places, on my trip I saw traditional instruments for $5-10, but didn't pick any up -- obviously things like this would have to be home amps)
- large gilled heat sinks for the sides, sheets of steel for the top and bottom
- glass (be careful, this will look fairly geeky if not executed right)
- Iznik tiles
- copper
- brass
- marble (much cheaper than you expect, if you get it from an importer, but hard to machine).

I also have one idea that I really like and that's fairly inexpensive, but I'm going to keep that a secret for a couple weeks until I finish my next design

It'll keep me motivated.

 

[nanahachi]

great ideas eric and wodgy!!

how was istandbul? for pleasure or business?
wodgy, be sure to post pics when youre new idea is ready. your last amp was a huge hit. i for one would love to see more.

and you could always sell me your wood and steel if your new one becomes your new fave