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Comment by Paul Craig on September 21, 2015 at 9:21am

Hello, just joined the group. I got into amp building out of necessity. Had a 10w guitar amp that quit working after 6 months and the board was too bad to fix. I built a Ruby amp out of it. The Ruby is a 1w version of a Fender Champ with a IM386 IC chip that sounds great with the 6 inch speaker. Of course later I found myself wanting more gain, so I made a dual chip version with 2 stage gain. I'll look around and find my schematic to post it later.

Comment by Scott aka Farmer Ted on May 9, 2015 at 1:16pm

Hey Cameron, could be anything really. Capacitor needing replaced, output transformer, or ? Is the radio quiet too? Or is it just when testing with the guitar?

Comment by Slow Slough Guitars on May 9, 2015 at 12:37pm

Hey everyone, I bought an early 60's Silvertone 800 AM radio that I want to turn into an amp. I think I found the right lead off the volume knob but it's really quiet. I haven't disconnected the radio input yet but I can't see that causing the issue. I've been using a pair of leads off a 1/4 jack and strumming as I test and I can barely hear it coming through the speaker. Any ideas?

Comment by Bama Hound on February 26, 2015 at 2:50pm

      Alright folks, I had good luck making a practice amp out of a AM/FM Cassette deck. Now I am pumped up and nuts to try another thing. I got a Storm stereo speaker outfit. This thing sat in the back seats of a coupe and I had an amp on it but I had it concealed in the console,so when car got gone amp went with it And the answer to your next question is yeah 20 years later I am half deaf. I was traveling 132 miles a day back and forth to work.

      I got a pix attached but that doesn't tell you much. My question is since this is automotive application will it make a transition to a CBG walkin, talkin' crawlin' on its belly like a reptile set-up. Is it worth fooling with it? If it is I will tear into it to get more info. It is stereo. I think it was 8 ohm. Sub-woofers are 15". Round speakers are 4". Tweeters are 2'x6'.The bad part is I really don't know how to go with it. I am just learning to play CBG but may need this for when I play halftime show at Ironbowl in a couple years(:-D) Seriously, I would like to have something that will handle effects and things I don't know, that I don't know.ya'll have built things and realized when you were through with it, you would have done differently. Naturally I would like to get out as cheap as possible, but realize you don't something for nuttin"> Some of you old heads help out this her babe in the woods. I can read schematic drawings as long as they aren't crazy. I was in high school when they invented transistors so my info is pretty antique.Thank to anyone for a push in the right direction to where to read up.

Comment by wormil on September 1, 2014 at 4:48pm

I picked a powered subwoofer out of a neighbor's trash. Any thoughts on converting it to an amp? I haven't figured out how to get it apart yet (without breaking it) but it has an 8ohm 50W speaker.

Comment by Slow Slough Guitars on June 29, 2014 at 5:03am

Larry, I don't think you had any choice but to build this. Great work.

Comment by Larry Epstein on June 29, 2014 at 4:32am

Just branching out. Found this great box. Was a natural for a small amp. The speaker covers are made from an old 35mm film developer canister cut in half down the middle. Electronics are from Tone Monster, my favorite supplier.

Comment by Better Trees on May 16, 2014 at 10:14am

Thanks for the input everyone.   I still am sort of set on wearing it on my hand, but I may be able to  arrange the shape so that it is sort of like a bulky bracer.  I guess I gotta go find something to practice soldering. 

Comment by Glenn Kaiser on May 14, 2014 at 10:35am

Better Trees- I plan on busking a lot this year and will build a couple gits with a practice amp inside each box, that is, secured inside the body itself with just enough holes for the amp's speaker to project while still being safe to use in that way re. rain, etc.. I reckon if the pickup is way down by the bridge and the amp is in the upper corner near the neck, perhaps even "walled" in place within the box, it should work well enough re. feedback problems and such. There are several small practice amps (as Robert mentioned) that would work depending on size and depth of the box. All have volume controls, at least one tone and often gain control. Good alkaline 9 volts will last a couple hours and more. My main complaint about small amps is lack of low-end due to amp itself and certainly speaker/speaker-size as they're just too small to give you decent lows. This is where careful selection of the practice amp (or building 'em) is so important for good tone. Then again, the box material (cardboard, wood, a mix, or metal or partly metal) will all affect the amp's tone at least to a degree. Good luck, have fun! -Glenn

Comment by Robert Dawkins on May 14, 2014 at 9:58am

BT...since you're building a 'Punk version, you might try putting the amp in a greeblied-up enclosure that hangs or protrudes off the body of the cigar box, like right near the neck hole...maybe use some 1/2" corrugated/flexible metal electrical wire tubing conduit, like is used in outdoor electrical wiring...just a thought.

Rob

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