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Permalink Reply by Scott aka Farmer Ted on February 12, 2015 at 1:12pm

http://http://www.ebay.ca/itm/TONE-MONSTER-SD2WH-NO-SOLDER-Guitar-A...

or this

http://http://www.ebay.ca/itm/TONE-MONSTER-SD2WC-Guitar-Amp-Amplifi...

Sold by company called Guitar Fuel " Guitar Acquisition Syndrome on Ebay. Sometimes they have 3 watt circuits, and their big daddy...a 5 watt, which includes a wall wart adapter input. But they don`t have any available right now.

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Permalink Reply by Scott aka Farmer Ted on February 12, 2015 at 1:18pm

You can also modify a cbg amp by running the speaker wire + to a two-way switch, instead of direct to the speaker. One side of the switch continues to the internal speaker, the other side to an output jack. This enables you to connect the CBG amp with a second patch cord to an external speaker (like a stereo speaker) that is larger, which will make the amp louder. Just be sure the external speaker is compatible to the amp circuit. Some circuits work with 8 ohm speakers, some with 4 ohm, some with either.

I make all of my 1/2 watt amps with this feature, so I can play lightly when there are others in the house, or louder when nobody is around.

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Permalink Reply by Norris Arnn on February 12, 2015 at 1:40pm

Thanks, The one I got from CB Getty just didn't produce enough volume to hear over the CBG. I put a pre amp on it and it worked but now there's two circuit boards and two 9 volt batteries in the amp. I'm going to try your suggestions. Thank you so much.

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Permalink Reply by David McQueen on May 5, 2015 at 6:15am

I picked up the PAM8403 boards with the volume pot and made an amp with a 5 volt wall wart. There are pics and a video over at my page. Now waiting for the 15 watt boards to come in.

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Permalink Reply by Tom T on May 7, 2015 at 11:22am

You can't beat the TDA 297 amp for $2.76 including shipping. It works well if you use a good power supply.

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Permalink Reply by Tom T on May 7, 2015 at 2:16pm

Sure you do. It was the 2nd one you listed in your post.

This is it......

and you are correct. it works great once you get the power polarity correct. I use it daily.

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Permalink Reply by Tom T on May 8, 2015 at 12:04am

I just picked up some Boss Audio 6 1/2" 3-way speakers. Didn't have a lot of insights on speakers and these sounded good on paper. Matching speakers to amps is probably a science and I missed that class. In the end, these sound good. A little bassy, but still a good amp for around the house.

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Permalink Reply by Scott aka Farmer Ted on May 8, 2015 at 3:07am

Nothing wrong with 3 way speakers, even if a little bassy. Speaker choice for amps can be challenging. No way to know how they will sound until installed and fired up. A few things I consider when looking at speakers include:

~ Matching ohm rating to speaker specs. Some amps are designed for only 4 or 8 ohm loads, others work for both.

~ Using speakers that are not rated for watt output far above the output of the amp. Example, I would not use a speaker rated at 50-100 watts for an amp with a 5 watt output.

~ Cost: lots of great speakers to be found at thrift shops from old small to medium stereo systems. I find loads of 3 to 30 watt speakers in the 4-8" range, sometimes in pairs, for $3-5 each.

~ Another consideration, and one that is relative to the sound of the amp is the enclosure. The cabinet, cigar box, whatever, has lots to do with how the amp/speaker combination sounds.

~ Last, when I make combo amps (with the speaker in the same enclosure as the amp) I always include a line out switch and jack so that the amp can be connected to an external speaker. Although I have used Guitar Fuel MAH5 circuits in the past, I have made my own 1/2 watt amps for a while now. And even those will drive an external speaker cabinet. I have a vintage 40 watt stereo speaker that I connect a 1/2 watt amp to, and it sounds great.

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Permalink Reply by Tom T on May 8, 2015 at 5:52am

Thanks for the insights Scott.

One (of many) things I don't understand is your comment about Not using speakers rated a lot higher than the amp. What kind of down side do you encounter when you do use a high watt speaker with a relatively low watt amp?

Thanks

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Permalink Reply by Scott aka Farmer Ted on May 8, 2015 at 6:23am

I suppose the main context of that was when using higher/heavier output speakers with a battery powered low-watt amp. One downside could be power drain on the battery.

Of course if the power source is from a ac/dc adapter (wall wart) for example, power drain would not be an issue. 

And in my perception of speakers, one that is rated, say for example 50 watts max., would lose much of its volume/tone potential being nudged by a low power amp.

Not an expert by any means. Just sharing from my own trials.

Permalink Reply by Tom T on May 8, 2015 at 5:54am

There is probably a lot of information about amps and speaker match up on the net, but I have not spent enough time researching. Maybe that should be my next project.

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Permalink Reply by Norris Arnn on February 17, 2015 at 12:04pm

Thanks for all the input guys. I'll be trying a few of your recommendations.

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