yesterday got this pc speaker thing from salvation army for a buck , it was like a flat panel speaker , 12 volt input , line in , speaker / headphone out . did some tests on it and tonight i installed it into my home made cigar box guitar .
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you can see the pre amp is on top , the headphone amp on the bottom . they both run on 9 volt batts . im hoping the headphone amp one lasts a while , pretty sure it will , i got it down to 4 volts with an adapter before it lost it .
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the homemade preamp battery lasts forever , its just a jfet transistor , boosting the signal from low level to line level .
[img]http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/1987/003am.jpg[/img]
the headphone amp has an output volume pot , useless , unless yer a wuss , then you turn it down .
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so if i ran the output of the preamp to the headphone amp input it would cut the main output DB in half . i coulda cut in a switch , but i opted for a patch cable system . this way i an use the headphone amp module as a standalone unit if needed , and avoids additional switches / holes in the instrument .
[img]http://img573.imageshack.us/img573/5499/005on.jpg[/img]
the patch cable , super pain in the ass , but at least you can store it inside the guitar . also when you plug it in it turns the battery on for the head phone amp , same with the main output jack , that turns the pre-amp battery on .
[img]http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/1939/007pc.jpg[/img]
the custom patch cable , in action . i coulda went with a 1/4 incher but i woulda had to make a mounting panel like i did with the main out . plus i kinda think hose 1/8th inchers are nifty , in a wapanese sort of fashion .
all in all it was a nice little hack . it sounds fantastic , although its very clean , no distortion even if you slam on the strings , but it is kinda very loud so i may nudge the volume down on the out side a lil . i'm optomistic as to the battery life as well .
[img]http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/488/008ism.jpg[/img]
i wouldnt have been able to do this with out harvey's fulx . sure he may have been a plumber by trade , but a few wire heads in the know can attest to the magic of harvey and his flux .
hats off to harvey .
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