Here is my interest. I would like to go into GoodWill or any charity shop and pick up a cheap VCR, DVD player, boom box or the like and hack it and then relocate the parts it in a cigar box to make an amp. Any ideas of what to use or how? I'm a total novice on all these things BTW. And, I cannot find in charity shops any old school type transistor radios so I want to use whats readily available and cheap.

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First, hacking modern consumer electronics to get just an amplifier isn't really practical since the separate circuits for all the things the product does are not all neat and tidy and identifiable inside the box. For instance, the audio circuitry in a VCR is mixed in with the video circuitry and mechanical controls on to one or just a few printed circuit boards.

This isn't necessarily the case with very old stuff but then they turn into "collectibles" and the price starts to skyrocket.

This is not to say that you can't salvage certain components from some things but even then the really new stuff uses "surface mounted" component technology using very tiny parts that are assembled by robots and not made to be repaired - they're made to be thrown away when they fail.

Even then, the "through hole" components and parts you might salvage are fairly cheap and readily available from many electronics supply houses (I use Tayda Electronics a lot). Considering the reliability of the components your salvaging, it's not very practical.

Getting the hardware, cases and speakers from these things on the other hand IS very practical if you can get them cheap enough.

Second, by "total novice" what exactly do you mean?

At the very least, you need a basic understanding of what the various components do, how to use a multimeter and know how to solder. You also need the tools to do these things as well as a basic understanding of Ohm's Law.

Here is an Instructable to explain what I am talking about:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Basic-Electronics/?ALLSTEPS

I consider myself a total novice (for a long time now) but I do fully understand everything explained in that tutorial - and not a whole lot more... Even so, it has been enough for me to work on my guitar electronics, build some very simple FX pedals, cobble together some battery powered amps and even some basic audio synthesizer circuits over the years.

I initially got my knowledge by reading Craig Anderton's book "Electronic Projects for Musicians" which I highly recommend:

http://www.amazon.com/Electronic-Projects-Musicians-Craig-Anderton/...

Craig explains things in an easy to understand way as you go through the projects and shows you how to trouble shoot as you go along.

As far as audio amps go (and being a total novice), IMO your better off starting with a kit or a pre-assembled module which are super cheap if you order directly from Asia and only a little more if you order domestically. C.B Gitty has some kits:

http://www.cbgitty.com/amp-kits/

Or you could get a module such as this:

http://www.mpja.com/Audio-Amplifier-Module-Mono-TDA2030A/productinf...

BUT, as with most cheap modules like this, you would have to source all the rest of the parts your self (pots, jacks, speaker, wires etc.) and it would more than likely NOT come with any instructions other than a data sheet which you would have to know how to read and understand.

SO... to do any of this, you still need to grasp the basic electronics as explained in the Instructable I linked to above. And once you have that under your belt, you can move on to various kits and projects - even "build from scratch" projects such as Runoffgroove's "Little Gem" and "Ruby" amps:

http://www.runoffgroove.com/littlegem.html

http://www.runoffgroove.com/ruby.html

Or a "Punch" amplifier:

http://www.diale.org/punch.html

Or any number of "chip amp" projects from 1 watt to 30 watts and more.

---
 
Hope this helps, good luck.

Had a old computer monitor, saved the board cause it had a lot of usable power supplies, caps and resistors. Other good source items are TV's and any 70's-80's all in one stereos(tape-phono-radio). Be careful of the tv/monitor screen connections, Static electricity buildup discharge there can kill.

ROG has some great projects, I have a list of effects that I want to build.

Thanks. I did find an old smallish am/fm radio today for 99 cents. got it apart and looking to figure out what is going on in there...

wow. thanks so much for that advice. you were totally helpful. When I say novice I mean I can solder, just. Lol. Other than that I know nothing about electronics so these links are golden. Thanks very much.

lots  of  info  and  help  here

 http://www.cigarboxnation.com/group/vintage-radios-converted-into-g...

you  can also search  "radio  hack  "   in the top  right  of any  page  .  ;-)

The easiest things to hack are small MP3 speakers, esp mono ones, or Danelectro Honeytone amps (and similar tiny battery powered amps). They have input jacks, battery and usually 9v DC in, speaker connectors, and volume controls, with some having tone or distortion too. Everything you need for a little amp hack, and nothing else you need to worry about. The awesome to crappy MP3 speakers are easier to find these days than cool vintage radios.

The main thing with being novice level is find something with an input, volume, power supply, and speaker if you want to rehouse. Then the most you'll have to do is solder a new input jack or wire extensions to fit a larger enclosure.

I buy $10 LM386 modules off ebay... add a 9V battery , input jack, and speaker... they work great.  and saves me 100 hours and $11 in components.

This is sort of off topic, but I have seen those LM386 modules and I am just used to the Tone Monster MAH5 prewired amps and I can't figure how you make it work with a 9v battery, input jack, and speaker.  I can solder.  Lol!  Seems like those would be great for use in a cigar box as they are small and I have salvaged speakers around to use.  WHen I see speakers at the dump, I grab them and tear apart for the speakers and sometimes piezos too.  Any good instructions for us DIY amp novices?  I would like to make the cigar box amps so I can sell them cheap enough with my friends cbg's.  My amps get pricey because I make the enclosures too.

Thanks!

I think I figured it out.  One of the USA sellers of the lm386 amps has little pictures with arrows where you either plug something in or solder to terminals.  The Chinese sold ones have a tough time doing the ads in English.  Lol!!  I ordered a couple to play with.  Should be fun!

The IM386 chips are great, love my Ruby amp and my dual chip "Ruby-ish" amp (I'll draw out a schematic if anyone is interested). Most of these chips run 9 -12 volts at 1/2watt to 1watt output, but the IM386N4 will handle up to 18 volts and 2watts output.

This has all been a helpful discussion so far. Thanks everyone.

Question: do the LM386 have an on/off and volume pot on it? From what I could see online I could not tell. Or can you wire one in? 

There's a couple different schematics on the net: the Rudy, Noisy Cricket, Smokey and the Little Gem. Most of these have a Volume and Gain, on/off switch on some(an easy mod to any schematic) and the Noisy Cricket has Vol, Gain, Tone and a Grit switch.

In my opinion, the Ruby and Smokey amps sound best. The volume and Gain pots are very interactive. The bigger the speaker(6" and up) the better it will sound.

Runoffgroove.com has some schematics if your interested.

Made a Noisy Cricket and wasn't impressed with it.

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