1974 Traynor YT-15 Restoration Part 4. In this episode of the series, we tackle cleaning 45 year old tolex. Did I just figure out the best and easiest way to get great results??? You be the judge...
I'm restoring a 1989 Peavey Rage 12watt that recently came to me for free. Yeah, dare to dream! That said, it's kinda nostalgic for me...one of the amps knocking around that I came up with long ago. This '89 Rage was stored under a house for decades but works great after a single spray of De-Ox in 3 pots. IT WAS FILTHY inside and out. But not mouldy which is weird where I live. Dampest New Zealand. The tolex is super high-relief and dirt was stuck in deep. The peaks came clean and black, but the valleys didn't. Had it all taken apart so decided to just paint it. Sanded the top down to half relief to prevent future troublesome cleaning. Used a good filler primer too and that also tamed the topography of the gnarly tolex's gnarls. It's now on the turquoise side of SeaFoam Green, close as I could get in Rustoleum. Metal corner guards are Ivory. It was time consuming to remove the powdercoating on those pieces. Powdercoat react badly with the paint when I tested it and the pieces were surface rusted too. All is topcoated in gloss. Screws are gold and a new silver and black Fender type grill cloth. Was after grill cloth with teal in it but that was $167NZD. Got an off-cut for $25 instead. It looks like a Tone King...but alas, it still sounds like a Peavey. Actually it sounds great for what it is and it's super loud for 12 watts. Not replacing my big twin though. I have a Line 6 practice amp that was my travel amp, but this one is a head turner. And it takes my Fuzz pedal nicely. Haven't tried any others yet. Cheap and cheerful. Love it.
I bet that thing looks great. I had a late 70’s Peavey Mk III for my first real head. Sounded good, but didn’t have the power to keep up with a drummer in the rehearsal space. If ever find a good deal on a 2 channel Mk IV head I may grab it for the nostalgia.
Meguires or Lexol leather Cleaner Conditioner is great for tolex. I use it on all my vintage and modern amps. Leaves correct Sheen, and conditions the Tolex
This works like a charm and has renewed my 1973 Hiwatt SA212 50 watt combo which now looks fantastic. Thanks very much for the video :-) Why 3 people have downvoted i cannot think...
I'm a former Jeep Wrangler owner, had some of the Meguires Conv Top Cleaner left over so tried it on a guitar case a few years ago. Been using it ever since. Try a little vinyl top dressing over that - gives a nice sheen but it is rather temporary. Good to know someone has confirmed my discovery.
I knew it was going to be something Meguiars. Thanks a lot for showing this. Gonna watch your other vids on next steps and hopefully final protective coating.
I have an old 70's era Hiwatt 2x 15 out in the garage hat I've tried everything I could think of on, and it still looks like it got dropped in a mud bog and left to die. I'm hitting Canadian Tire tomorrow and grabbing me some of that magical elixir. I know they have a large selection of those type of products and carry that brand. Goodbye elbow grease, goodbye sweat, goodbye garage flooded by garden hose I forgot to shut off, hello ease,tranquility, and new looking Hiwatt, the perfect canvas to test my razor blade, straightedge and glue rip and tear transplant technique! Thanks for the tip, I do think it may work. Oh,and by the way, every Canadian kid of a certain era, played through Traynor or Garnet stuff for a long time while having visions of Marshalls in our dreams, not realizing that sometimes what you got is pretty damn epic.
You are right about dreaming about the gear you wish you had, then later realizing some of the stuff you had early on was actually awesome and you tweak the new gear to sound like your old stuff lol. One point I would make is that the brush I used was just as important in getting those results as the product maybe even more important. I just used a kiwi shoe polish brush which seems to be made of natural horse hair and is really soft. Be sure to use something similar. The next episode in the series I actually applied black shoe polish to the cab to even out the color and that worked awesome as well.
@@thebassment1845 Would you say the finished look has held up? Did the convertible cleaner or shoe polish leave a noticeable residue when you touch it?
I knew it was some kind of car cleaner by the shape of the bottle 👍, I have two Marshall heads that could use a good cleaning so thanks for the video 👌
Dang man, that is slick! I've tried other cleaners, but never get the junk out of the tiny crevices in Tolex, always that white dust that sticks. I've got some amps to sell and I am for sure going to try this out! Thank you for demonstrating just how effective this is! I'm sure the brush helps with getting the junk out of the crevices.
hahaha I thought it was Meguiar's bottle!!!! Thanks for such a great tip and great video!!!!! When you first started swirling with the brush, I thought it looked like a bunch of tires haha
I cleaned my Rhodes (1980, like you it's a year younger than me lol) with a nailbrush and soapy water (washing up liquid) then polished it with silicone spray.
Very cool, kid. Now let me share with the class my little housewife's trick. Use Meguiar's Hot Rims Wheel Cleaner to degrease your stovetop, cabinets, backsplash, and vent hood. NOTHING takes off kitchen grease like this stuff does. I've use it to clean old cabinets to prep for paint and it got off decades of grunge. DO NOT LET IT SIT MORE THAN A FEW MINUTES ON STAINLESS STEEL. It will cloud the finish and nothing you do will bring it back. Thankfully, I discovered this on a brand new, but only $140 stove vent and not my $4000 zline stove or my expensive stainless all refrigerator. I sprayed it on, went to take a break, got distracted, and forgot about it for an hour. But it cleans up my enamel stovetop wonderfully. To return the shine to factory new, rub on the thinnest, lightest coat of Vaseline on the cleaned surface. With those two products, your stove will look brand new for decades. The Meguiar's hasn't hurt my enamel cabinet paint or the poly finish of my wood countertops one bit. Now I'm motivated to dig through the car cleaning section for more products that actually WORK. The EPA has destroyed all of our cleaning products over the years and nothing in the home aisle is worth spit anymore. Oh, and find some TSP powder to your dishwasher (1 teaspoon) and your laundry loads (no more than 1 tablespoon). Thank me later. This is the primary reason cleaning products don't work anymore. You can find it in the hardware dept of Walmart or the big box hardware stores.
I use Meguire's for a lot of finish repair, polishing and buffing of guitar finishes. Some of their polishing compounds are so gentle they can be used on nitrocellulose, with a gentle hand of course. They make great stuff!
I have used Dawn detergent and a lot of elbow grease which you can get away with if the cab is actual wood. Don't even think about it if it's a MDF cab though! I like your way better! Faster, does a more thorough job... I can't wait to try it out. Thanks for the video!
I use Mcguiers & Mother'z car vinyl & leather cleaner. Good for both plastic, rubber, and safe for colored vinyl or leathers. Use it on my Jordan sneakers and boots too!
I've just been given a dusty old Marshall, I tried floor cleaner and a tooth brush which did almost nothing. I then tried some carpet cleaner I found under the sink. That worked really well and on the grill cloth too.
@@jasonhudson73 brush gently then vacuum. Then soft brush or wipe with a cloth wetted with a soap or carpet cleaner. Wipe off with clean damp cloth then wait for it to dry and repeat the whole thing.
Brian - for tears, I have found that using black jig paint found in fishing stores works great. It is like a rubberized paint. Fills deep scratches and looks like Tolex. last time I bought it, I had to get it thru Bass Pro Shops (or was it Cabellas?) using mail order.
Jig paint is a great idea. Tried it and it looks great. It did take several coats on the white damaged spots. The bottle recommends priming with white first. Unfortunately my Cabellas is 2 hrs away so I just used the black.
I just cleaned a 1960 era Marshall amp cabinet. After using a household cleaner and a brush to remove the dirt in the valleys of the textured Tolex, it still looked like there was some grime left. I think it was because the cleaner was drying out the vinyl. I sprayed WD-40 on it and the oils in it restored the Tolex to a nice deep black hue. I wonder if it will last. I also wonder if other care vinyl cleaning products like Armor All would work as well as what you used.
Gr8 vid here ... I have a 1974 Peavey Classic 4x10 that I bought back in 76 when I was 14...yay... I hauled this heavy mutha everywhere back then. This baby has Never failed me and still cranks...But Now its time to clean it up... Nothing like a 45 year old drink stain down the left front... Everything is original and hope I can make it look like its new or close to it. Can u help me find out what speakers I have or where to look ...I believe they are Scorpions (101610C 67 7403) all 4 are marked the same... TY 4 the Video man.... Meguiars at it again... Gr8 Idea
I have a '64 Blackface Champ that's Tolex looked worse than that Traynor. After numerous applications of Howard's Feed-N-Wax it looks nearly new. Smells great, too.
Robert Nolan so far so good. I have since applied some black shoe polish to it an buffed it out to blend in some of the small scratches and the 2 techniques combined are fantastic!
I think i should try this on a used Mesa 4x12 White tolex i'm getting, but one question, why this one and not Meguiar's Gold Leather and Vinyl cleaner? Wouldn't it be more appropriate (since Vinyl = Tolex) or why specifically the one you chose there? Thanks a lot :D
Well I was cleaning the soft top on my Jeep when the idea came to me, so I used what I had. I think the soft bristle brush that I used is a key ingredient as well. The leather and vinyl cleaner you mentioned will likely work as well. For me I figured the vinyl top cleaner was probably formulated just aggressive enough to remove more than 40 years of funk from it.
I cleaned a 1962 Vox Essex amp. Got the dirt from the tolex grooves real good, but it left behind a terrible white ashy finish. Not sure if it was the Meguiars or if that was underneath the grime. Any suggestions?
Not sure about the ashy finish. It could be abrasions on the tolex or something like that. I don’t think the cleaner would be the cause. I would use shoe polish on it to give it a consistent finish and add protection. I did that with mine and it works amazing when done correctly.
@@thebassment1845 UPDATE: I did use shoe polish but only on the off colored scuffs. Once the amp was clean and ashy I applied leather cleaner/conditioner. Restored about 80% shine. Then I put some Back to Black car trim restoring liquid. Now everything is even and rich deep black shine. No one would guess this amp is from the 60s, it looks MINT! Thank you
Probably not as deeply embossed as the elephant skin. The cleaner combined with a natural horse hair style soft bristle brush like what come with a shoe shine kit should do the trick though.
*Now show me sand a floor.. SHOW!, =) thanks guy, it's just common sense now isn't it. I'm gonna try using this on my red Laney cab but I think it might need a new paint job, curious to see how far this will take her though. Thanks again, & good playing.*
Tried this product on four old amps I have from the 70s/80s when I saw this video. Not working at all, waste of money. Water and soap and a brush worked exactly the same. Only works a bit on smooth Tolex as he does here - that's all Not working at all on Blonde/black 70's Marshall and Fender Tolex. waste of time info - sorry. Tried it on 3 large Ampeg isovent cabinets. It actually got worse! I washed it all off again and just used water and Dove Dishwashing soap which was much better. Wished it worked, but completely wasted my money. Only works a bit on smooth surfaces. Dont waste yours.
Interesting… I’m sorry you didn’t get the same results that I did. The soft bristle shoe polishing brush I used I believe is a large part of how I got the results that I got as well.
@@thebassment1845 Meguiar's left white deposits on deeply furrowed tolex like Marshall fender and ampeg. Especially when I used a brush. I first thought that it will go away, as there is no way to get the white foam out of the grooves after brushing. It dries with white deposits. It was especially clear when I used it on the Ampeg Isovent cabs. I have 3 of them. The most dirty one came out cleanest with just water and dove soap and the McGuire's left a white deposit in the furrows which made it even worse. You have to wash it out with water and soap which defeats the purpose. I made videos of it and have two of the isovents with me of which I still have to redo the one that I didnt get to remove the Meguiar's yet which now has white deposits. A lot of washing with water and Dove soap gets them black again, so at least it is reversible. Unfortunately I think the ammonia used in Meguiar's reacts with the white fender tolex as used in vintage Fender amps. The ammonia seems to turn the white tolex yellowish. As I said, I definitely see that it can work well on smooth non-deeply-furrowed BLACK tolex, but the trouble starts on vintage deeply furrowed tolex and I am particularly worried using any cleaner with ammonia in it on old plastics and definitely not on blonde tolex of any sort. Meguiars certainly smells very strong of ammonia, but I am not sure if it is listed to contain it. It is easy to cherry pick anything from the internet to validate anyone's point, but the followiong seemed to be what happened to my old tolex: Quote "Many of the other cleaners *remove* plasticizers - including all soap-type or ammonia-based cleaners - and will stiffen and eventually ruin tolex. " That might be why my older tolex seems to be damaged by the ammonia as it already lost plasticity due to age and the ammonia basically cleans, but also ages the tolex immediately.