Mini Amp Build- PICS

What's up folks. So I am basically a living room player and am usually forced to play at low volume due to having 2 little girls under 2 yrs. old. I usually play through a microcube, which is great, and also have a Dano Honeytone which is also decent. I've recently had GAS for a Pignose due to the cool retro vibe and since I am not looking for max output anyway.

Well, I decided to take the $50 my wife's grandmother gave me for my B-day and put it towards a mini-amp build. I wanted something somewhat retro looking and came up with this. Total cost is about $70 and the guts were purchased from guitarfuel.com and the entire harness came pre-wired. It's based on the LM386 pre-amp chip. The speaker is a 4 ohm 10 Watt and this little thing sounds SWEET. The box was purchased at AC Moore for $9.00 and I painted the face and back with dark brown acrylic paint, and used 5 coats of satin wipe on poly on the sides, top and bottom. I even got a faux binding effect. Knobs are from an old 10 watt Marshall MG. Runs off a 9V battery or 9V adapter and has a 1/4 in. headphone/ line out jack. Left knob is volume and the right knob is on/off and has 3 gain settings; clean, rock, and max distortion. This is my first amp build (assembly) and I am very happy with the results.

Sorry to be so longwinded- here's the PICS.

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u106/Loudog99_photos/103_8807.jpg

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u106/Loudog99_photos/103_8813.jpg

I lined the inside back cover with red felt.

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u106/Loudog99_photos/103_8811.jpg

With the cube for comparison. The new amp is 7" x 7".

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u106/Loudog99_photos/103_8814.jpg

Can't wait to give this thing a good work out over the next few days. Thanks for looking.

Lou

That's awesome!!!

So tiny. Are you going to put a cloth/grill over the speaker?

How does she sound?

I think it looks great but with two little kids I really think you should consider to put something on it that would protect the speaker.Limbe

Consensus seems to be to cover the speaker so I am going to look for some cloth around the house and do it up tonight. I'll also try to put up some clips later tonight as well. Stay tuned.

Lou

Consensus seems to be to cover the speaker so I am going to look for some cloth around the house and do it up tonight. I'll also try to put up some clips later tonight as well. Stay tuned.

Just cut a slab of perforated steel out of the underside of your microwave. Any sheetmetal shop can shear it into a neat octagon or even a square. Cinch it down under your speaker mounting bolts, good to go!

Just cut a slab of perforated steel out of the underside of your microwave. Any sheetmetal shop can shear it into a neat octagon or even a square. Cinch it down under your speaker mounting bolts, good to go!

Other alternatives would be the decorative sheetmetal that is used for things like covering up old radiator heaters - usually (always, maybe?) made of brass, and can be cut very easily. The one that I like is using stuff for fixing window screens - not the metal stuff, but the nylon/fiberglass/etc. stuff. Just cut out a few squares (usually a single layer either doesn't look strong enough) and tack it down. You can also typically find "mesh" plastic in different colors and patterns at hardware and craft stores. It will provide a tidy appearance and can be quickly done.

Updated Pics. After a few suggestions I added a cotton woven cloth cover for the speaker. Looks pretty damn cool if I do say so myself. No clips yet, hopefully later tonight or tomorrow.

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u106/Loudog99_photos/103_8816.jpg

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u106/Loudog99_photos/103_8817.jpg

I gotta get clips up- I can't get over how good this sounds for a mini amp running on a 9V battery.

Lou

I feel much better about the speaker now. :lol:

It can be a lot of fun to wind up those little SS amps! My start into amplified music was a ukelele (with a small speaker taped onto it as a microphone) that we ran into a small Radio Shack hearing-aid amplifier. :cool:

- Scott

looks great!

I want to hear this!