Just thought I'd throw this out there. Amp Building!!

Quattroste

I had a thought today. I'd love to be able to build an amp head. An 18 watt Marshall clone or something like that. I'd guess a few of the readers here would like to do this too.

My problem is that i know very little about amp building and electronics and soldering etc so I know if I bought a kit, it would end up half done or exploding when plugged in.

However, I reckon that if a few of us were interested in this then we could get the kits, the soldering irons, whatever and do it together. We'd each help one another out. We could even rent a room once a week where we could meet and make them. Thoughts?

fish-head

Most interesting.. however I've only recently laid out for a new amp so justifying it would be hard to do. Saying that, I'm still very interested! I can always just get a cheapie.

spoonbadger

Sadly,i cant help you either, no way i can afford another amp and my current one is purrrrrfect .

But i will recomend this company for kits. http://www.ceriatone.com/productSubPages/BSTMBEF86/BSTMBEF86.htm

Their stuff is brilliant, and practically invincible!. Also,their customer service is amazing, Nik (the ceriatone guy) will answer any crazy,pointless or stupid question you can throw at him, and helpfully too .

One of their amps is sitting in the corner in my room in fact. Absolutely godly, best amp i've ever played.

Dord

I'm gonna try build a Fender Deluxe (5E3) in the new year when I get some cash. Probably going to get it from Ted Weber, his kits look the best.

feylya

I'd definately be up for it but funds are a bit too tight at the moment unfortunately.

boycey

If I had any skills I'd be up for it, but alas I am utterly skill-less when it comes to soldering and schematics and have even less electronics knowledge than my 3yr old daughter.
If you guys get round to it check out Torres amps too- I dont know if they'd be as good as the Ceriatone stuff but they always get mentioned by Guitarist mag when it comes to amp DIY. Good luck and Fair play lads.

Alanstrainor

I'd be interested in this actually, i think i'm going to try and build a cab first, significantly simpler i know, but i want more volume out of my champ 600, and i've got a 12" speaker laying around.

johnboy8

i have done a lot of looking into making amps,there are hundreds to choose from.a great starter one is from a site called madamp(sorry cant put the link up)it is a 2 watt volume and tone amp and it comes in at 99euro,i have made a few pedals and they worked out well,so i am going to take the plunge with an amp from ampmaker(uk based)its a 5watt master volume amp.

jamie_jj69

First thing I'd say is research the hell out of it before you start anything. Get a soldering kit and some components with a strip board. This wont cost u more than 20 euro or so. Components are so cheap that you should get a few different kinds and practice your soldering. Find out how to create a clean solder joint otherwise when it comes to building your amp you will have a lot of troubleshooting problems to deal with due to bad soldering.

Why not even try building some effects pedals 1st? They're far cheaper, great practice and a nice stepping stone to building an amp. The reason I say this is because with pedals you're only really dealing with 9v. Pretty safe to deal with and all components are available locally. Try a fuzz or any simple distortion pedal, there's damn all involved in it. A fantastic site for builders of all levels is www.diystompboxes.com , there's even a beginners project and they have advice and links from everywhere (including some amp building sites). I have build many pedals myself now and know from experience that if you take on something too big to start with, it will frustrate the life out of you and you'll easily give up. Remember too that with an amp you're dealing with 220v and this is a lethal voltage, so you want to be pretty confident that all your components are mounted correctly and that everything is earthed.

Anyway, my overall advice is start small and work your way up. Its a brilliant hobby when things are going well and its damn awful when things are not going so well. But it is hugely rewarding when ur project works well for you. Research it and enjoy it... Oh, and if you have yourself a woman, say your farewells for a while, once you get started you wont be seeing a whole lot of her as days turn into nights, and nights then turn back into days...

PM me if you need any further advice or if you got any other questions you want answered.

Paolo_M

I suppose ye'r planning this little amp soiree up in the "big smoke", ye wont be down in the real capital at all or are long distance gang members allowable? :pac:

Jamie, a valve amp would have up to 500Vdc (I presume/hope that's what the lads will be building), 240Vac from the mains would only be minor nudge compared to a blast from valve amp with charged filter caps!! Fair warning and good advice though.

68 lost souls

Id probably be up for it if I can find both time and money. Could do with replacing my amp anyway so could be fun. Not sure though if I can splash out.

Quattroste

Well there does seem to be interest. Like some of you, I don't really have the funds either at the moment so I'm thining the new year. I'd be into researching a few kits and seeing what I could do for a bulk buy etc for the various kit makers. I'd also try to get somewhere we could meet. We could keep a thread open here to mark progress and have some the the people who have done this before help out if willing.

Doctor J

When I was younger I fired myself across the bedroom by sticking darts in a socket. It's best I merely observe this electrical trickery

Sounds interesting, good idea Quattroste, nice one

Eoin Madsen

I'd start with something easier, like a champ or AX84 or something. It'll help with the soldering skills. Get a 50 watt iron, minimum.

In terms of sourcing, I found Metroamp components were the highest quality by a jump - unfortunately he only does 50 and 100 watt Marshall kits. Ceriatone and Ted Weber were much of a muchness in terms of parts. Weber in the US charge too much for shipping, Ceriatone (Malaysia) seem prone to shipping delays (both times I ordered from them). But I'd buy from any of them again, and likely will.

Also worth looking at for incidental parts are ampmaker.com, turretboards.com, ampcabco.com, and watfordvalves.com. I've bought parts from all of these places. I have parts for a whole lot more things than I've built. More ideas than time.

Electrical safety when working on valve amplifier is one of those things you should read up on quite a bit. You'll need to know how to discharge filter caps etc. Get a decent multimeter for measuring voltages (you want to spend a few quid on this, an argos one will not cut it).

I've shocked myself four times in the last two years. :pac: Once off the mains (by brushing my hand off the IEC lugs when the amp was still plugged in), twice from charged filter caps (the amp was plugged out but I had something disconnected so that the caps didn't discharge) and once from the filter cap inside a broken 5.5V phone charger.

darrenw5094

spoonbadger wrote: »

Sadly,i cant help you either, no way i can afford another amp and my current one is purrrrrfect .

But i will recomend this company for kits. http://www.ceriatone.com/productSubPages/BSTMBEF86/BSTMBEF86.htm

Their stuff is brilliant, and practically invincible!. Also,their customer service is amazing, Nik (the ceriatone guy) will answer any crazy,pointless or stupid question you can throw at him, and helpfully too .

One of their amps is sitting in the corner in my room in fact. Absolutely godly, best amp i've ever played.

Lets get a photo or 3 of that one please......;)