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Comment by Port City Frank on March 1, 2013 at 8:51am

Just joined the group. Glad to be a member!

Comment by Tom "Broken E String" Sobieski on February 19, 2013 at 8:17pm

http://youtu.be/dp1oXa7Nh4I

Not mine, but this is where I got the idea for mine. Simple 386 amp, "Ruby" , open source, just Google it. I run mine off a 12V SLA battery for longer playtime, and better headroom.

Comment by Scott aka Farmer Ted on February 5, 2013 at 12:32pm

Sorry David...that is beyond my ability to answer. If you had the specs regarding what amp load (or milliampere) the amplifier draws when on or operating, you could direct that question directly to one of the major battery manufacturers...perhaps they could give an idea.

Comment by David Sutton on February 5, 2013 at 9:22am

Thanks, Scott.

My friend Scott Grandstaff tipped me off about the Dwarf a number of years ago and I found one on eBay.

Yeah, I should clarify. It's OLD enough that it has no wall wart, but rather one of those Mr. Science looking, unhoused transformers on the inside.

So, you can plug it in and the transformer converts your AC to 18VDC, or you can run it off the batteries.

What I'm wondering is just how MUCH battery life I'd lose if I set it up for AAs instead of Cs. The biggest issue with the C batteries is that they just about double the weight of the amp!

Comment by Scott aka Farmer Ted on February 5, 2013 at 8:50am

Found the Dwarf amp online, real nice...it claims it makes a Pignose hang it head in shame...great find David.

Comment by Scott aka Farmer Ted on February 5, 2013 at 8:44am

by ac/dc, do you mean it runs on either battery or a wall wart adapter?

the best I can suggest is that you may lose battery life if converted to two 9 volts...better play time on either AA's or the original 'C' cells...but it comes down to the cost of the batteries, really as to which of the two to use.

Comment by David Sutton on February 5, 2013 at 8:32am

I have an old Dwarf AC/DC amplifier that takes 12 C batteries (total 18V). The plastic battery holder has recently broken. I think this might be a good time to make a change, but need to know: If I set it up so it uses 12 AA batteries or 2 9V in series, what do I lose?

Comment by Glenn Kaiser on January 29, 2013 at 12:48pm

Really must give this a go. I know how to do old boomboxes and walkmans with record heads but need to progress. Cool group! -Glenn

Comment by Scott aka Farmer Ted on January 29, 2013 at 10:34am

I started makink amps since i had a stack of cube-shaped cigar boxes that were wrong size/shape for a guitar body.

I found a circuit diagram online that uses the LM386 IC chip, and a few other parts:

a 10uF and 220uF capacitor rated at 25 volts, a 0.01uF cap, and I added an LED that requires a 330 ohm 1/4 watt resistor. If volume control is desired, a 10K ohm potentiometer does the trick.

Speakers are easy to get cheap at thrift shops. I look for old hi-fi stereo speakers, and never pay more than $3-4 each, sometimes I get a pair for that.

Comment by Scott aka Farmer Ted on January 29, 2013 at 10:29am

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