Hello all! New member here. I have started messing with amps over the last few weeks. I have built a couple of CBGuity's 2.5 watt little practice amps. The first one I used all the stock components in a nice Underwood box. The second one I used the amp board and used 2 of their speakers wired parallel for 4 ohm load. I made a 3rd one with their board and a 4" 4ohm Boss speaker.
I would like to get a "Bigger" sound. I know it's only a 2.5 watt amp, but I'd like to get a more full sound if that makes sense. More bass instead of "tinny" sound. Would building a big box and using a 6"-12" Celestion or Jenson or ??? speaker make it sound better? Or am I asking for too much out of that little 2.5watt board?
I bought a Tone Monster 5 amp unit for my next build and was thinking of building a nice cabinet for it. I was looking at the Jenson 6" Mod speaker for it, but am open to any other suggestions. 10"-12" Celestion or any other speaker? Will that make a "Bigger" or "fuller" sound? Or am I just asking for too much? Heck, I can just run my guitars through myPeavey Transtube or Peavey Ultra 60 tube head and 4x12 cabinet, but I never turn it past 2 or the neighbors will disown me. Besides that, I built these guitars and really want to run them through something that I built just for the satisfaction of doing it myself. Isn't that kind of why we all build them? Lol.
Something else I don't understand is the Ohm rating on speakers. What is the relationship between higher ohm ratings and sound output? I have a good understanding of Ohm's law as it relates to car wiring since I'm an automotive tech and I do a lot of electrical/electronics diagnosis on cars, but not sure about audio. Can anybody point me in the right direction for reading up on it? I am guessing that too low an ohm rating (resistance) would pull too much from an amp board and smoke it? What about higher decibels? Does a higher or lower ohm load have anything to do with decibel output?
Thanks in advance for any help or advise. Here is a build I'm working on. Matching Underwood pieces. I've been playing the guitar acoustic, but just received an Electric Delta 3 pole pickup from CBGuity that's going in it. Next to it is a 2.5 watt Artec amp from CBGuity as well. Built it stock with the complete 2.5 watt amp kit.
Side note. How do I size these pictures? I think I'm posting them too big.
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Ian, I just added a video of my hacked Danelectro Honeytone driving my 4X12. You reminded me of this amp I built a while back, so I had to make a vid of it & I wanted to do a digital /analog test also. Check it out, the Dano is about 1w & it screams!!
http://www.cigarboxnation.com/video/digital-analog-test-1
Hi Ian,
I build amps...CBG style with my own hand wired circuit, and rebuilt vintage tube amplifiers. I've also used a few of the Tone Monster boards.
In a nutshell, the cabinet and speaker choice have a large influence on the "bigger sound" factor for guitar amps.
One thing I add to my small cbg amps is a line-out switch and jack. This allows the user to either use the speaker already inside the cigar box, or to connect to an external speaker cabinet with the flip of the switch for a different and often "bigger" sound. Simply connect the + speaker lead from the amp board to the center tab of an SPDT switch. Then connect the outer tabs on the switch to either the line-out jack + and/or the internal speaker +. And of course, connect the ground leads to the appropriate spot.
And yes, matching the designated output ohm rating for the amp circuit to the speaker is critical to preserve the integrity and life of the amplifier.
Thanks for the advice Scott. I just ordered a few of the line out jacks. Switchcraft 13A, if I can remember correctly. I also, think I have found my next project after I build my Tone Monster kit. I found a tube amp kit I'm going to take a swing at trying to build, The Mod102+ tube amp kit. It looks like it will be a good beginner tube amp kit and the cash outlay won't make me cry too much if I fail at it. I listened to a few sound clips from people that built it and it sounds sweet. I'm also going to build a 1x8,10 or 12 cabinet. I haven't decided yet but I've found a few speakers I'd like to try. I'll do some more research before I pull the trigger on a speaker.
I use a stereo phone jack with shunts that cut the speaker out when a mono or stereo jack goes in. It's a nice simple setup, but the jacks are close to 10 bucks a piece. They're nice for minimal setups or lack of room. I get them from: http://smallbear-electronics.mybigcommerce.com/
Hey Paul. Is the jack your using a 1/4" guitar jack or an actual phone jack? Sorry, I'm not electronics savvy but I'm trying to learn. I followed your link and looked at 1/4 " guitar jacks, but didn't see what you were referring to. Can you enlighten me please?
Sorry, it's a 1/4" stereo headphone jack that can also accommodate a 1/4" mono jack for output to speaker cabinets or soundboard.
Paul, maybe I'm just an idiot, but I cannot find it on that smallbearelectronics site. Can you give me a part number or a link, please? Pretty please? Thank you.
http://smallbear-electronics.mybigcommerce.com/switchcraft-2/
It's at the bottom of the page for $5.45 They dropped the price whoohoo.
The one I talked about was a stereo jack so I could use headphones or a line out, but they also have a mono jack with shunt on that same page.
These are so much easier than wiring in a switch or electronic cutout circuit.
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