So then ... amp making? I made a COMBO!!

TTony

Take a bag of bits  (plus a speaker) ...



Add 10 mins to stick all the bits together  with some solder ...



Find a piece of scrap ply (actually, I found quite a few pieces, but this is the only piece you see today) and mark it out ...



And cut a big hole in the centre of it ...



Add speaker ...



Connect speaker to amp ...



Add battery, plug guitar in, and job's a good 'un!

ICBM

What's the chip? It looks like some silly sod has scraped the numbers off it...

There used to be a Maplin kit like this with a TBA820M, so it wouldn't surprise me if it's one!

Danny1969

LM386 probably 

TTony

It really was pretty straightfoward.  It took longer to prep the ply for the speaker than it did to put the amp kit together, although the soldering had to be pretty precise, so you need a very fine point on your soldering iron, and a steady hand.

Better eyesight than mine would probably help too.

Kit came from these guys.  




I skipped the jamjar because I'll build a little box (properly acoustically tuned of course) to put it in.  That's a job for tomorrow.

OK, so perhaps it's not *quite* as refined as some of those booteek valvey amps that costs lots of moneys, but for £30-odd, it's a fun little project.

I've really enjoyed putting that together.

I'm actually half-tempted to look at one of the valvey amp kits now, or maybe even this @RiftAmps ;

TTony

ICBM said:

What's the chip? It looks like some silly sod has scraped the numbers off it...

There used to be a Maplin kit like this with a TBA820M, so it wouldn't surprise me if it's one!

The kit instructions state

"I have removed the chip numbers so stop imitations"

I guess that's fair enough as they must have a reasonable margin on the kits (£25, excl speaker) that they're protecting.

Danny1969

TTony said:

ICBM said:

What's the chip? It looks like some silly sod has scraped the numbers off it...

There used to be a Maplin kit like this with a TBA820M, so it wouldn't surprise me if it's one!

The kit instructions state

"I have removed the chip numbers so stop imitations"

I guess that's fair enough as they must have a reasonable margin on the kits (£25, excl speaker) that they're protecting.

Looks like a standard LM386 circuit to me, you can buy small 386 boards already built for £2 

circuit looks like this 

CeeJay

£1.85... Free Delivery

https://www.amazon.co.uk/DUAN-Amplifier-Electronic-Amplify-Consumption/dp/B083XVSQRD/ref=sr_1_10?keywords=LM386&qid=1581795061&s=automotive&sr=1-10

ESBlonde

When i was a lad and life was in black n white, I assembled the bits and some fero board to make something like this based on some electronics magazine of the day. I stuck it in a simple aluminium box with the wires hanging out to a little radio loudspeaker. Never did get around to finishing the speaker enclosure because it was just enourmous fun as it was. I even found it a couple of weeks ago (having given it to no 1 son who promptly abandoned it). I should put in a new battery (it's only been a few decades), perhaps a new speaker because the old one has a misshapen cone now and this time put it in a speaker enclosure.

Seeing @p90fool and his pignose post when the poser went out made me think it would be a worthwhile project.

Nice little project there @TTony and much neater soldering that I managed I'm sure.

TTony

As you can never put too much lipstick on a pig, I've just spent an hour or two turning my little amp into a proper COMBO!!






After a lot of scientific analysis, reading, and plain old trial and error, I found the best acoustic treatment too ...

TTony

ESBlonde said:

 I stuck it in a simple aluminium box with the wires hanging out to a little radio loudspeaker

@ESBlonde - few bits of offcut ply and an hour or two in the workshop, and  you too could have a little combo

CeeJay

I like that. Great little project to while away the winters night, and just the job for my caravan hols. That'll be my next project after my Amp Footswitch is complete.
Is there any crunch at full volume?

TTony

CeeJay said:

Is there any crunch at full volume?

Yes!

It's obviously only a small & cheap speaker, so it "crunches" (distorts) at pretty much any volume.      Be interesting to swap another speaker in and see what difference it makes.

And there's more than enough volume for simple practice.

CeeJay

TTony said:

CeeJay said:

Is there any crunch at full volume?

Yes!

It's obviously only a small & cheap speaker, so it "crunches" (distorts) at pretty much any volume.      Be interesting to swap another speaker in and see what difference it makes.

And there's more than enough volume for simple practice.

What size speaker do you have in there. Looks around 4"

bbill335

CeeJay said:

I like that. Great little project to while away the winters night, and just the job for my caravan hols. That'll be my next project after my Amp Footswitch is complete.
Is there any crunch at full volume?

if you want slightly more control with just a little bit more soldering, the fuzzdog ruby/cricket amp sounds very good and can drive a speaker.

thermionic

TTony said:

As you can never put too much lipstick on a pig, I've just spent an hour or two turning my little amp into a proper COMBO!!




After a lot of scientific analysis, reading, and plain old trial and error, I found the best acoustic treatment too ...

Don’t leave it outside or a bird might make its home in it.

TTony

Yes, 4" @ceejay.  ;

TTony

bbill335 said:

CeeJay said:

I like that. Great little project to while away the winters night, and just the job for my caravan hols. That'll be my next project after my Amp Footswitch is complete.
Is there any crunch at full volume?

if you want slightly more control with just a little bit more soldering, the fuzzdog ruby/cricket amp sounds very good and can drive a speaker.

@bbill335 - what sort of speaker would work best with one of those kits?  And where would you source one?

I'm quite tempted to buy the kit, get a suitable speaker, and build another box.

CeeJay

TTony said:

bbill335 said:

CeeJay said:

I like that. Great little project to while away the winters night, and just the job for my caravan hols. That'll be my next project after my Amp Footswitch is complete.
Is there any crunch at full volume?

if you want slightly more control with just a little bit more soldering, the fuzzdog ruby/cricket amp sounds very good and can drive a speaker.

@bbill335 - what sort of speaker would work best with one of those kits?  And where would you source one?

I'm quite tempted to buy the kit, get a suitable speaker, and build another box.

This could be a thing! 

andy_k

TTony said:

bbill335 said:

CeeJay said:

I like that. Great little project to while away the winters night, and just the job for my caravan hols. That'll be my next project after my Amp Footswitch is complete.
Is there any crunch at full volume?

if you want slightly more control with just a little bit more soldering, the fuzzdog ruby/cricket amp sounds very good and can drive a speaker.

@bbill335 - what sort of speaker would work best with one of those kits?  And where would you source one?

I'm quite tempted to buy the kit, get a suitable speaker, and build another box.

I built the noisy cricket, and it sounds great through a Marshall 4x12, I also tried it through a Marshall Class 5 cab, single 10 inch closed back, my next plan is to build another and incorporate a tiny 50mm speaker into the Hammond box they come with-if you buy the full kit.
I found another circuit which also has a pre amp stage, so thats going to be an ongoing project for me.

CeeJay

I've just nabbed a 6" 10 watt 4ohm speaker off e bay. It came out of a Fender Frontman. Watch this space! 

andy_k

I think, most of these things want to see 8ohm minimum, I am learning as I go, a 4x12 is usually 16 ohm right?