wood or mdf or particle board for solid state amp

If I remember correctly, every amp I ever used had a particleboard/MDF box. However, its been 10yrs since I touched a guitar. I don’t know that lumber would really offer any advantage.

Particle board will work, but MDF is better. MDF is more stable over the long haul.

-- Carpenter assembles with hands, Designer builds with brains, Artist creates with heart!

mdf smaller inventory is actually more expenosive than the much larger table room size mdf.

I dont want more money on smaller sizes.

could I just use real wood like pine, would real wood actually hurt the sound of solid state?

Real wood is a no no. Besides the sound issue, all it would take is one time in the hot trunk of a car or even a hot garage to cause major problems.

-- "The way to make a small fortune in woodworking- start with a large one"

Natural wood will expand and contract a whole lot with temperature changes. It will also absorb a lot of moisture from condensation. If it doesn’t fall apart first, it could short out the amp. Soft wood like Pine would be even worse than a good hard wood. Where are you located, I know I have plenty of scrap pieces of MDF I would give anyone in my area.

-- Carpenter assembles with hands, Designer builds with brains, Artist creates with heart!

I thought the Champ was a tube amp, not solid state?

Classic Fender cabinets were made from finger-jointed solid pine, with a thin plywood baffle board. Typical English cabinets like Marshall or Vox are made from birch plywood. So choose a material to suit the sound you are trying to create.

-- Happiness is like wetting your pants...everyone can see it, but only you can feel the warmth....

The old Fender amps were pine (the same stock they used to make guitars from for a bit). As long as you make sure your hot leads are completely contained in the chassis, shorting shouldn’t be an issue and the expansion and contraction can be dealt with by slightly enlarging the mounting holes in the chassis. Besides, I trust that you won’t be sticking your tube amp into wildly varying temperature conditions (if you leave it in the trunk of your car, I will come relieve you of your duty of caring for the amp :)). You can go mdf, but it will be beastly heavy, or go nice plywood. Honestly, it won’t affect the sound nearly as much as the amp circuitry, speaker, etc. if built in the old school open-backed style.

-- Brian T. - Exact science is not an exact science

Its solid state.
The reason I ask for mdf or real wood is that what would be less contributing to an already crappy sounding solid sate sound, mdf or real wood.

There is absolutely no tubes. Fender champion 110 solid state.

mdf

-- ㊍ When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.

mdf

Look into any high quality car/home audio and you will see mdf used. There is a reason :)

-- Williamsburg, KY