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CBG Amp ideas anyone? :)

So as some of you know I am currently building my first CBG. What actually motivated me to ACTUALLY finally do it? I am making my first one for my father for christmas- he's going to FREAK out- IF I succeed of course LOL

Anyways- he no longer has an amp around, so I thought I would get/make him one to go with the CBG since it has a pick up. This will just be for personal use- he won't be on stage or anything like that... so not too worried about it being super loud or fancy.

Now, of COURSE I want to MAKE the amp... (great excuse to start another project ASAP ;) lol) -but most the amp kits I see are only battery powered. I would LIKE for him to be able to plug it in, as I know he'll use it a lot and I don't want him to have to constantly be buying batteries.

My first grand idea was to buy an amp, tear it open, gut it, and stick it all in a cigar box pretty much... or into SOMETHING unique/cool (lunch box, gas can, ammo box, suitcase, so on and so forth) has anyone done something like this successfully?

I have a couple friends who have suggested that I just buy him a little mini fender amp or a pig nose or something... but I don't know. I kind of really want to make one if at all possible!

Thoughts anyone? :)

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Permalink Reply by Scott aka Farmer Ted on November 17, 2016 at 7:22am

All the noted suggestions are great. Depends on whether you want to wire/solder your own circuit (many ideas available online), or purchase a ready-to-install unit.

Also, there are other options besides a cigar box for housing the amp.

Like these...

(left to right) Old stereo speaker cabinet with fresh grill cloth and a coat of spray paint; vintage RCA tube radio, painted purple just because; a "magic kit" box covered with leatherette w/ a $5 casino chip from Hull, Quebec; and a vintage Marconi tube radio painted lavender. All four have a hand wired 1/2 watt amp and use the original speaker found in each unit.

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Permalink Reply by 3 String Blues on November 17, 2016 at 9:54am

Check out radio-guitar-amps.com

make one from a old vintage Retro radio.....plus battier powered is safer, what you do is buy rechargeable batteres and just recharge them...its cheaper and MUCH safer!

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Permalink Reply by darryl kernaghan on November 17, 2016 at 12:12pm

Most kits work well, but just a note in the wall warts, some do induce a bit of noise while others don't, so if you have the option, try to find a regulated adapter to suit, laptop chargers generally are good, also i'd suggest not running the amp at maximum rated input voltage for long periods, ie, if it's rated 10-15 volts, 12 would be ideal.

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Permalink Reply by Grandpa on November 17, 2016 at 1:59pm

Darryl, that is a good tip. I bought a couple of $6.00 (U.S.) adapters from Amazon, good reviews from users, but found they were noisy on my Guitar Fuel amps. Ty, @ Guitar Fuel said what you said about newer adapters being noisy, so I am going to start rummaging through thrift stores for old ones. No noise problems with 9V batteries, though. Many hours of life from each battery, so far. I haven't used one up yet. Convenient for travelling or sitting around out back, too.

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Permalink Reply by Scavanged Sound (Pete) on November 18, 2016 at 2:43am

I agree Grandpa. I always build in a jack for a wall wart but never use it. I always run my amps with the 9 Volt battery and like you said, hours of fun. Even on a dual speaker I get decent lifetime.

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Permalink Reply by Slowpaw Steve T on November 17, 2016 at 11:01pm

Here's one I made a few years ago, and actually got to play it live recently to great effect! :-)

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Permalink Reply by Rosanne Reynolds on November 18, 2016 at 5:35am

NICE!

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Permalink Reply by JL on November 18, 2016 at 2:18am

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Permalink Reply by JL on November 18, 2016 at 2:20am

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Permalink Reply by Rosanne Reynolds on November 18, 2016 at 5:38am

Thank you EVERYONE for your input! I went with buying the footnote kit that was suggested- have no idea what is going to happen from here- but I suppose that's all part of the magic! I will be sure to post pics of whatever the heck I end up with! THANKS AGAIN! :)

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Permalink Reply by JL on November 21, 2016 at 6:56am

curse a blue streak anyway

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Permalink Reply by Barrie Collins on November 18, 2016 at 11:09am

Here's one I made earlier (blue peter special) it is the guts from an old Park( Marshall) amplifier that I bought at a flea market for 12euros and a box that came from another market cost 15 bucks and some work . I like it

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