Cheap guitar amp kits?

[leadbelly]

Any leads on inexpensive guitar amp kits? I've done a bit of searching, and so far the winner appears to be Triode Electronics:

http://store.triodestore.com/deluxerebuild.html
http://store.triodestore.com/champrebuild.html
http://store.triodestore.com/vibrochamprebuild.html

Any other noteworthy examples? Obviously, there are a LOT of kits out there.

[whitelabrat]

No kits here, but I suppose you could build something dirt cheap from here:
http://www.diycustomamps.com/princeton.htm

This also looks interesting if you don't want a lot of power. He doesn't have any boards at the moment (do I smell a group buy?):
http://web.mac.com/calhoun/PCB/Firefly_PCB.html

I'm a fan of rehab'ing old PA amps into guitar amps. Very cheap. It seems a lot of churches in my area are cleaning out their basements.

[pjanda1]

Down in the "1st build, kit or no kit" thread, I was advocating for starting with an old PA amp. They're such a cheap source of quality iron and chassis. The inputs on the unit I found at a the appliance recyclers are marked: Pulpet, Lecturn, Alter and Choir and Basement. I bet it was used only an hour a week, as the original power tubes still have 2/3 of their life left in 'em. Not a single component had been fixed or replaced, though they did make some stupid mods (why did they add an L-pad on the outputs and wire it to an RCA jack?). I bet whatever they replaced it with won't last nearly as long as it would have with a few cheap updates.

pj

[lowtherdream]

AX84.com - The Cooperative Tube Guitar Amp Project
It is like the Linux version of the guitar tube amps. Great site where many people collaborate and create new designs. Take the time to browse the site and discover the amps.
You can get the plans and order your own parts, or go to http://shop.dobermanamps.com/ and buy the kits.
There are also plans and discussions for guitar cabs.

[Rob11966]

Hi Lowtherdream,

I have dealt with Matt at Triodeelectronics many times. He is very good. Honest, reliable and fast. Never had a problem.

If you are looking for the whole kit including chassis and cabinet, have a look at these guys -

http://www.mojomusicalsupply.com/

They are excellent. The kits are extremely well organised and they have everything that you need, down to the last washer! The quality of the reproduction cabinets is very high also (judging by the one that I have). They may cost a bit more but the end product will be high quality.

Cheers,

Rob

[Rob11966]

Sorry, meant to address to Leadbelly not Lowtherdream. Apologies to both.

Rob

[leadbelly]

Thanks for all the leads. I'm not really looking for any AX84 related stuff, I'm only interested in cloning a classic amp, but it's great to find out what's out there.

BTW pjanda1, there's an even better choice for donor amps than PA amps out there. I bought an old Knight amp a few years back, and it's basically just a "hifi" amp built out of commodity guitar amp parts. Even the enclosure is essentially a combo amp chassis with a custom cover so it sits horizontally.

[mikecj]

There are an abundance of kits available for most of the "classic" fender tweed and blackface series as well as marshall types from the 18watter to 45s and 100s.

I don't have all the links but you could start with.

Weber Speakers [Ted Weber's website] fairly inexpensive kits

Mission Amps. [very well reviewed 5E3 kits]

Allen Amplification [ more expensive "blackface" types intellegenty modified]

MOJO

and the list goes on and on and on

Mike