Metro's chassis and Alt face Plate

[maxwedge572]

Hello,
I'm in the middle of a JTM45 build and got most of my parts from Valvestorm including the chassis,face plate and back plate (all metroamp). The face plate doesn't have JTM45 and MII on it, for legal reasons I guess, so I found one on ebay that was said to be accurate. I got it and the hole spacing is way off and he says I need to ream the holes in the face plate to make it fit and that it was traced from an original JTM45 and they were all hand build, so they vary from amp to amp. This seems far fetched to me and I don't think it will work out!
What do you think? I don't think it will work.

Here's a pic a link to the sale and a picture.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JTM45-Front-Pan ... 35c957dc58" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[neikeel]

Hello,
I'm in the middle of a JTM45 build and got most of my parts from Valvestorm including the chassis,face plate and back plate (all metroamp). The face plate doesn't have JTM45 and MII on it, for legal reasons I guess, so I found one on ebay that was said to be accurate. I got it and the hole spacing is way off and he says I need to ream the holes in the face plate to make it fit and that it was traced from an original JTM45 and they were all hand build, so they vary from amp to amp. This seems far fetched to me and I don't think it will work out!
What do you think? I don't think it will work.
Here's a pic a link to the sale and a picture:http://www.ebay.com/itm/JTM45-Front-Pan ... 35c957dc58

The vendor is Vic at Plexipalace. The early amps were handbuilt and drilled, there were different panel suppliers too (AFAIK). So using one as an exact pattern is tricky.

You can get that panel to work. I suggest you line up the input jacks first, you will se that the pots are all lined up too. The warning lamp hole in the chassis will need opening out to suit the panel (you will need to use the old style round indicator which is slightly larger than the red square one. The on/off and standby holes of the chassis can be gently filed out to be made to fit within the panel (having a slight gap behind the panel is not as bad as one on the front. The jacks and lamp are the most crucial bits to line up. If you need a lamp (round red RS one of 240v with chrome Bezel I have a few spares - you can have one for free if you cover shipping!)

[maxwedge572]

Hi Neil, thanks for replying.
Yeah I know about Plexi Palace, I'm a member in their forums too.
I think it's just a bit too far off and if I line it up with the input jacks, which are also spaced towards the inside, all the pot knobs will not be centered and the indicator will be extremely way off. If the indicator hole was smaller then things may work out. He's being very hesitant about taking it back. It looks nice, the color and font look good.

Here's a pic with the pots centered and I have the round indicator from Valvestorm.

[OnTheFritz]

You'll have to find a happy medium, where a little off here and there will make it work. It's doable, shift a bit more left based on how much the input jacks will cover to make up for the indicator light. The pots have a lot of leeway with the nuts and knobs.

[maxwedge572]

Now that I know who Vic is I'm much more comfortable in this whole deal. I guess that was one of the reasons I started this thread was to see if any one knew the seller. Now I'm finding out that he is a stand up guy.

I don't feel to comfortable reaming out this face plate to match the metro chassis so I'm thinking of changing course mid stream and building 2 amps. This face plate is really nice so I'm thinking of buying, or having one made up, a blank box for it and cutting all the holes. I have the tools and skill to do this.

Thanks for every one opinions.

Scott

[neikeel]

Now that I know who Vic is I'm much more comfortable in this whole deal. I guess that was one of the reasons I started this thread was to see if any one knew the seller. Now I'm finding out that he is a stand up guy.

I don't feel to comfortable reaming out this face plate to match the metro chassis so I'm thinking of changing course mid stream and building 2 amps. This face plate is really nice so I'm thinking of buying, or having one made up, a blank box for it and cutting all the holes. I have the tools and skill to do this.

Thanks for every one opinions.

Scott

I would not ream out the face plate either way - I would tweak the chassis as you do have leeway with the components!

[maxwedge572]

I would not ream out the face plate either way - I would tweak the chassis as you do have leeway with the components!

Well that makes more sense, not that I like it either. But maybe that should be the solution.
I'm leaving on vacation and will decide when I come back.

[Smokin Tone]

I bought one from Valve Storm and it fit the Metro chassis nicely. I may have had to do a small bit of adjustment on a couple of holes but nothing major. A nice round file does the trick.