Gold Colored Dumble Chassis And 70s Indicator Lamp

[TheC-Man]

Does anyone know what method or process is required to get that gold color on the chassis that I have seen on the earlier Dumble amplifiers? I found this photo on the D-Tone Amps website as an example. I'd like to try this process on an aluminum chassis I have is all. Also, what type of indicator lamp did these use?

Gold Dumble Chassis.jpg

[alnight]

I don't know what's on those chassis, but I have used Alodining on aluminum chassis for an interesting gold toned finish. You can buy the stuff from Aircraft Spruce. It's a fairly durable, corrosion resistant finish. Most importantly for our purposes, it does not inhibit conductivity like most other coatings/finishes do.

[Mr. dB]

Some of the Small Special and Odyssey amps have similar faceplate treatments.

Was he going for a similar look to the early metal-panel Marshalls? Marshalls don't seem to have similar wear patterns though.

Or - do these David Lindley amps have gold panels, or is it white that has yellowed with age?

[TheC-Man]

Thank you guys for the feedback. Yeah see, in certain lighting it looks like it is an alodining process of some kind or a brushed champagne color, but in others, the gold flakes off? I doubt this is yellow with age because none of the other silver faced Dumbles from this era have turned this color. I have attached a few more pictures I have found. It appears on some of these amplifiers it is a faceplate. It also appears they all used different indicator lights.

Gold Dumble Chassis 3.jpg

Gold Dumble Chassis 4.jpg

Gold Dumble Chassis 5.jpg

Gold Dumble Chassis 6.jpg

Gold Dumble Chassis 7.jpg

[erwin_ve]

Alodined vs anodised fwiw you can have aluminum anodised in almost any color.
In contrast: Alodining protective layer is thin but has the benefit for electrical conductive properties. No need to scratch off at grounding point and potentiometer holes.

[TheC-Man]

Anyone know where I can get this alodining done?

[alnight]

Many, perhaps most sheet metal shops can do it. It is a much simpler process than anodizing and is especially common in aircraft applications. I did it myself at home, and got decent results. This is the stuff. Prep is the important bit, then you just soak your chassis in the solution in an appropriately sized container. Inexpensive plastic storage tubs work great.

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/ ... ne1201.php

[TheC-Man]

Got it! Now when you do this, does it remove any of the lettering and such? What did you use to prep the aluminum? Finally, do you have any photos on what your project turned out like? This might just be the ticket! THANK YOU!

[alnight]

I used this stuff to prep the chassis I've done. It's an acid solution, so wear protection and pay attention, but it wasn't awful to work with.

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/ ... miprep.php

The next time I do this, I will follow the advice of a friend of mine who uses the process professionally, and wipe everything thoroughly with acetone before each step. I suspect this will give a more uniform appearance. He was actually the one who made the chassis pictured below.

I have only used this on bare, blank aluminum chassis, but I would not expect any kind of silkscreening/lettering to survive the process if it is already on the chassis.

The amp in the Marshall cab is what you may expect it to look like. I built it for a friend who wanted to use all the good parts of his old TSL 60, which turned out to be just the cab...

[TheC-Man]

Amazing! Let me try this! Thank you very much!