DIY Guitar amp

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#1
I know absolutely nothing about guitar amps, and i've never even played a guitar. A buddy of mine said he wanted to build one though and I was like well if it involves an amp, a driver and a box, i'm always in. So I though't I'd just ask and see if anyone has ever done it or knows good sites about it. Thanks.

Bruce
 
#5
amperex said:
Most musicians prefer tube type designs (bass players are an exception).
Click to expand...

A lot depends what you want, valve/tube amplifiers give the type of distortion some guitarists want - in particular lead guitarists playing heavy metal.

If you want a clean sound, transistor amps are far better.

Valve/tube amps are generally louder though, distorted sound appears louder than a clean sound - and a distorted 30W valve amplifier will appear as loud as a clean 100W transistor amplifier (if not louder?).

Most bass players don't want a distorted sound, so they tend not to use valve amps! - although some still prefer it?.
 
#6
Another reason bassists tend to prefer solid state amps is we need a lot more power than a guitarist for the same apparent volume down low. A 100W tube amp is heavy enough. Can you imagine the weight of the iron required to hit 500-1,000W? Lugging our cabs around is tough enough. 😉

Many bassists like tube preamps for a little soft edge distortion, but most go for solid state power.

there are many sites offering guitar amp projects. Google is your friend. Duncan amps comes to mind.

For a quick and dirty project, string a couple of opamp gain stages together followed by the straight amplifier of your choice. Use one variable gain stage say 1-10V/v, as your "drive" control with another gain of 5 V/v following. this ought to give enough drive for most amps.

You can add a tone stack of your choice. IIRC, Duncan has a calculator (Google tone+stack+calculator) to offer more flexibility.

Have fun!
 
#8
who said bassists don like tube sound ?! lol , anyone will love tube sound , but ofcourse solidstate for power amp 😛 😉
i think it s a very big mistake if u don go for a atleast a tube preamp , i suggest the REAL McTUBE preamp , it s a very simple tube preamp with one 12ax7 ( u can find it in www.tonepad.com ) ,and u can use marshall or fender tone control circuit w a buffer w it , and for driver JUST go for a real guitar driver not any PA driver , check celestion and eminence site for guitar drivers 😉
 
#10
I think its just a sign of the times, concerts and venues these days are larger. My dad was a drummer for 25 years, so you can say I grew up between pieces of band equipment. And the best bass amps to my ears are the Peavey valve amps. If memeory serves right they are good for a solid 100W. Which coupled with the high sensitivity drivers they used produced oodles of clean bass, the only distortion, was the silly hum much of the old equipment made...
 
#14
Go with Aletheian's suggestion, go for a tube amp. I wouldn't even think of plugging a guitar in to a SS amp anymore. With SS your only two options are squeaky clean or gobs of metal type distortion. Tube allows more tones and is so much more betterer.

-RancidAltoid
 
#15
You couldn't be more wrong. Wouldn't plug into an SS anymore? SS amps are now more refined than ever! In fact, they are getting so good that some people can't even tell the difference between tube and SS. Granted, any seasoned guitarist can tell, but still. SS amps have lots of overdrive options, and overdrive doesn't have to be metal distortion, it can be light clapton-like OD as well. Especially using FET distortion.
 
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