the link you posted is to a heat sink with mounting holes for a 100W or 200W kit... I don't see the kit you're referring to. Here's a 100W discrete power amp they sell for $29.. It shows a heat sink but doesn't mention if it's included.. I would hope so, but who knows

http://store.qkits.com/moreinfo.cfm/FK666

Some of the kits they sell are from futurekit (any that have a part number starting with FK) so you can actually find rough schematics of the circuits online. Most component values are deleted (resistors, caps, etc..) but you can at least get a feel for the topology of the circuit. Here's the schematic for that 100W kit: http://www.futurekit.com/basic_elec/FK666E-1.pdf

Edit: Ok, I see the amp kit now.. Yeah, that does look like a decent deal. You can even buy it fully assembled and ready to go for $69. It seems the kit has the power supply built right in. While its nice that you don't have to build your own it doesn't appear that there are any DC taps after the rectifiers so you would have to create a separate power supply for your preamp circuit. You could use the same AC taps but would need to rectify the AC and regulate it down to your desired voltage.

Here's the full assembly manual for the kit: http://www.vellemanusa.com/downloads/0/illustrated/illustrated_assembly_manual_k8060_rev1.pdf

I have to say the connection between the darlington output transistors and the board is kind of sketchy... They use a standard .1" pin header and solder the pins of the transistor between the pins of the header... really?? At least the manual includes a full schematic so maybe one of our more experienced readers could comment on the topology of the amp.. if it will deliver the quoted performance.

-Matt

Yup, it comes with everything needed... even screws to attach the heat sink to the board and chip.  You will need to pick up some heat sink compound but every local radio shack or computer store will have that.
-Matt

qkits.com has some great prices on chip amp kits (some discrete kits too). I used one of their TDA2030 kits for my first build and couldn't have been happier with it.

To see all of the audio kits they sell browse around here.
http://store.qkits.com/category.cfm/AUDIO

As for the TDA2030 kit I used here's a direct link.
http://store.qkits.com/moreinfo.cfm/FK607

For $9.99 + shipping you really can't beat it. That price even includes a heatsink

Just find yourself a 12V 2A DC adapter and you're set. For your first build I would avoid any of the higher voltage kits that require mains wiring and/or bipolar power supplies.

You then have a couple of options, you could build your amp as a power amp only and use one of your stompboxes as the preamp. Some will work better than others, but it generally works out quite well, especially if the stompbox has a tone control. This would be the fastest way to start using your new amp. The other option would be to choose and build a dedicated preamp circuit and integrate it into the enclosure with the power amp. Again, stomp box circuits can work very well here if they produce the type of tone you're after.

If I were in your situation I would build the power amp into an enclosure, adding a 1/4" input, 1/4" output jack and 12V power jack. Then just plug one of your stomp boxes into the input of the power amp, plug an extension cabinet into the output jack (make sure you use a cable that is rated for speaker level signals!!!) and have some fun. The volume control on your stompbox will be your master volume.

Those jacks are wired in parallel, so your two 8 ohm speakers present a load of 4 ohms to the output transformer (this is also stated on the schematic next to the output jacks). so if you want to plug in just one speaker you will need a 4ohm speaker.

Way off topic here, but just to respond to R.G.'s last post:

This is why I plan to build a nice, low wattage tube amp that has exactly the sound I want (Maybe a Fender Champ design, AX84 P1, or even a 1W firefly) then get the best dummy load you possibly can and feed it into something like a LM3886 power amp.
The trick is finding a good dummy load and voicing the power amp/speaker combination correctly. My end goal is to have an amp that I can switch between having the tube amp drive the speaker directly or have it drive a dummy load and let the SS power amp drive the speaker. The only noticeable difference should be the maximum volume available (at least that's the goal!). We'll see if I ever really get there

It all boils down to how do you want to achieve the "tube tone" in a louder, lighter and more reliable amplifier package. I see two possibilities, you can either get the tone in the same way people have been doing it for decades, then just make it louder with a high quality SS power amp. Or do you invest lots of time and effort trying to "emulate" the sound of a tube amp without using tubes?  Depends on what you're after really. It's almost a guarantee that the cost of building a hybrid amp will be significantly higher than an emulating/modeling amp just because of the "iron" required by the tube section.

It seems to me that the "tube sound" has almost been relegated to only a few genres of music (dirty blues, for example) and a set of purists who must have it for what ever reason. If you look a areas that used to be dominated by tube amps (hard rock, heavy metal, etc...) you have to admit the trend seems to be moving toward using extensive effects systems (pedals, rack-mount modelers, whatever) feeding into a super clean solid state amp like a JC-120 or something similar. The wall-o-marshalls just doesn't seem to popular any more

It's just my $0.02 though. I've likely completely missed the mark on this.

I saw one of these the other day in my local Sam Ash store and was a bit surprised by the size. They claim it's a 200W SS amp and it's quite small. The enclosure is sealed so it's hard to poke around and figure out what's going on inside. The box is pretty heavy (9lbs) so I'm assuming there's a beefy power transformer contributing most of that weight.. Maybe the heat sink as well (although I didn't notice any vents on the back!?!?!?!)

So, does anyone know anything about these amps? What kind of power amp do they use? (discrete? some chip?) I'm assuming they have some kind of digital reverb... Also, any idea where they could come up with a 200W 6" speaker??

It's an odd beast, that's for sure.. but the reviews seem positive so far. Looks like a good amp design to try and emulate/improve upon.

Wow, thanks. I think this is the first time I've ever won anything

Here's the schematic for the power supply:
http://www.chipamp.com/images/ps.gif

I don't doubt that it could be done, but could you describe in more detail (maybe a schematic?) how to wire the rectifier to produce bipolar output from the dual secondaries (as shown in the power supply in the link)? I already have one of these power supplies (with the 8 diodes) built and was considering building a second one for an additional LM3886 chip I have. If I can get away with a cheaper power supply configuration then I'll do that

-Matt

I really like the second amp pictured. Looks like a retro radio

Well, I've posted this here before but what the heck... Here's my entry. The Hurricane was built for a friend as a gift for the harp player in his band.

Here are the particulars:

• LM386 preamp similar to a ruby/noisy cricket
• TDA2005 power amp
• Big Muff tone control
• Weber Signature Ceramic 6" speaker
• Cabinet start out life as a flower box from IKEA that was heavily modified
• Small leather handle hand made by a local leather repair shop for a whopping $12
  
  

Overall I'm pretty happy with the outcome. My first attempt at the amp had almost no distortion as I was running the preamp from the same 12V supply as the power amp. The distortion you hear in the clips is obtained by running the preamp at about 7V so it breaks up more. The "Category" control varies the gain of the preamp while the "storm surge" toggle enables an additional gain boost similar to the grit switch on the noisy cricket.

The clips were all made with the little 6" speaker in the cab. I tried it out on a 4x12 sealed cab and it sounded great! Didn't get a recording of it though and now it's off at its new home.






Here are some clips:
Clean
Some breakup
More overdrive

Well, I bought the finger jointed box at my local IKEA. It's a flower pot Of course, that just got me the basic shell. I had to cut the bottom out of the flower pot, install additional internal bracing for the baffle, build a frame for the grille cloth, stretch the cloth. I also had to cut out the opening for the control panel at the back. Overall not TOO bad of a project. The "chassis" is simply an L-shaped aluminum bracket I made by cutting the sides off a cheap project box from Radio Shack.

Your amp does look rugged indeed! Is that a combo amp?

wow, that does look ideal. there are plenty of holes on the front panel for expansion and the fact that the front panel is simply has the labels  painted on the raw metal makes it easy to have a custom front panel made to sandwich between the pot nuts and the chassis.

Unfortunately there are none of these available in my local craigslist or on ebay. Maybe we could start a list of good salvage amp models. I know what my criteria are for such a thing but I'm not sure what everyone else is looking for. I would like something that is kind of "generic" looking (like this rogue amp). Preferably without any logos embedded in the grille cloth/cabinet (or at least are easy to remove). Also a nice standard rectangular chassis is nice. Many chassis have slanted fronts or internal structures that make it difficult to install custom components. Of course, any helpful reusable parts such as the transformer or a separate power supply board are helpful as well!

I've attached a picture of my first (and so far only) attempt to build a cabinet from scratch for comparison

Sounds interesting. I have gone through the trouble of building my own chassis and cabinet for a combo amp and fully agree that it is the most tedious process of building the entire amp. Mine was just a little 15W 1x8 practice amp in a 9" x "9 cube and it was still a major pain! Now I'm contemplating a 2x12 120W build and am really nervous about the cabinet build.

You wouldn't have any gut shots of the amp would you? Maybe something to show the front/back panels, heat sink and overall chassis layout?
Thanks for the heads-up, I'll keep an eye out for these from now on!

-Matt

most amps need slow-blow fuses due to inrush current when first turning them on. You want the fuse to be able tolerate the elevated inrush current while the filter caps charge up but blow if there is a sustained over current situation such as a short.
-Matt

Here's a pic of the heat sink...