2 Questions for any one that wants to reply !!

[james sluder]

Question 1 >> can anyone tell me how & what to use to clean an amp grill cloth cover! I bought a amp that came from a house with unvented gas heat & smoke stains !!

Question 2 >> What is the smallest amp watt,output that you have used with your psg for small dance gig's ,,,about 50 + people !

Thanks for any replys !! ~~~~~~~~~~~JIM.

[Ron !]

Question 1,

I had good result with one of them "Steam Buddy's' they advertise on tv with.

Question 2,

Smallest amp I ever used was a Peavey Bandit 112 Transtube.I have to add that I put a 15" JBL in that amp back then.

Ron

[Eric Philippsen]

In cleaning grill cloth the first thing you have to determine is what the material is made of. If it is a Fender, non-tweed amp, grill cloth, it will be made of synthetic material and can be cleaned quite easily. There are several methods for that. A simple one is to take the baffle board to a, yep, car wash and spray it there. Or use another type of spray cleaner such as a vacuum/rug cleaning machine. Often you can pre-spray the grill with a cleaner or detergent. You can use these methods because the material is again, synthetic, and it will not shrink.

Grill cloth made of fabric or linen or cotton (non-synthetic/natural) is another thing entirely. You get it wet and it will shrink, distort, and be ruined, especially if it is old. Count on it. There are ways of cleaning fabric that are quite tedious and involve removing the cloth from its frame. I do not recommend a non-professional doing that. Shoot, I don't even do that.

Not sure if the grillcloth is fabric or synthetic? When in doubt don't. The choice does depend on the amp manufacturer and age of the piece. Again, when in doubt don't, no matter how ugly you might think it looks now. Better yet, post pictures on this forum of the amp. You will get several people giving you very well-informed info on the amp and what to do with it.

Thanks.

[Tony Davis]

Q1....dont know what my grill cloth looks like....had a Rebel Flag tacked over it for 30 odd years....the flag looks clean so thats fine.....the Flag over the Fender Bass amp looks good too !!!

Q2.....I believe P.V. have a new 112 out that is real good.......but for 30 some years I have just used my P.V. Session 400....dont matter how small the room or how big the Rodeo !
Tony

[Brad Sarno]

I've had a few old Fender amps with the grill cloth/frame that would come off. I sprayed it with Formulat 409 and then washed it in the shower. Looked like brand new.

Also, DON'T scrub them. That will pull on the threads and kind of ruin it.

Brad

[Kevin Mincke]

Yep, what Brad said with 409 as I've done several like that myself. Just watch the dirt and yellow nicotine rolloff
sparkle! sparkle! sparkle!

[Donny Hinson]

Also, DON'T scrub them. That will pull on the threads and kind of ruin it.

Evidently, you just didn't use the right kind of brush! A medium sized (2"-3") nylon paint brush is recommended for cleaning by many professional restorers.

[John Bechtel]

Peavey – Nashville 112

[Rick Johnson]

James
The amp will eventually
air out on its own but till
then just wipe it down with a
sheet of fabric softener
Doing this for a few days will
improve things. Just leave the
sheet of fabric softner in the
rear of the amp.

Remember the smoke will soak into
the speaker cones too.

Rick

www.rickjohnsoncabs.com

[Brad Sarno]

Also, DON'T scrub them. That will pull on the threads and kind of ruin it.

Evidently, you just didn't use the right kind of brush! A medium sized (2"-3") nylon paint brush is recommended for cleaning by many professional restorers.

Thanks for the tip Donny. That's great. I do have a couple of grill cloths that really do seem to need some brush work to really get in there. I was just afraid to do it after my first "accident".

Brad