Bought a really cool (heavy duty) box today at a garage sale... might be a little big for a traditional CBG amp though. Pic is on my wall- any advice? Kits for a DIY amp with more wattage out there? Cant find anything...
The LM386 is definitely the way to go. They're cheap and plentiful. There's all kinds of info on the net on how to build a 386 amp, most notably in Altoids tins. Sites like Instructables are a good place to start. You can also search YouTube for assembly videos.
Take at look at the C. B. Gitty amp kit (click on the ad to the right of this page, then Search for "amp kit.").
Take a look at the Smokey Amp; buy one ( they run around $25), take it apart, and be amazed by Bruce Zinky's design. Buy a Danelectro Honeytone, take it apart, and reinstall it in a cigar box. Find Joel Grey's eBay store, get him to build you one, then open it up to see how he did it. Search the Web for "LM386 amp kits;" then you'll know how he did it. Look at CBN "CBG wiring and electronics" Group.
Follow Cloudy's advice; there's loads of info on how to do this out there.
A good place to start is a little solid state amp like the smokey with a speaker out, build a few cabs and learn about that design, wiring multiple speakers etc, practice soldering and electronics stuff, how to make a cabinet actually sound good, speakers etc.
Then I would start with a circuit like the ruby/little gem/smokey learn practice soldering to a board with a simple amp.
At that point you should be able to start designing your own stuff, modifying, try your hand at tube amp kits, whatever direction you want to take it.
Replies
Bought a really cool (heavy duty) box today at a garage sale... might be a little big for a traditional CBG amp though. Pic is on my wall- any advice? Kits for a DIY amp with more wattage out there? Cant find anything...
If it works then its good.
Runoffgroove.com is well worth a look. They have a page on LM386 amps...
http://www.runoffgroove.com/ruby.html
Also Beavis Audio has some interesting stuff on simple amps.
http://www.beavisaudio.com
But probably the best thing to do is to look at the existing amps group on CB Nation (titled "It Goes To 11")
http://www.cigarboxnation.com/group/amps
The LM386 is definitely the way to go. They're cheap and plentiful. There's all kinds of info on the net on how to build a 386 amp, most notably in Altoids tins. Sites like Instructables are a good place to start. You can also search YouTube for assembly videos.
Further to my last...check under the "Performance, .." forum for a thread called "Ruby little gem / smokey? Amp question"
There's lots of discussion there about these and other amp kits, and the LM386 chip and variants.
Hope this helps,
Oily
Take a look at the Smokey Amp; buy one ( they run around $25), take it apart, and be amazed by Bruce Zinky's design. Buy a Danelectro Honeytone, take it apart, and reinstall it in a cigar box. Find Joel Grey's eBay store, get him to build you one, then open it up to see how he did it. Search the Web for "LM386 amp kits;" then you'll know how he did it. Look at CBN "CBG wiring and electronics" Group.
Follow Cloudy's advice; there's loads of info on how to do this out there.
A good place to start is a little solid state amp like the smokey with a speaker out, build a few cabs and learn about that design, wiring multiple speakers etc, practice soldering and electronics stuff, how to make a cabinet actually sound good, speakers etc.
Then I would start with a circuit like the ruby/little gem/smokey learn practice soldering to a board with a simple amp.
At that point you should be able to start designing your own stuff, modifying, try your hand at tube amp kits, whatever direction you want to take it.