chops1983 Posted June 4, 2009 Report Share Posted June 4, 2009 Hey guys, Had abit of time this week to have a play with this little amp. Bought enough parts for two which set me back 60 bucks. One is complete and works and the other just needs the LED connections soldered. Its really quite fun to do and they sound pretty bloody good! The one thing ive found is with the volume full and gain full it sounds great, but flick the grit(boost) switch on and things turn messy. Not sure if its a dodgy pot or shotty wiring, anyone else getting this? But it does sounds great with the vol at 2/3rds, tone 3/4 and gain full with the boost on. Quite a crunchy blues tone in the neck p/up position and abit more snappy 70's rock in the bridge, nice! To finish these off im gonna make a template with writing for the controls and spraypaint onto the closures. If anyones interested i will take a photo of the insides. Chad. hey where in WA did you go for your parts? jaycar or altronics? Actually i went to dick smith. To find the MPF102 transistor you will need to ask someone at the counter to search for it and find their code. it was something like Z1232. You will know what i mean when you start looking for the gear. John - I will open it up and take a pic later today after work. Wezv - Yeah it still is kind of usable for strumming chords but single notes seem to fuzz out. Not sure if its because the whole circuit is lacking power for everything to be maxed or is clipping from too much. It could even be dodgy components. Ill finish the other one and see how it sounds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kully Posted June 5, 2009 Report Share Posted June 5, 2009 i some of my mates work at dicksmith and from thier group training thingo they had to do corpret have mentioned that they will be phasing all components Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chops1983 Posted June 5, 2009 Report Share Posted June 5, 2009 i some of my mates work at dicksmith and from thier group training thingo they had to do corpret have mentioned that they will be phasing all components Kully, i really have no idea what you are saying. But i think you are saying that dick smith electronics is phasing out all their components It doesn't surprise me. Its really just another electrical goods outlet Now for all you electronic buffs out there,please be kind. This is the first crack at an electronic circuit since i was 14, i had a brief intro to electronics in highschool science 12 years ago. But i think its not a bad effort. Here ya go John, some pics of the inside. A few things to note. Ive left the circuit board floating at the moment so i can do any mods if i need to, i will fix it to the lid once im happy with the amp and make sure its working correctly. I also need to get a batt clip to hold it in place, but i will most likely be using power from a 9V transformer. I am going to shorten the pot shafts so the knobs are closer to the enclosures and im even thinking about buying a buggered guitar amp and pulling the speaker out to make my own cab and head Im really looking forward to his next schematic which is going to have a 3 band EQ and all tube pre-amp. I think i have caught an electronic bug or something! Chad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kully Posted June 5, 2009 Report Share Posted June 5, 2009 yes thats what i was saying Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapbarstrat Posted June 5, 2009 Report Share Posted June 5, 2009 Found a JRC386D on an old PC modem board. The MPF102 might be the only thing for this project not in my junkyard of electronics parts, but I'll keep looking. Anybody know how low I can go on the voltage rating of the C8 220uf cap ? (yes, I'm too stupid about electronics to answer this myself). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chops1983 Posted June 5, 2009 Report Share Posted June 5, 2009 Found a JRC386D on an old PC modem board. The MPF102 might be the only thing for this project not in my junkyard of electronics parts, but I'll keep looking. Anybody know how low I can go on the voltage rating of the C8 220uf cap ? (yes, I'm too stupid about electronics to answer this myself). From what ive learnt so far with electronics you cant go below your input(9V) but you can use anything higher. But there is no real reason to use a really high voltage cap because they increase in size. The next step up is 16V and thats what i used. Im no whizz so maybe PSW or some of the lads in the electronics section will be better off to ask. Chad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lefty_guitarist Posted June 6, 2009 Report Share Posted June 6, 2009 As a guitar and amp newb, what wouild be the maximum wattage cab you could use for this? And how loud is the amp in general? Say if I used a 70 watt cab, would it be the same volume as if I used a 2 watt cab, seeing as the volue is limited by the amp, rather than the cab? Heads and Cabs having been bugging me for a while now. I want to get into them though, as they seem better than using a combo. Thanks for any advice on this, but it didn't seem worth a new thread. Lefty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihocky2 Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 Has anyone taken notice of what I see as a discrepancy between the schematic and the point to point diagram on the gain pot. I am reading the schematic as having tab 1 looped to tab 2 on the gain pot with the input on tab 1 and output on tab 3. Perhaps I am reading that wrong though. But that is the same type of schematic shown for the tone knob, excpet there it is 3 to 2. And that one does match the point to point. I am still not very strong with schematics, so someone tell me if I am wrong here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chops1983 Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 Im not great either but when i wired up mine the volume and tone turned clockwise for up and the gain the opposite direction. I just swapped the wire that was on lug 3 to lug 1 and left the sweeper. Fixed this problem. Is that what your asking? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted June 25, 2009 Report Share Posted June 25, 2009 I FINALLY got all the parts in today. I'll be dorking up the soldering tomorrow and cursing so loudly PSW will hear me in Oz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthus Posted June 26, 2009 Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 Good luck on both this and wiring up The Dragon, John! I'm praying for the hairs on your head these next few days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted June 26, 2009 Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 Good luck on both this and wiring up The Dragon, John! I'm praying for the hairs on your head these next few days. Thanks. What doesn't get singed off will surely fall out from frustration Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted June 26, 2009 Report Share Posted June 26, 2009 All done with getting all the bits onto the board. Now I need to figure out the layout in the box and drill some holes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted June 27, 2009 Report Share Posted June 27, 2009 Well, to no great surprise, it's all done and nothing happens. I can't even get the power LED to come on. typical Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapbarstrat Posted June 27, 2009 Report Share Posted June 27, 2009 I have to keep postponing building one, but what's funny is everytime I do build an electronics project, I expect it not to work, but they always do (at least for a while !) I'm also burdened by the fact that I'm Amish on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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