Building a ss guitar amp! Help!

[mgcasella]

I've been trying to get a solid state guitar amp custom built for me for a while now (I have several threads on this but the best ones are here, here, and here).

To make a long story short, apparently no one can build this for me and I may have to build it on my own. This is frustrating because I want to start marketing this amp (if people like it) and I want to focus most of my energy on the marketing side because that is where my strengths lie.

There is a guy in the some of the forums who goes by "Teemuk" and he is a wealth of knowledge (seriously - I would kill to have his brain ). He suggested that I try building a power amp first, and base the power amp off an LM3886 circuit.

My first question: Here is a power amp kit based on the LM3886 I found on ebay. I will need to modify this in order to have a Master Volume, as well as a Presence control, and a Resonance (Depth) control. I know I can build the kit but I'm not sure about the modding.

I am complete n00b when it comes to engineering my own mods - am I on the right path? Is what I want to do with this kit possible? Can I use these kits for the purposes of guitar amplification?

[lineup]

In Chip Amps forum there are many who built using LM3886
There are also guys selling Kits with the chip LM3886, who can advice you

[pinkmouse]

Presence and depth should be in the preamp, not the poweramp. Other than that, you should be fine, master volume is just the normal volume pot on many of the diy schematics/modules.

[jaycee]

Look at Rod Elliot's kits as he's got some specifically for guitar use, and even some designs for cabs.

I noticed your threads discussing watts, and that "only" 100W is a problem. Unfortunately, watts are not watts, especially when it comes to marketing. Most solid state guitar amp manufacturers probably specify peak power allowing them to claim stupidly large figures. The only wattage rating that matters is "RMS". 100W will be pretty loud.

I dont know if I could recommend chip amps for guitar use. The LM3886 would probably be best in this route mainly because it has a good deal of self protection - but while that will stop it blowing up if abused (and it will be by a guitar!) it'll sound nasty as it goes into protection. If i were doing it (i dont play guitar though) I'd probably build a full solid state amp using 3 or 4 pairs of heavy duty TO-3 package transistors.

[moschfet]

Perhaps my current project is interesting for you?

Gimos50

[mgcasella]

Originally Posted by lineup

In Chip Amps forum there are many who built using LM3886

There are also guys selling Kits with the chip LM3886, who can advice you

Thanks! I will post this thread in there and hopefully, I can buy a kit suitable for guitar stuff

Originally Posted by pinkmouse

Presence and depth should be in the preamp, not the poweramp. Other than that, you should be fine, master volume is just the normal volume pot on many of the diy schematics/modules.

Duly noted - thanks! As you can see, this is why I was never keen on actually building this thing

Originally Posted by jaycee

Look at Rod Elliot's kits as he's got some specifically for guitar use, and even some designs for cabs.

I noticed your threads discussing watts, and that "only" 100W is a problem. Unfortunately, watts are not watts, especially when it comes to marketing. Most solid state guitar amp manufacturers probably specify peak power allowing them to claim stupidly large figures. The only wattage rating that matters is "RMS". 100W will be pretty loud.

I dont know if I could recommend chip amps for guitar use. The LM3886 would probably be best in this route mainly because it has a good deal of self protection - but while that will stop it blowing up if abused (and it will be by a guitar!) it'll sound nasty as it goes into protection. If i were doing it (i dont play guitar though) I'd probably build a full solid state amp using 3 or 4 pairs of heavy duty TO-3 package transistors.

I understand what your saying about watts - people in the other forums were freaking out about it. My motto is: Start around 100-150 watts RMS, test with a drummer, revise amp if needed.

I may just spring for one of those kits - other people mentioned them too. We'll see what the guys in the chip amp section think about kits, what chips I should use, etc.

Originally Posted by moschfet

Perhaps my current project is interesting for you?

Gimos50

Thanks for posting your thread - I had a lot of fun checking that out last night! Do you have any soundclips or videos?

[digits]

Even that is pointless, you need to know the efficiency of the driver to know how loud it would be, i.e. how many decibels does it put out on a single Watt. most of the guitar speakers available are normally in the 15 to 30W range anyway, so unless you are building a big multidriver cab, the chipamp has enough guts to drive them. Unfortunately it will never replace the grunt of a pair of overdriven valve outputs.

[moschfet]

Thanks for posting your thread - I had a lot of fun checking that out last night! Do you have any soundclips or videos?

I have just finished the Poweramp. The preamp is not ready, but I am working on. The first board is in development and the results points to a second board

For soundclips is it to early.

[PB2]

I'm curious, what do you think are the best solid state guitar amps of all time?
Anyone?

[PB2]

Originally Posted by pinkmouse

Presence and depth should be in the preamp, not the poweramp. Other than that, you should be fine, master volume is just the normal volume pot on many of the diy schematics/modules.

Presence with traditional tube Fender designs is always done in the power amp feedback network.

Depth is usually part of the vibrato circuit but I don't think this is what the OP intended ... or is it?