I am about to build my first cbg.  It will be a three string with duel piezo pickups.  First question is what is a good watt amp to give a good sound without blowing everyone out of the house?  Second question should the neck touch the box lid or is it better to be below  the lid so the surface vibrates better?  HELP!

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

Tom

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I just bought a rogue g5 amp one ebay for $32.00 thats includeing shipping. Its a nice little a lot better that the honeytone. The honey tone is good for $20.00. As for neck through I have a friend that bilds all his cbgs with the neck screwed to the neck with 3 screws and they sound great.

 

Welcome to the world of CBG. Mine are all 3 string with dual piezos as you are planning to build. Good choice.  I leave a space under the neck. This does help with acoustic sound, if all you will be doing is playing amped it may not make any difference.   For an amp I have a Roland micro cube, a bit more expensive than the above but it works well with my cbg's. I also make my own small amps using a lm386 circuit good for 1-3 amps. They work well with the piezo also.  

Hi Tom.

I have seen nice sounding instruments made with the neck screwed and glued to the box lid and ones made with the neck set away to let the lid vibrate better. My instinct is very much in line with Michael. Also echo (OK, bad joke) his view of the Micro Cube. I got mine on eBay for £23.00. As an alternative see the group on converting old radios. I have an old valve radio that has made a wonderfully sweet sounding amp (although not everyone wants sweet).

Have fun whatever you do.

John 

Hey Tom,

I'll throw another vote towards the Cube amps. I have 2 now, a Micro and a 40. The Micro is perfect for home playing but the 40's fine for it too. There's a few more tone options plus an 80 second looper with the 40.

I'm a space between the neck, glued to box and lid secured with corner blocks/scews kind of builder but I've played screwed neck to lid builds that sound great too.

No Rules...it's a wonderful thing.

 

 

Playing at home - the Roland Microcube-best small amp imo and I do own a few.Buy one-you wont regret it.

          I'm new to building myself (5 so far) my necks touch .no problem, but I started playing through a boss equalizer.sounds better than without . more control. you might want to try it. it eliminates alot of unwanted noise. enjoy yourself. try different things.you can get some great sounds out of these cbg's

Roland Microcube - the best amp I've bought for the money - secondhand,  £30 at a guitar show. The real beauty of the Roland Cube range is the absolute simplicity of the controls -  there may be other amps with more sounds, better effects etc (mind you, in a Cube you've effectively got a whole load of Boss effects pedals built in), but you just turn the knobs to select the effects, and that's it.

I value simplicity and ease of use over a huge range of sounds and complicated controls.  

Another Roland vote.

Iv got the 30w, which features the 'Power Squeeze' button lacking on the 40w+ models. This basically means you can get full volume tone, but at very low volumes - perfect for at home.

The effects are very useable, its compact, and you can get one on Ebay for around £80

go to a couple guitar stores and try the amps for yourself.

its a very personal thing

any 9 volt battery amp will be perfect for playing at home, but i im playing thru a peavey rage 108. its rated 12 watts at  4 ohms with an 8 inch speaker. i also have a piezo and it makes a lot of feedback with the gain kicked in. i think a noise gate would do real well to help combat this. once i get my hands on a mag coil pup im taking it to a friends house and we will it blast thru his 25 anniversery marshall half stack. i left a little space between my lid and neck and thats where i put my piezo. i built a cbg for my brother in law this summer and left space between the lid and neck, but i also put screws thru the lid to the neck to help take out some unwanted vibration from the lid. i think it know takes that vibration and transfers it from lid to neck to the strings that produces a sound that is almost sitarish.

Pignose...less than a 100, cant go wrong with it.

I own all of the amps below, and some time after the New Year, will post vids of each on my CBN page; all are solid state amps except one, in no particular order:

1) Zinky Smokey Amp. 9V battery, 2.5" speaker, $29 and change at GC. Belt-packable, LOUD! Can use as a pre-amp.
2) Pignose 7-100. As Beetlejuce says, still under $100. Musician's Friend, etc. Great for guitars and harmonicas. Good jammer. Wall wart or 6 AA batteries, has strap knobs for guitar strap for busking. Can use as a pre-amp.
3) Cactus Amp Kegblaster Beer Can Amp. $59.99 plus shipping, cactusampworks.com . Switchable clean / OD circuit; good jammer, battery good for about 3-5 hours. Based on a LM 386 circuit.
4) Roland Stereo Mobile Cube. 5 stars! My main practice amp. $169, GC, MF, Sweetwater, etc. 2 channels, dual 4" speakers, mic and guitar / keyboard, on board effects ( delay / reverb, clean / dirty / overdrive, tone), Aux In for mp3 / CDs. Shoulder strap for busking, wall wart or 6 AA batteries. This, or any of the Roland Cube series, are outstanding amps.
5) Fender Mini Tweed '57 Twin. $49.99 in a blister pack at GC, etc. Great tweed look, dual 2" speakers, clean to distorted, very portable.
6) Grey Amps black shorty CAO Cigar Box Amp. 9V and wall wart, clean and overdrive, 3.5" speaker. Custom job.
7) ZT Lunchbox. 6" speaker, 200 watts, AC power only, Aux / Line In for mp3 players, etc., reverb, gain, loves multi-effects and stompboxes. My main gigging amp. Can hold its own with a Marshall half-stack, speaker out to run a full 4x12 cab. $269-289 direct from www.zt.com
8) Fender Champ 600 re-issue. A single 12AX7 tube, one volume knob, clean to grind. Modded with a Jensen MOD 8" speaker, and changed a couple of resistors and 1 cap for 50% more headroom. Great for blues. $130-175 from GC, etc.

I also have an old Crate G20 solid state with a blown speaker, and a Crate GC Palomino V16 with three 12AX7 and two EL 84 tubes that is great for blues / rock and recording; all my gigging buds love this amp. Mid-boost button, treble, mid, bass, spring reverb, volume, gain.

You also may want to look at the new Vox with a "Power Soak" feature that Dan Sleep just picked up for around $170, and the new Fender Mustang I for around $100 or so.

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