No panels?

[BoogieEngineer]

I have this idea of using no panels at all, even for the back. First off any harm in doing this? Does all knobs, jacks, switches etc still fit and work fine?

What marker would you suggest that won't fade away?

[Thiez]

Soldano doesn't use any pedals. Just a coated chassis, so it won't give any trouble. If you paint the chassis in a lighter colour you can use waterslide decal paper and some clear coat.

[BoogieEngineer]

That should look cool Anyone's done this before?

[thelastleroy]

Marshall quit using face-plate panels for many amps, so it has been done.

Remember that your pots may or may not have a locating tab, which ordinarily has its own hole drilled for it on the chassis. If you are fine with these holes showing, then bob's your uncle. If not, you can snip off the tabs with side-cutters. It also depends on the size of control knob you want, as the tab holes may be hidden with a large knob!

The spacing between your chassis and your knobs will depend on how long your pot shaft is, as well as the thickness of your chassis. Some pots come with an extra nut to adjust for this (nut goes on the inside to offset the spacing when the outside nut is tightened). I've seen a blog where a guy cut down the pot shafts to get the spacing just right, while still maintaining the correct interior spacing for the locating tab. My old boogie amp used nylon washers between the knobs and the faceplate to act as spacers, each knob's set screw held the knob in the correct spacing once installed.

Pat the cat

[BoogieEngineer]

Thanks for the good info. How thick are the panels though? 1/8" I guess?

[Thiez]

I've done the waterslide decal to a lot of pedal builds. Works perfect. You got to keep in mind that a printer can't do white, so thats why the chassis has to be light, cause white parts will stay clear/see trough. You also have white waterslide decal, but with this you always gonna see the edge in the clearcoat, while the others are completly gone.