HELP!

[Heber]

Hi,

please help. I am an amp building enthusiast. Last year I started a project which was a battery powered transistor amp on the lines of a sixties radio circuit. 4 transistors, 2 transformers, a nine volt battery and an assortment of resistors and caps. Simple.

The circuit developed as a prototype on veroboard and sounded good, better than I had imagined it might and quite loud, at least loud enough for a practise amp which was the intention.

So far so good. But then it kind of grew. In my enthusiasm I added tremelo and reverb and even a second drive channel. Little by little my simple amp has turned into a monster, a mess of veroboard and wires and still as yet unfinished.

I have built 4 "prototypes". I can hear the potential. The little thing sounds good. But I can't get the construction, the assembly right, consistent and reliable. I think I need to produce a pcb.....

Trouble is at this stage, my enthusiasm is spent. I've turned to the forum for hoping for some words of encouragement.


:loco

[joecool85]

Hi,

please help. I am an amp building enthusiast. Last year I started a project which was a battery powered transistor amp on the lines of a sixties radio circuit. 4 transistors, 2 transformers, a nine volt battery and an assortment of resistors and caps. Simple.

The circuit developed as a prototype on veroboard and sounded good, better than I had imagined it might and quite loud, at least loud enough for a practise amp which was the intention.

So far so good. But then it kind of grew. In my enthusiasm I added tremelo and reverb and even a second drive channel. Little by little my simple amp has turned into a monster, a mess of veroboard and wires and still as yet unfinished.

I have built 4 "prototypes". I can hear the potential. The little thing sounds good. But I can't get the construction, the assembly right, consistent and reliable. I think I need to produce a pcb.....

Trouble is at this stage, my enthusiasm is spent. I've turned to the forum for hoping for some words of encouragement.


:loco

Sounds like a very interesting project.  I'd love to know more.  Can you post a schematic?  Pics of your in-progress build (I've posted rat's nest projects before myself)?

Keep your chin up, it almost always seems to work this way with me where I get down about it, then I let it sit for a while, come back and get it working and feel great.   You'll get it figured out :tu:

[Heber]

I have some pictures here...



It started out as a one knob battery powered practise amp based on a circuit like the one shown here:

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=61336.0

You know how it is though, the temptation to add a bit here and there...

I got the reverb tank of ebay, which is ok but it needs more than 9 volts to get going, hence the need to use a mains transformer supply (did I mention that?!)

The tremelo circuit was improvised, based on the Rickenbacker TR7 and was sounding quite lush when it was working.

Thanks for the kind words, I just need a bit of a push to get into this again.

:tu:

[J M Fahey]

Hey !! That's nice !!!

[joecool85]

Looks good so far.  Much better than my tangled messes of wires end up sometimes.

[Heber]

I have a week off work next week so I'll get some shed time. I'll let you know how it goes.

Cheers guys.

[Heber]

So I had my shed time. Now I have another piece of vero board scrap- the damn thing is driving me crazy.

[J M Fahey]

Well, nobody's pointing a gun at your head to *force* you to do it, so you must be getting at least some twisted pleasure from building it.
Good Luck!!!.

[Heber]

Yeah I know. It is pretty twisted. It's an old english pastime, having a good moan.

I have got the "power" amp built, now I'm pondering the preamp- any good ideas? I have had good results with the Fetzer valve/Tilman FET circuits. I don't need massive amounts of gain. I like a juicy but clean sound, although I am partial to the sort of Jack White/garage fuzz/distortion too- channel switching maybe?

Also, any experience of the Belton digilog reverb? Looks quite tempting.

[Heber]

P.S. Mr Fahey- I have just been reading some of your posts on the topic heading "making reverb".

Crikey!

[J M Fahey]

Thanks.
I had to google that one.
Funny thing, my first English teacher in a small rural town in the middle of the Pampas, was a fine Australian lady, Miss Palomba.
What was she doing there, living alone, is beyond me, although she naturally gravitated towards the Irish descendants such as my family.
She taught me such an Australian version of English, though, that when I started learning the official, British Council approved version, I had to un-learn a lot ...   or else !!!