I'm Building An Amp

[PunkRockerLuke]

OK I'm building an amp and I have a question

Would be OK and would it be wise to have an amp made up of differently sized speakers?

Edited July 10, 2006 by PunkRockerLuke

[spazzyone]

why not. as long as long impedance is correct

you'll get lower lows from a 15" to higher mids from an 8"

some people may not agree on this

but look at home speakers where have woofers,mids and tweeters

to produce a full spectrum of sound

i can think of two manufacturers that make subs for guitar amps

and acoustic ams use tweeters

the only way to know if you like it is to try it

just try to mach your drivers in the correct frequancy ranges

and most importantly make sure your final impedance is correct

[PunkRockerLuke]

I have 2 speakers from an old stereo that broke that I can use alond with a 2 1/4" speaker and a 1" speaker. and what type of amp tubes should I use? my brother does have a 6" car audio speaker I could use in the amp instead but that is if he lets me.

As far as parts go I smashed open my old gamecube that died on me about 2 years after getting the old one replaced and kept the parts I thought I would need. thankfully I kept the on/off switch and the AC power cord socket thing. So if I didn't forget to keep something from my old gamecube I have a power source and an on/off switch

[Daniel Sorbera]

Building a tube amp is very very very dangerous. Please. Read up ALOT. You need to, at the very least, have a basic grasp of electrical circuits to build a tube amp without hurting yourself and that will sound good. Remember that even if your careful around the runing amp (ie you dont stick your finger in there while it's one ) You can still hurt or kill yourself if you screwed it up somehow and the amp wasn't grounded correctly and the B+ got sent to ground. You would than have 350+ volts on your strings. Yikes! please don't hurt yourself by building an amp without the knowledge necessary to undertake such risky business.

Edited July 10, 2006 by Godin SD

[PunkRockerLuke]

Godin I'm planning the stuff and making the enclosure. my brother who knows how to install car audio speakers and knows how to avoid and how not to get electrocuted and not to get more fried than a chicken from kentucky will be the assembly person

Edited July 10, 2006 by PunkRockerLuke

[crafty]

Installing car stereos and building an amp are two completely different activities, especially if you're planning on building a tube amp. You're talking about very high voltages upwards of 400v. Not the same as screwing a speaker into a door panel and hooking up a Kicker amp to a battery.

You and your brother really need to read up on some theory and start out with maybe a small solid-state kit first. It's not that difficult to learn if you're dedicated, but it's not something you can expect to throw together and work without a fair bit of knowledge about discrete components and test equipment.

Good luck with your project and I'm sure if you have any questions, you'll be sure to ask us

[PunkRockerLuke]

I have disassembled the speakers so now I have 6 speakers. 2 4" speakers 3 2" speakers and a single 1" speaker. I think maybe I can make 2 amps out of the 4" speakers and maybe 1 amp out of the 3 2" speakers and the 1" speaker. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Edited July 10, 2006 by PunkRockerLuke

[Daniel Sorbera]

I seriously don't think those speakers will give you -any- kind of decent sound.

Do yourself a favor and buy some decent guitar speakers (you can get a celestion tube 10 for $35)

If your going to go through the trouble of building an amp at least get some economy guitar speakers insted of used crap not intended for guitar use.

[Ben]

Are you doing this because you want to make a serious guitar amp that would be comparable with a store-bought one, or because you are interested and want to experiment Luke?

(If its the latter I can empathise. I'm still working on converting an old hifi into a makeshift amp )

[PunkRockerLuke]

Installing car stereos and building an amp are two completely different activities, especially if you're planning on building a tube amp. You're talking about very high voltages upwards of 400v. Not the same as screwing a speaker into a door panel and hooking up a Kicker amp to a battery.

You and your brother really need to read up on some theory and start out with maybe a small solid-state kit first. It's not that difficult to learn if you're dedicated, but it's not something you can expect to throw together and work without a fair bit of knowledge about discrete components and test equipment.

Good luck with your project and I'm sure if you have any questions, you'll be sure to ask us

And he fixes computers I think thank involves some risk of electroution.

And I'm being careful because I never said exactly when this is going to happen but I can say it will be happening sometime around october of this year to maybe even next year maybe earlier than that if I can get all the research and diagrams etc. I need and all the parts I need

[Ben]

And he fixes computers I think thank involves some risk of electroution.

I hope not... I've opened mine up a few times to add hard drives, replace graphics cards etc, and I was never aware of any risk of electricution...

(So long as you dont do it with the computer plugged in and turned on of course )

[PunkRockerLuke]

Which is the latter? I'm serious about building a serious guitar amp but currently I'm experiment with MINI AMPS.

Edited July 10, 2006 by PunkRockerLuke

[Ben]

I was refering the latter (ie second) of the too scenarios I mentioned in my post- that you were building a 'serious' amp, or that this was just for fun.

When I read that you were using all those salvaged parts I wondered if this was going to be a project to build a decent amp or just to build something for fun.

Anyway, best of luck with your project!

[Mr Alex]

As someone who had 240volts flowing through them recently, I feel I'm the right guy to talk to about electrocution. I was setting up a correctly insulated and grounded circuit. Had one slip of a finger and shorted out the mains. My shoulders locked and I couldn't let go. Its very serious stuff. And horrendously painful too. I'm still alive, only because I have rcd wall sockets, and they don't exactly kick in as quickly as I'd like. If you are gonna build a tube amp, have a registered electrician inspect it before you even think about putting it near the wall socket. I dunno about your country, but here it's illegal to hook something into the mains that hasn't been inspected.

If you wanna build an amp, yeah sure, that sorta stuff is great fun, but very dangerous too.

[PunkRockerLuke]

Actually half an hour before I disassembled the speakers I tested them and the work fine. The original 2" and 1" speakers I might just use em' make a speaker for my portable CD player that runs on a 9 volt battery or something.

My mini amp experiment might just be a solid state amp. If it works I have an amp until I decide to build a tube amp. Anybody have any goog links to how tos or tutorials on making a solid state amp? I may even make 2 solid state mini amps one using the speakers I mentioned and one using the 6" speaker if my brother lets me use it.

Edited July 10, 2006 by PunkRockerLuke

[crafty]

Ruby Amp

That'll get you going on your four-inch speakers, and it runs on a 9v battery so there's no risk of electrocution. Baby steps.

BTW, just so you know, I graduated from an Industrial Electronics program at vo-tech almost ten years ago. I'm no expert in circuit design, but I know the differences between building an amp, wiring up a car stereo, and assembling a desktop computer. None of those activities is anything like the other. You really need to learn the basics before you start looking at building bigger amps running higher voltages. This little Ruby amp is a good start. Just be patient and you'll get there.

And yes, people electrocute themselves all the time when they OPEN THE COVER ON THE POWER SUPPLY inside the computer to throw a neato cold-cathode light in there to show off "da capz".

[PunkRockerLuke]

Thanks Crafty

[dayvo]

Hey all

Im looking into building a Tube Amp myself

I still have much, much reading/researching to do

Theres a hellova lot info out there on this

Anyhow heres some links to some Amp building sites Ive found

AX84.com

Duncans Homebrew Amps

Ceriatone.com8Watt Tube Amplifier

18Watt.com - you must register, but it is free

Amptone.com

Retro Sound - Aussie Site

Aussie Guitar Gear

Guitar Amplifier Basics

Hope these sites are helpful to any of you thinking about building your own Amp

dayvo

[xtjdx]

Thanks for that Ruby link. I'll be building that tonight!

[Ben]

Thanks for that Ruby link. I'll be building that tonight! biggrin.gif

And if you ever get bored of it you could always convert it for use in a sustainer project

[PunkRockerLuke]

OK I'm going to ask what may be a stupid question but can I make my own PCB/ perfboard from copper foil?

Edited July 10, 2006 by PunkRockerLuke

[PunkRockerLuke]

Can I make my own PCB/ perfboard from copper foil or not?

And on the ruby amp page there is a link to a PDF file with the PCB layout(s) on it what size should I print them out at? (the box between the zoom out and zoom in icons)

Edited July 11, 2006 by PunkRockerLuke

[PunkRockerLuke]

I now have the 50v 0.47 uf capacitor. I have yet another question if the capacitor say 1 uf 50v is it 0.1 uf or just 1 uf?

[crafty]

If it says 1uf, it's 1uf.

As far as the PC board, just run down to Radio Shack and pick up a universal one for a couple dollars. I'm really not sure how you'd go about making one out of copper foil but it sounds like more trouble than it's worth. The layouts are designed to be used with an etching system where you use blank clad circuit boards and a drill to make the boards. Not a very efficient thing to do for something as simple as the Ruby.

[PunkRockerLuke]

OK thanks. Can please you help me with getting the PCB layout to the correct size?

Edited July 11, 2006 by PunkRockerLuke