Would it be small, or large? Solid state or tube? Low powered or high powered? Big speaker or small speaker?? Clean or distorted sound?
A lot of the smallish amps available to CBG builders are a variant of the tried and true LM386 amp and at 9v, they don't have much clean headroom. There are other chips available though that put out much more power. Tubes are a possibility, but they generally are more expensive to build and require high voltage power supplies and at least one output transformer.
What would be your requirement if you could have a tailor made amp built for your needs? Maybe we could all put our heads together and come up with a Cigar Box Nation design (if it's not already been done).
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KKDM : the resistor for the delay is off leg 6 of the chip . the trem had a stock set and forget pot . other than that , i cant offer much more help . i didnt document it , i spose i really should while i am doing it . time is a precious commodity , i can only work in spurts cause of my back so it really stinks , for me but .
delay time resistors have never been a challenge for me to find . usually i fire it up , plug a mic in , and i will have someone else rap on the mic . at this point i have already stared at the board long enough to narrow down where i think the timing resistor for the echo is . usually the echo is a smaller chip , and one of the pins , usually a middle one will have a single resistor to ground . 9 times out of 10 thats it . i lick my finger , and poke at the 2 solder points for the resistor , the delay speeds up . unsolder one side of the resistor , or remove it . add a few wires , start trying pots . its fun and rewarding .
of course it goes with out saying you should not do this unless the unit is running off 6 volt battery or less for risk of plague , warts ., crop failure , death of first born . workin as an airial cable splicer (sub contractor for ATT) getting lit up by 90 volts AC on a regular basis tends to give you a false sense of security . but nothing as silly as oh lets say , using plumbers flux on everything though . id like to try a honey tone mod sometime , if i find one super cheep . that might be a good first one to let my daughter try . she bent an alphabet desk the other day , i was so proud !
I've only got one Bogan PA head now and it's only the chassis and transformers. I gutted it a couple of years ago. But...you can still turn it into a very good amp. The transformers will be worth the price alone. If you're still interested let me know and I'll shoot some pics and get you up a price. If you lived close enough, you could just pick it up, otherwise you're gonna get raped by UPS.
You could build a 50w amp out of it easy.
KK Dirty Money said:
Yeah, the little Hodad amp is very cool for the money (plus it comes in a couple different colors now).
But, what you've done with it is amazing. Is there any way you could publish these mods for the rest of us?
thanks,
KK
petey twofinger said:
Would you mind sending photos of the old Bogen heads as well as asking prices?
thanks!
KK
Bill Harbour said:
i just picked up a fender g-dec 15 junior for 20 on CL . month back i got a nobel streetman 10 on cl for 20 as well . it can run straight off a car battery . we used it at the woods with a keytar . despite its size , and high voltage it really needs something pushing it , but for 20 $ anyway i really am growing fond on my hodad though . i paid 30 for it with shipping . i cut it into an acid box , with a proper 5 inch guitar amp speaker , mod'd the echo for long delay , moded the trem with an adjuster pot . the od is fine for hard rock , even with low output single coils . its quiet too . the delay goes LONG , and the trem adust , well i tweak it a lot and the delay time too !
last week i got a rechargable dustbuster from salvation army for 1.50 . i took another gamble (i figured after getting "burned" on the streetman my luck was good) and this time i did well . the batteries took a charge . it had 6 C cell looking ni-cd's . i added 2 more to bring the power up a lil , and installed that battery pack in the acid box , the mo-dad . hey i just named that amp , mo (modded) dad . anyway its great to run this thing for testing stuff around the house and even playing thru it without hookin anything up ! i have a dislike for using batteries that dont recharge . i am thinking of making 2 more power packs out of some 18 volt cordless drill batts i found , (they are still good) ! i put a switching dc jack to run the amp off external power (deep cell w/transformer) then another dc in jack to recharge the battery pack . i also can tap 12 volts out of that to run a lil pedal board too , if i want . i have a big muff , 7 band eq , boss bass chorus pedal board for that . i have another smaller gell cell in a wood box with a seat belt carry strap . it has a norelco shaver box on top , with a transformer / switches / glass peep hole for led , and 1/4 dc output jacks (i know) . we run our camcorder and all sorts of stuff off tha box for years now . the battery seems to not want to quit ! we got that one from a videographer , it was used i think too .
it was nice , today i went and bought a mini strat for my daughters birthday . i brought the modad and tested out the guitar in the parking lot at the library where i met the guy . looks like i need to thow some new tuners in the squier mini strat . im hoping thats all she needs , besides a set up .
im anxious to see what you (bill) have been working on , hoping you will do a nice video too .
KK Dirty Money said:
I have a couple friends that find super-old tube amp heads (usually old Bogen PA heads from the 50s) for super cheap, and then they mod them into little guitar or harmonica amp heads.
I bought one from a guy I know in Ann Arbor here for just over $100. He told me he put over twice that into it, but just wanted to unload it because it was an experiment. It is a very cool 15 watt head that he re-circuited to sound kind of Bassman-esque. So, you could try to track down some of those "ancient" tube heads and rework those into low-wattage amps for CBGs or harps.
KK Dirty Money said:
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