maybe this is too dumb a question...

[dannyspencer]

Hi sorry im new to the site! have tryed the search but can't find anything that spells it out for me

perhaps i am just too ignorant in this area!

my question is: What is a cheap, easy amplifier that i can use to basically drive a small speaker for my guitar?

If you interested basically what i am doing is building a talkbox guitar effect pedal but i wanted to build a small 10-20 watt amp that will drive a midrange speaker (rated at 8ohms)

therefore i presume i want a high gain thing? i know that i will have to but a preamp infront to get the distortion but i will do this with one of my fuzz pedals.

Can anyone help me out with schematic links etc? Im in the uk and parts need to be pretty availiable.

Thanks

Dan

[pinkmouse]

Hi Dan

If you have little experience at construction, you should head on over to the Chip Amps group, and have a look at the various Gain Clones around. Don't be put off by all the comments about this or that resistor or cap, they work very well with Maplins standard components, and should only take a few hours to build.

Good luck!

[li_gangyi]

you'll probably need a tone control circuit...something like a fender tone stack or similiar...they have are different compared to a "standard" Low Mid and High tone control...got it's ranges set differently...

[jaycee]

If you have no experience building a discrete amp, build one based around a National LM1875. You should be able to make that on Veroboard, and run it from an 18-0-18 transformer.

Maplin used to sell it, but they don't any more. You can always get it as a sample from the National website - www.national.com. Everything else you should be able to get from Maplin. If you want I will compile you a parts list and send it via e-mail (I've talked about chip amps twice now in a solid state forum, don't wanna get into trouble!)

If you do have some experience, Rod Elliot does a good load of guitar projects on his website, including amps. He also has PCB's to buy for many of his projects - sound.westhost.com

[pinkmouse]

Originally posted by jaycee
(I've talked about chip amps twice now in a solid state forum, don't wanna get into trouble!)

No problem, I am watching closely, and if we get too "chippy" I'll move as appropriate.

[jaycee]

Originally posted by pinkmouse

No problem, I am watching closely, and if we get too "chippy" I'll move as appropriate.

Righto

The main reason I've mentioned them twice so far, is that it's been what I suspect to be beginners or novices in both cases, and a discrete amp is a lot of components/money/power to be chucking about and blowing up if it goes wrong (I know this from experience )

It's very disheartening to see sommat you've made smoke, especially if you've spent a good deal of cash on it. I built my first power supply when I was 12, and a mistake with the bridge rectifier ended up with the transformer shorting every half cycle - eventually there was a loud BANG as it overheated. It took me 6 years before I dared mess with a transformer again

[peranders]

Originally posted by dannyspencer
Hi sorry im new to the site! have tryed the search but can't find anything that spells it out for me

perhaps i am just too ignorant in this area!

Hint: Please write a thread subject which actually describes the question. Forget about knowledge level or why you ask. Sometimes it's also hard to search and get something out of it. You don't have to be a newbie to experience that.

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