Just recently I added the padding and the Fan, and was contemplating drilling a hole for a microphone, but I like the sound with the Mike draped just infront of the speaker, so I don't think another hole in the cabinet is needed.

I built it straight away, but first just put the amp inside to see how it sounded and how quickly it heated up without the fan. I was thinking about this for a couple of months, and my wonderful wife got the jist of what I was looking for and spotted the cabinet while we were strolling through IKEA. I feel that should be a good cooling setup, not introducing colder outside air into the cabinet first, but exhausting the interior heated air.Ĭlick to expand.Already done and working. The fan is also setup to exhaust at the top back of the cabinet, while fresh air is sucked in from just below the cabinet, and not blow into the cabinet. It seems to be quite a bit better than the passive airflow outside the cabinet. I believe they generally move about 40CFM of air (unimpeded) so If I got just half of that it would work well. I'm using an 80mm 12V DC low noise fan from a computer. Transformers also about 10 degrees Fahrenheit cooler, and internal to the chassis also running cooler. I measured the temps for components with an infrared temp gauge after an hour of running time (playing), and the power tube runs about 15-20 degrees cooler, same the rest of the tubes.

The exhaust fan keeps things quite cool, and the amp runs cooler in the cabinet than outside of it. Would like to hear from everyone on this, Let me know what you think, good or bad.Ĭlick to expand.It's a vintage combo amp, so it wouldn't be practical to separate the amplifier from the cabinet. Amp actually runs cooler in the box because of the exhaust fan ! At this point I am hanging the mic down in front of the Gretsch speaker and it works like a charm !!!Ĭuts the volume down by a least 20db, protects the amp, and also allows for a controlled run to an effects rack or to a board, as you like. You can drill another 1' hole for a Sure SM57 and send that to the PA, or anyplace you like. The floor of the Ikea Storage Bench has a gap of about 1/3 inch (probably to vent moisture) and that works nicely as an air intake for the exhaust fan. I padded the inside with Felt, and used a 3.5' hole saw for a low noise computer exhaust fan. The top is easily removed (four positioning pegs) and you can keep many a small amp inside (My Gretsch 6150 and Fender Princeton Tweed fit perfectly to name two). I recently purchased a small storage Bench from IKEA, that I easily made into a Guitar amp isolation cabinet for live performances, and wanted to share that with everyone here. Recently, I saw a post about others using some Ikea furniture to store their stomp boxes and all other types of equipment.

Guitar isolator box