bunch of questions about getting started

[jbjr]

Hi

Righto, time to build an amp...have got basic soldering skills, multimeter and not particularly stupid.   

Have read through these forums and have some questions...

1) What so great about these LM chipamps for a poweramp?  Is it just cause they're easy to build or are they actually really good for guitar? 

2) What's the Elliot Sound Products guitar amp like - any opinions?

3) The 'Silicon Chip Magazine' Guitar Preamp and LM3876 poweramp kits - are they ok? (I can get them easliy at Jaycar and Altronics)

4) How hard is it to make a preamp that can emulate the smooth overdrive of my 1985 Boss OD-1 pedal?

That's a start...any advice, opinions (preferably informed!) appreciated.   

[J M Fahey]

Cast, in order of appeareance:
1) They are great for *anything* , they're actually so good that a simple minimum parts amp with them (the GainCard/Gainclone series) is on the same level of the best and most expensive amps in the world, Impressive. To boot, they are cheap and easy, a Godsend.

2) Personal opinion: very good, very little distortion, use your pedals for that.

3) Post schematics

4)*very* easy, just build an OD1 clon and use it as a preamp.

[jbjr]

Cheers JM Fahey....I'll look for those schematics

Another question to throw out there -  the original Boss OD-1 pedal - at times this pedal can compress the sound too much and lose clarity...is there anyway to modify the circuit to give the output a bit more dynamic range if I'm going to build one as a preamp?   

[J M Fahey]

That pedal, and many others of the same quality level, are *very* good at what they do, but a couple of clipping diodes cannot have the same dynamic response of an overdriven tube.
Anyway, getting 90% of a desired sound for 10% (or less) of the cost and complexity rates as a very good deal in my book.
Download and read Teemuk's book, he has an excellent and very detailed explanation on different distortion technologies.
It's choke full of information, just read it bit by bit (at least that's what I do) and absorb slowly all that data.

[joecool85]

That pedal, and many others of the same quality level, are *very* good at what they do, but a couple of clipping diodes cannot have the same dynamic response of an overdriven tube.
Anyway, getting 90% of a desired sound for 10% (or less) of the cost and complexity rates as a very good deal in my book.
Download and read Teemuk's book, he has an excellent and very detailed explanation on different distortion technologies.
It's choke full of information, just read it bit by bit (at least that's what I do) and absorb slowly all that data.

Here is where his book is posted: http://www.ssguitar.com/index.php?topic=711.0