I miss out the important part about the power output upon the voltage given. After reading through the specification of TDA2030, I think it is likely that I will try out using two lead acid batteries. +- 12V with bridge configuration should give me 16W for a 8ohm speaker. Hope that it would be enough.

Now I understand why so many of us like the chip LM3886. Hopefully in the future I should give it a try.

Thanks guys for the reminder about the power supply. I really miss its importance.

Thanks for the reply. Well, I just need to have clean sound. There is no need to have any effects.

Therefore, I thought I just need a power gain. As you have mentioned, preamp is used to tune the signal to the desired voltage signal level, I think for my case it is not really a big deal. Perhaps just use a CMOS N-channel will do. Hopefully I am not thinking too ideal.

Of course, I think having a equalizer in the preamp will be good. But for this experimental moment, I thought the most simplest preamp design will do.

I do think up of using a 12V lead acid battery. However, I will have to make up a charger before hand so that I can charge it up. Since power issue is not really quite a big deal and can be easily solved my money, it is not a critical concern for this moment.

Well, thanks for the suggestion, but that chip is just too expensive....

I think I will make it using MCU by myself in case that I have time to develop. Just wanna ask one thing more, what is the difference of Reverb and Echo? They seems to be the same....

Speaker is not my main concern at the moment. For preamp, I don't really know what it is.... So I don't know how to kick start.

Perhaps a little help? I think equalizer is not a preamp but a effect within preamp?

I choose to use TDA2030 simply because I can easily find it in stores.

I have used TDA2030 before and I know that it still require a heat sink, otherwise it will still burnt out even if I am just using two 9v batteries!!

I wanna bi-amping is because I still wanna try make a battery-powered amp which can sustain outdoor for at least 3~4 hours. Using this scheme, I hope the overall power could be large enough for outdoor activity. LM3886 seems so large that I am afraid that a lot of heat would be produced. It would be better if there is a way to cascade small power amp to produce large power output.
Well, to me, the heat produced by SS components is hardly bearable and I have not tried tube amp which one could fry eggs on them.

I thought I just need a power amp. Is a preamp necessary?

Thanks in advance!

Dear all,

   I was planning to use TDA2030 to build an amp which have separate frequency band amplification. In this way, I can get higher power output without using ICs like LM3886 together with large heat sink. I plan to use TD2040's datasheet's suggested circuit to give two output : one to woofer and one to tweeter. Or maybe I can cascade several TDA2040 to give higher power output.
   The problem is that this IC is for Hi-fi, and the suggested frequency band of interest is not suitable for a guitar amp. I would like to know what frequency band are of interest to guitar so that I can keep using that circuit.

Thanks in advance!

Thanks for the reply. But I cannot test whether it is the problem of the jet wires or the pickup.

This is because the wire of the jet is mounted into the equalizer and the equalizer is screwed inside the guitar. Within that limited space, I cannot unmount the equalizer  and check if that wire is detached inside the equalizer.
The pickup, still have no method to test it since I don't have a CRO at home.

I think I will probably give up and give it to stores for repairing.

My friend has an Ovation guitar and its has been broken -- no sound output to the amp.

There are only two things left not checking.

1. Pickup -- I have no idea how it works nor do I have any method to test whether it works
2. Built-in Equalizer -- coz the screw are inside, I don't have tools at hand that can unscrew it in the limited space

I assume the equalize is in good shape. This is becoz there is a battery button to test whether there is power and it lights up when I press it.

Is there any way to test whether the pickup is working or not?
Is it good to buy a new pickup to replace the old?

Please forgive me for placing the wrong section since I dunno where to post this question.

Thanks for the comments!

To J M Fahey : Yes, that's my concern. I don't wanna spend a lot of time searching in the web

To teemuk : Do you have any suggestion of these ICs? Actually I would prefer components rather than modules. Yes modules are much easier, and probably produce less noise than hand-made board. However, they are much more expensive. Since ironing components like TSOP120 (120 pins, 14 x 14mm ICs) is not very difficult, i think i can handle it. If I have time, it is not a problem to even start from the beginning : writing code and programming MCU for selecting different effects.

To phatt : Thx for the suggestion. However, modules are expensive (to me), I will put it to my last resort. (Though I think it could be the only choice for the moment.

I wanna make a DIY guitar amplifier with reverb function built-in. However, when I search the web, it seems that reverb need a spring device in order to make the effect.

Is there any other method to make a reverb? Since I am very new to guitar also, I hardly able to distinguish delay and reverb.

Thanks for your attention!

I am not sure if here is the right place to ask this question. Forgive me if I am wrong.

All I have tried making is a Ruby AMP. And there is one more make use of the chip TDA2008. (Both are powered by 9V batteries)

Afterwards, I would like to add effects : Tone control circuit, Reverb, Delay... etc. But before that, it seems adding a tuner will be quite convinient. In this way, I do not need to plug out the cable to the tuner and plug the cable in the AMP after tuning.

Do anyone know how to embed a tuner to an AMP?

( Sorry if i am too aggressive to try making all things DIY. )

I have gone through the specification of TDA2030 which seems great for my further testing. Moreover I can buy it easily through stores.

Since TDA2030 requires higher voltage, maybe I can try TDA2003 or TDA2004 first which I can also easily buy from stores. (Seems also cheaper then Farnell.  )
Though Fahey have mentioned about TDA2005, I don't find it from those stores that I visit.

Probably I would move on to use 12V 7VA battery for my "battery driven guitar amp" project. Maybe later need to make DIY charger for that slightly heavy battery.

In the mean time I am really unhappy about static noise that my prototype RUBY amp, is there a way to eliminate the static noise? Like adding a passive filter? or should I simply buy a better "guitar wire"(the wire connecting the guitar and the amp)?

Thanks in advance!

Nope. Currently it does not have any housing.

There is one things seems not good.
When I play chords harder, the sound could become so loud that become distorted to the output. (just like having a overdrive)

I wonder if that's why buffer is added.

Another question is a larger size speaker gives larger SPL?

Yes.

The problem is when I turn on the maximum volume control, the static noise also increases.
Maybe later I should add back a buffer to see if the input noise can be reduced.

I finally have time to built it and test it.

Since I am lazy, I first try it without using any buffer to the input of LM386.
In other words, I just use a 0.01uF cap connect to the guitar input, then a 10k ohm variable resistor. Then the rest remain the same as the RUBY schematic.

Everything seems okay, except it continues giving out a small static noise.
I wonder if this is the design problem? (meaning without the buffer)
Or because of the bad soldering, routing problem? --> this is because I am too excited to start and forget to plan first before soldering the components

Thanks in advance!