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Permalink Reply by BrianQ. on April 2, 2020 at 7:10am

Both!  don’t sell yourself short. :)   A super simple mod for altoids amps is changing the speaker to a higher wattage? Or you can fiddle with the output capacitor: 100uF,220uF,470uF? Also the input capacitor is a good one to tweak or add if your amp(Smokey) doesn’t have one? You could also try building a Ruby amp if you haven’t already? There’s 2 DIY Amp groups here,-(Homemade guitar amps & It goes to 11) They both have Amp layouts,  just go to the Posts tab to find Groups? Keep us posted :)

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Permalink Reply by Poorness Studios on April 2, 2020 at 10:17am

The way I got started - many years ago - customizing musical gear was modding amps. There a lot of inexpensive amps out there that can easily be modded to sound much better. I did several and eventually I starting modding guitars... then doing some light guitar work for my friends. I got more and more comfortable with modding guitars. Eventually I started modding effects pedals, and that took me to synthesizers and somewhere along the way... I landed in the CBG community. After working with complex stuff, I think I really admired the primal simplicity of a cigar box guitar. Who knows where your path will lead. Sometimes it takes you places you didn't expect. I'm proof. LOL.

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Permalink Reply by BUGGY (C) on April 3, 2020 at 12:42am

A smokey amp runs a 4x12 on a pp3 its mad and sounds way cool too...(see it on youtube)

that circuit would be a good start with a bigger speaker... I plugged an A class old tube amp into an old projection speaker and I got that classic 50's tube amp sound, for not a lot ... 

Im yet to crack an ampcircuit... but most will do the job the speaker makes a big difference but match your ohms right..

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Permalink Reply by BUGGY (C) on April 3, 2020 at 12:44am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG6rpoN56Lc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KSWa7N1xGY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY_xZgZfJek

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Permalink Reply by RTZGUITARS on April 3, 2020 at 4:33am

There are tons of mini pedals like this one you can wire up with a amp board. you will need two batteries and make a control panel. or use them as pedals they are the size of a twinky 

This is a Danelectro distortion pedal board on left is a lm386 hand wired board the others are the pedal. its a mess but works. Find a real guitar amp speaker when you put the pedal inline you need it

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Permalink Reply by Timothy Hunter on April 3, 2020 at 11:25pm

build your own i say... i built and sold guitar Amps many years ago but life got in the way.lol

this is my current project thats been in the wings for far too long. The amp box and speaker are ok but the original amp board died. so i got a kit amp and built that and then a power suply kit to convert the AC to DC of the right voltage. also has preamp power available if i need it.  the problem is the RP-50 board. the idea was to add a multi effect direct into the amp. there are 6 or 7 switches to rewire, thats no problem. the problem is the 13 LED's .  tiny little surface mount led that i have to replace or replicate. not only are they the indicators of what effect is on but the entire 13 are the tuning leds too. and the 7 segment display shows patch nimber. that is easier too but i cant find a bigger display in Australia they go from this 1" size then jump up to around 3"

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Permalink Reply by BrianQ. on April 5, 2020 at 2:51pm

That Smokey amp head is about the easiest. Couple jacks, 1 IC chip & 2 capacitors? The speaker is replaced with a jack, this means you don’t have to try to find a 3” speaker with enough wattage? Really those small amps sound way better through a speaker cab. 

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