Gear your wife will let in the living room.
Posted by scottfrein on August 22, 2008
Remember your glory days. Being an aspiring rock star bachelor you could get away with, no, it was mandatory to have at least a half stack sitting in the living room. I had all my gear except for one amp in the living room at one point. It just made sense. You needed to quickly move it in and out for rehearsals and gigs. But now that the rock star days are over and there is a wife and even children, the gear usually get’s shoved in the basement, attic, or the furthest corner of the closet. It’s just a fact of life. Tolex covered amps just don’t look good with the hardwood entertainment center.
You can’t fault your wife. She has spent a lot of time making sure the living space looks nice. The choice of couch, chairs, end tables, bookshelves, entertainment centers, and coffee tables is a difficult task. The woods must match and the style has to be just right. There’s no way in hell a beat up black box with the Marshall logo is gonna spoil the look of the room. Well guys, I think I have some help for you.
As far back as I can remember Mesa/Boogie has been doing hardwood cabinets for their Mark series. I’m not saying they are the first, they are just the first I remember seeing. While it still looks like an amp, this MKI re-issue certainly would look nice next to the couch.
Mesa/Boogie MKI re-issue
Another cool amp company building amps in the furniture grade category is Electrosonic Amplifiers. They offer several models of amplifiers mostly in the small wattage arena. The wood choices vary from Walnut,Cherry,Maple, and other exotics. The design of these is decidedly more retro. This amp will go great with your vintage 1950’s sofa.
Electrosonic Nautalus
Bruno Amps have been around a while and if you spend any time on The Gear Page you will hear all about the Cowtipper. Bruno now has the 10th anniversary UG30 in exotic hardwoods. Any woman would be proud to have this fine specimen grace her living room.
Bruno 10th anniversary UG30
Ok, so far I have covered the amplifier end of things, but what do you plug your amp into. Try one of Bob Burt’s cabinets. This matching pair could also be used as end tables.
Bob Burt Custom Cabinets.
Dr.Hardwood offers some nice choices in amplifier cabinets. Maybe you like your current amp and you just want to replace the stock cabinet. Now you can re-house that ugly tolex covered Blues Jr. to match your coffee table.
Custom re-housing by Dr. Hardwood
Finally, the hardwood amp that looks better than most furniture I’ve ever seen. Trillium Amps has taken the hardwood amp to a whole new level. These amps look so good, your wife might not even let you plug into them. But rest assured when you do, it will shake the crystal vase right of the shelf when you crank it up.
Trillium Empyrean.
Now that I have pointed you in the right direction, you will have to figure out how to explain the cost of one of these beautiful amps to your wife. Good Luck.
Scott
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