Got my dream amp today :)

[$LICK CALIFA$ 10+ year member]

At least I'll still have a bitchin sweet amp w/ 2 spacers and awesome sound.....

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/iagree.gif.15d6c075ee8d3913ba26866d06993068.gif

 

[BassAddictJ 5,000+ posts]

alrighty.....got a drill bit that should allow me to widen the hole for the 3in bolt. The bolt is 6/32....so 12/64....the drill bit is 11/64....so that should allow the bolt to thread its way through, with less resistance than before...before the bolts were snappi half way through. wish me luck

 

[BassAddictJ 5,000+ posts]

install is about 80% done...had to pull out due to rain and no garage....

it is hooked up and HOLY HELL it sounds incredible. I still have a little tuning left to do, but so far it sounds great. Tweets are at 5.1khz and up. Midranges are 5.1khz down to 608hz, and misbasses are 310hz down to 80hz......it sounds incredible.

BEST of all now that I have two preamp output pairs off the EQ to work with. (before I used only the front outputs to the one input paiur on my epx-223 xover). I can turn my gains on the EQ and amp way lower than I had them before, which has effectively reduced my alternator whine and background noise to a negligent amount (even with my over critical attention to the whine).

Thank you jesus...ive been battling that noise for years and finally it's been defeated. Before I had my EQ gains all the way up, and my ax400 gains at least 80% up to reach the output I wanted....now the EQ gains are at like a quater, and amp gains are abot a third....and its still louder and cleaner than before. I think its safe to say the .2's upgraded power supply is beast. The amp is running warmer than I'd like, but it is a class a/b with limited space for cooling so i'm not suprised. I'll throw some fans in there at some point.

I'm heading back out now to finish it up, I'll be posting pics later tonight. I still need to find darker paint to do the touch-ups, but man I'm happy with the output results so far.

 

[xmakeafistx 10+ year member]

That thing is the sexiest amp i've ever seen, so jelly. Glad to hear you like it man.

 

[wenn_du_weinst 10+ year member]

much better than the white ones

 

[BassAddictJ 5,000+ posts]

So I widened the passage for the bolts to go through the spacers and it worked great. I only drilled out two holes per spacer, this way the other two untouched holes would still fit the standard 6/32 screw.

here's a pic of the tools used to make my bolts.....a 3ft rod size 6/32ths, acorn and regular nuts, heavy duty cutter to cut the rod, plyers to help manipulate the parts, and ca glue....

annnnnd pics of the install....

and a nice and subtle FL sunset as we finished the install....

 

[BassAddictJ 5,000+ posts]

got some paint thats a little bit closer to the right color/texture....its still not perfect but itll do for now.

 

[BassAddictJ 5,000+ posts]

...comtemplating wetsanding the front scratched up flat face and doing maybe a shade of red?

im having a realllly difficult time finding black to paint that comes remotely close to matching the amps paint....several attempts at home depot with scans etc, and the touch ups keeps coming out grey ish....driving me insane.

 

[VWBobby 10+ year member]

Here's the problem.... A "scanned" paint sample is going to be way off. The only way a place like HD can come close is on a flat/matte finish. Their system doesn't account well for gloss finish. The coating is most likely powder coat anyway, not paint. That does not matter for touch-ups, however.

The idiot behind the counter obviously isn't matching by eye after using the machine formula. A true paint jobber can match by eye and be more accurate than the machine.

Go to a competent auto Paint store, not an auto parts store. Bring the end plate with you. Look under "auto body supplies" in your phone book/online for your area to find a good paint store. A good paint jobber can hook you up with the correct paint and teach you how to shoot it to get the textured finish (low pressure, large tip). Otherwise you might as well get some textured trunk paint and shoot it with some semi-gloss black on top. It would be so close you couldn't tell. I shoot a lot of paint in the summer (autobody), but don't have time to do a project like this for you (sorry).

Awesome amp by the way! Very jelly.

 

[BassAddictJ 5,000+ posts]

Here's the problem.... A "scanned" paint sample is going to be way off. The only way a place like HD can come close is on a flat/matte finish. Their system doesn't account well for gloss finish. The coating is most likely powder coat anyway, not paint. That does not matter for touch-ups, however.
The idiot behind the counter obviously isn't matching by eye after using the machine formula. A true paint jobber can match by eye and be more accurate than the machine.

Go to a competent auto Paint store, not an auto parts store. Bring the end plate with you. Look under "auto body supplies" in your phone book/online for your area to find a good paint store. A good paint jobber can hook you up with the correct paint and teach you how to shoot it to get the textured finish (low pressure, large tip). Otherwise you might as well get some textured trunk paint and shoot it with some semi-gloss black on top. It would be so close you couldn't tell. I shoot a lot of paint in the summer (autobody), but don't have time to do a project like this for you (sorry).

Awesome amp by the way! Very jelly.

well you're dead on about the home depot guys lol...

good info, I'll start looking this week for a nearby place that can help me out.

now by "shoot it", do you mean with an air brush kit?

 

[VWBobby 10+ year member]

For something that small, you could use an airbrush. Personally I have a little $20 Harbor Freight cheapie touch-up gun I use for areas like that. I would recommend using a better gun however, quality guns will shoot a lot more accurate + easier.

If you decide to DIY, be sure to mask off everything you don't want paint on. It WILL get everywhere. When you are "blending" the paint into the existing finish, you lightly shoot the paint up to the edge of the old finish so it has a very feathered edge. You are trying to make the transition from the old paint to new undetectable. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Feel free to ask any more questions...

 

[gunz4me2 10+ year member]

Nice amp... I always liked those black arts even though the local dealer would only special order them back in the day. Because of their inability to satisfy my desires for an impulse purchase, I never purchased the black arts.

 

[BassAddictJ 5,000+ posts]

For something that small, you could use an airbrush. Personally I have a little $20 Harbor Freight cheapie touch-up gun I use for areas like that. I would recommend using a better gun however, quality guns will shoot a lot more accurate + easier.
If you decide to DIY, be sure to mask off everything you don't want paint on. It WILL get everywhere. When you are "blending" the paint into the existing finish, you lightly shoot the paint up to the edge of the old finish so it has a very feathered edge. You are trying to make the transition from the old paint to new undetectable. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Feel free to ask any more questions...

in that case I think I might just have the whole front (scratched triangular) side repainted. There's so many scratches that itmight as well all be redone.

that and I'd feel more comfortable lettign aprofessional do it. I dont have the $ money fo the equipment that'd probably only use once, and I dont want to **** it up.

 

[VWBobby 10+ year member]

Good idea, let a pro do it. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[BassAddictJ 5,000+ posts]

Good idea, let a pro do it. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

absolutely...more especially with something as epic as this.

any rough estimate you think i should expect for a resurfacing of the front face and the scar on the top right side graphics area?