Solid State Guitar Amp Forum | DIY Guitar Amplifiers

Hi all, new here. I just recently got interested in mini SS amps and found this forum.

An interesting little amp I haven't seen mentioned here is Radio Shack's Mini Audio Amplifier (cat # 277-1008). This thing's about the same size as a Smokey and is powered by a JRC 386D. (Which is a little odd since Radio Shack only sells the LM 386N.) It sounds almost exactly the Smokey I just got. The best part about it is the price: $12.99. The worst thing about it is that it has 1/8" input and output jacks.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062620&cp (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062620&cp)

It has a volume knob, unlike the Smokey, but I couldn't really get it to overdrive. I suspect this might have something to do with some slightly faulty solder joints in my old Rickenbacker 480 than the amp. I couldn't get the Smokey to overdrive with this guitar either. (I'm reluctant to poke around in my Rick with a soldering iron because it's almost 35 years old. I plan on selling it eventually and would rather not risk really screwing it up. It's going to be replaced by the Frankencaster I'm almost done with.)

I'm going to attempt to build either a Little Gem or Ruby in the next few weeks hopefully, so I'll probably be asking all kinds of moronic questions here.

Scott

Hey Scott,

Tinkering with 386-based amps is a lot of fun. I've made a sub-hobby out of it:
http://beavisaudio.com/Projects/NoisyCricket/index.htm (http://beavisaudio.com/Projects/NoisyCricket/index.htm)

The original smokey had the JRC chip, my builds have used the NS LM386.

If you have any questions, ask away!

Hi, Dan-o, thanks for the reply. I've spent quite a bit of time at your site over the past couple of weeks. You have a lot of amazing stuff over there.

Scott