Grille cloth - pretty close

HIWATT Cabinets and Speakers from the Hylight Electronics era

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markj
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2018 3:27 am

Grille cloth - pretty close

Post by markj »

For those that have searched in vain for grille cloth that matches vintage Hiwatt "salt & pepper", here's some info that may be useful.

I have an original SE4122 from 1973. And I have a 1980's SE4123F that I acquired back in the 90's. I don't remember if the 4123 had any grille cloth when I got it, but I believe I grilled it with some black-and-tan cane weave cloth way back then.

It sat in storage for quite a few years but is now back out and I wanted to find grille cloth that matches my 4122. I bought a yard of the Mojotone "salt & pepper" cloth but the light color is too yellow. I also saw the "salt & pepper" cloth on the German "Tube Amp Doctor" site that looked more black-and-white but when I asked them about it they said it was also more of a "black-and-pale-yellow" color scheme.

At this point, I thought the 4123 would look better if I just used black grille cloth, but I went back to Mojotone and they sent me a sample of their "Mojo Silver" cloth. The light color of their Mojo Silver is actually a more neutral gray than the light color on my '73 4122 and I thought it might look good with the very black-and-white "tuxedo" esthetics of Hiwatt. So I ordered some, and installed it today.

I think it looks great. The overall tone is a bit darker than the original Hiwatt cloth, but I would venture to say that it looks just as good if not better than the original because the original does have a very slight warm cast to it because the lighter color in the basket weave is a tad warm/tan (this is pretty hard to discern in the attached photos because they are iPhone shots).

The only other difference is that the weave on the Mojotone cloth is a little smaller.

The two cabs together look pretty good.

In summary, I'd say if you need to re-grille a Hiwatt cab, the Mojotone Silver is a good way to go. Not an exact match to the original, but a very nice match to the colors of a Hiwatt cab or a Hiwatt amp.

1973 SE4122:
SE4122 - IMG_0628.jpg
SE4122 - IMG_0628.jpg (387.58 KiB) Viewed 1857 times
SE4122 detail:
SE4122 - detail - IMG_0630.jpg
SE4122 - detail - IMG_0630.jpg (411.54 KiB) Viewed 1857 times
80's SE4123:
SE4123 - IMG_0627.jpg
SE4123 - IMG_0627.jpg (352.61 KiB) Viewed 1857 times
SE4123 detail:
SE4123 - detail - IMG_0629.jpg
SE4123 - detail - IMG_0629.jpg (394.87 KiB) Viewed 1857 times
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OldSchoolDave
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Re: Grille cloth - pretty close

Post by OldSchoolDave »

markj wrote: The overall tone is a bit darker than the original Hiwatt cloth, but I would venture to say that it looks just as good if not better than the original because the original does have a very slight warm cast to it because the lighter color in the basket weave is a tad warm/tan (this is pretty hard to discern in the attached photos because they are iPhone shots).
As the original grill cloth aged, the lighter color became darker (or, warmer, if you will) and the dark faded lighter. No new product will match exactly. I've heard of some folks spraying tea on new cloth to give it a more vintage "patina", but that seems like a lot of work to a lazy guy like me :wink: .

Regardless, I too have heard good things about Mojo's replacement cloth. Enjoy your "nearly matching" cabs!

Dave
...Hey! I played that song when it was new...

http://www.OldSchoolDave.com
markj
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2018 3:27 am

Re: Grille cloth - pretty close

Post by markj »

OldSchoolDave wrote: I've heard of some folks spraying tea on new cloth to give it a more vintage "patina"
Now that does seem like a rather British "solution"... :wink:

Cheers,
Mark J.
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