Solid State Guitar Amp Forum | DIY Guitar Amplifiers

Solid State Amplifiers => Amplifier Discussion => Topic started by: Leftysquire on May 27, 2015, 12:23:31 PM

Title: Building/designing a practice/home amp from scratch, nigh impossible?
Post by: Leftysquire on May 27, 2015, 12:23:31 PM
Would the attached amp be too much to handle for a guy who's done lots guitar wiring and has a fundamental understanding of electronics (1 year passed of a 2 year community college Electronics Engineering Technology course done 20 years ago) ? I'd be approaching it like building blocks, using known good blocks (like tag boards sites or pcb kits for DIY) to keep it mostly paint by numbers. Simple stomp 2PDT True Bypass switching.  I don't plan to use LEDs for status.

My biggest worries are the power supply. It's strictly for practice use.

Am I crazy?

Leftysquire
Title: Re: Building/designing a practice/home amp from scratch, nigh impossible?
Post by: Vitrolin on May 27, 2015, 04:49:18 PM
Quote from: LeftysquireAm I crazy?
Yes, sane people do not insist on building their own gear, they buy stuff that works...or seems to work.

If you go with kits that are known to be good, I cant see there should be any problems, but test each module independently when finished.

But why do you only want delay/reverb on your clean channel? Thats always a great thing to have...

have fun

Title: Re: Building/designing a practice/home amp from scratch, nigh impossible?
Post by: J M Fahey on May 28, 2015, 12:43:10 AM
Short answer: the basic idea is fine  :tu:

That said, it's a very complex amp, way more complex than, say, any Fender/Marshall/Peavey/Crate/Laney/etc. combo amplifier being offered today.

And nobody is offering kits or prebuilt boards matching all blocks and even if they existed, no guarantee they would work together (supposing they are indedependently made by different factories).

Personally I'd build a generic preamp, maybe a Fendery one like what Rodd Elliott offers, combine it with a suitable power amp and supply, add loop jacks and then use it as a "pedal platform" ... possibilities are endless.

You may very well combine homemade pedals and commercial ones for a wide palette of sounds.
Title: Re: Building/designing a practice/home amp from scratch, nigh impossible?
Post by: Leftysquire on May 28, 2015, 07:31:51 AM
After thinking about it some more, I still really like my Vox Pathfinder 10 as a clean amp. Probably easiest to build a selector for the dirt pedals and eq i like, most likely the easiest way to go about it. Thanks for the input though, it makes the wheels turn.

Cheers

Leftysquire
Title: Re: Building/designing a practice/home amp from scratch, nigh impossible?
Post by: nosaj on May 29, 2015, 11:48:04 PM
i built a fender champ clone out of salvaged parts the only thing that was new were the caps. Everyone that has played it thinks it sounds great.

Start simple then work up, i started with a Pedal from Small bear, then did the Champ on tag board and then a Kalamazoo model one PTP to see if I could follow a schematic versus doing a layout.  each project advances you some more.

nosaj
Title: Re: Building/designing a practice/home amp from scratch, nigh impossible?
Post by: Enzo on May 30, 2015, 01:51:11 AM
A schematic shows the electrical relationship between parts, the layout shows the physical relationship between parts.