Going from schematics to amp.

[odecius]

Hello Everyone,
I have the bug to build and it has inspired me to attempt to make a guitar amp.  It began simply as "I will just try to build one effect box" to "Let's make a stack."   I apologize for the rant.  Anyway, I have found schematics that could be used for a small practice amp (instead of using the half stack) but my question is (and I know it may be difficult to answer in a forum setting) how do I go from schematics to putting it into motion?  Is there any "cook book" site or literature for doing such as I tend to be a step by step kind of guy.  Thank you all for your time and patience.  Have a good afternoon/evening.

[phatt]

Hi it's called a breadboard and about twenty years or your time perfecting it all.

And NO I'm not kidding you 

NO It is absolutely not that simple..................

Read/test/ read/reread/Test test testing and more testing.

After 5 years you will have at least learnt to understand the first line I just wrote,,,,,
It's not that simple. :duh

If you have an incerdible amout patience it will be very rewarding.

Without that kind of patience just build a kit and hope like hell that it is the Sound/Tone/Dynamics that you wish.
(Unlikely,,,, but possible.)

My Advice is start with simple circuits.
Cheers, Phil.

[odecius]

Thank you for your response.  I'm not underestimating the difficulty of this potential endeavor. I am planning on taking your advice and attempting to do  simple circuit.  I do have another question though.  This schematic I have, and I don't know if the person just made a mistake or it is supposed to be put on different boards, but it is spread on 2 different pages (pdf.)  thanks again. I will let you know how my first circuit comes out.

[phatt]

Hi odecius,
               Well I doubt I can be of much help unless you *post the schematic* or link to the file in question.
Generally for hobby builders the preamp boards maybe on a seperate PCB's as it simplifies things a bit.
Also enables you to build another preamp board if you are less than happy with the results.

IMO, just build a brilliant preamp circuit with it's own PSU.

With so many cheap S/Hand guitar amps floating around as long as you have a good preamp then via the EFX loop (or pre output/poweramp input) you can tap into a lot of guitar rigs bypassing the internal preamp and save yourself a lot of extra work building the poweramp stage and the speaker driver.

(that is effectivly how I do it on the cheap and saves a whole stack of messin about,,  shush don't tell em I'm lazy!)

Depends on the situation in your part of the world or you may just want to experience the whole thing of building from scratch.

There is a good collection of preamp circuits on these pages if you care to look around. Talking with some of the builders here might give you some insight as to what you wish to build.
Phil.

[odecius]

Hello,
Thank you for your advice. I do just want to attempt to build an amp from scratch and I will post a schematic when I find one of my choosing.  I am thinking about trying to build the ax84 amp from the same name website.  But my question about that is in regards to the ground.  Am I just grounding it to the chassis? I apologize for the lack of schematic and I will post it later. thanks again.

[Minion]

I personally built my First circuits by designing and etching my own PCB"s which is a great thing to learn if you plan on building a lot of your own Custom projects but it is an art within it"s self ........ There are several free PCB design programs out there and tutorials on how to etch your own PCB"s then all you need is to know how to read a schematic and a Datasheet properly and you can start .....


Cheers

[phatt]

Hello,
Thank you for your advice. I do just want to attempt to build an amp from scratch and I will post a schematic when I find one of my choosing.  I am thinking about trying to build the ax84 amp from the same name website.  But my question about that is in regards to the ground.  Am I just grounding it to the chassis? I apologize for the lack of schematic and I will post it later. thanks again.

Oh well ,, whole new ball game then if you want to build a tube Amp LOL.
Even harder to do but it's your call.
There are just huge amounts of data on valve gear layout,, though right at the moment I'm no use cause my computa puttad out recently and lost all the links
Again I say don't start out building BIG complicated stuff.
FWIW my first valve build was a simple cathode biased PP EL84 with only a volume and tone control.
I've built 3 other tube amps but after 4 years I'm using the *First one I built* LOL IT works better far less hassle than the exotic stuff.

My advice is read up big time untill you grasp it ,,, then build simple gear which gives you confidence to go on to bigger things.
A lot of folks fail to realise that if you take on conplex circuits you can build your own mouse trap!
Like who is going to help you if it does not work or blows up and you have no idea of what to look for?
Ouch! that can be defeating/expensive/ demoralizing.
Try *Valve Wizard* (sells books) 
*London Power* , Kevin O'conner's site. (AKA King TUT,, also sells books)

Look quite frankly just pick a word you don't understand (like say Fixed bias verses Cathode bias) or in your case
(Grounding techniques in valve amps) and Google it as you are bound to read somthing you did not know before.
This way you will catch all the forums as well as valve site Geeks.
Tread carefully with it all and use your common sense,, Some info on tube gear is a little iffy I've noticed.
You soon learn to weed out the useless stuff.
Cheers Phil.

[phatt]

I personally built my First circuits by designing and etching my own PCB"s which is a great thing to learn if you plan on building a lot of your own Custom projects but it is an art within it"s self ........ There are several free PCB design programs out there and tutorials on how to etch your own PCB"s then all you need is to know how to read a schematic and a Datasheet properly and you can start .....


Cheers

Yep I did that for a while ,,,till I realised it was painfully slow.
A bread board makes lite work of it all as you can quickly weed out all the hickups and worms.
THEN commit to PCB.
Phil.

[Minion]

I personally built my First circuits by designing and etching my own PCB"s which is a great thing to learn if you plan on building a lot of your own Custom projects but it is an art within it"s self ........ There are several free PCB design programs out there and tutorials on how to etch your own PCB"s then all you need is to know how to read a schematic and a Datasheet properly and you can start .....


Cheers

Yep I did that for a while ,,,till I realised it was painfully slow.
A bread board makes lite work of it all as you can quickly weed out all the hickups and worms.
THEN commit to PCB.
Phil.

I found the opposite to be true for me, I made far more mistakes when breadboarding than when PCB designing (I have a hard time adjusting from looking at the top of the board to the bottom of the board , the mirror image thing really screws with my Dislexia ) and I found I could design and etch a PCB in no time at all and end up with a better looking product .....

But I know a lot of poeple who swear by them so 2 each his own ....

Cheers

[J M Fahey]

For design work I have used for the last 40 years the original, 1920 technology breadboard, that's to say a piece of wood with some nails and bare copper wire ground, +B and -B lines.
In fact I use brass wire for its stiffness and nobility.
The cost is nil, I can have as many as I want, but the *REAL* advantege is that parts are *soldered* and firm.
Of course I don't cut parts legs and they are reusable.
The technique is strong enough as to survive onstage (for 1 night testing, not for touring)
I like protoboards for IC work, problem is that I'm halfway through a project and I must rush to buy another for a new one.
I have a shelf with a few of them, with unfinished experiments; so the wood and nail breadboard ends up being the preferred embodiment.

[phatt]

I personally built my First circuits by designing and etching my own PCB"s which is a great thing to learn if you plan on building a lot of your own Custom projects but it is an art within it"s self ........ There are several free PCB design programs out there and tutorials on how to etch your own PCB"s then all you need is to know how to read a schematic and a Datasheet properly and you can start .....


Cheers

Yep I did that for a while ,,,till I realised it was painfully slow.
A bread board makes lite work of it all as you can quickly weed out all the hickups and worms.
THEN commit to PCB.
Phil.

I found the opposite to be true for me, I made far more mistakes when breadboarding than when PCB designing (I have a hard time adjusting from looking at the top of the board to the bottom of the board , the mirror image thing really screws with my Dislexia ) and I found I could design and etch a PCB in no time at all and end up with a better looking product .....

But I know a lot of poeple who swear by them so 2 each his own ....

Cheers

Kool mate,    Phil.

[phatt]

For design work I have used for the last 40 years the original, 1920 technology breadboard, that's to say a piece of wood with some nails and bare copper wire ground, +B and -B lines.
In fact I use brass wire for its stiffness and nobility.
The cost is nil, I can have as many as I want, but the *REAL* advantege is that parts are *soldered* and firm.
Of course I don't cut parts legs and they are reusable.
The technique is strong enough as to survive onstage (for 1 night testing, not for touring)
I like protoboards for IC work, problem is that I'm halfway through a project and I must rush to buy another for a new one.
I have a shelf with a few of them, with unfinished experiments; so the wood and nail breadboard ends up being the preferred embodiment.

I might have guessed,, LOL.
The story reads like a mad professor movie,, all that is missing is those big *Knife switches* hanging off the wall, humming with electrons waiting to leap out when the switch is thrown.
I did read of a chap who builds with the dead bug assy,,, all components upside down using an unetched PCB  as a ground plane and 10 meg R's as stand offs.
I guess  as long as we all have fun in the end.
Phil.

[E]

Home etched PCBs are great, but they can take a lot of time and indeed money. You could also use perfboard, which done well can be almost as good (and it doesn't make a difference to the finished product) or even wire wrapping (i think it has a better name, just can't think of it at the moment), which can actually be used as a permanent solution while still allowing you to quickly fix any mistakes.

http://www.stevechamberlin.com/cpu/about/

But yeah, if you use perfboard or PCB then it's usually an idea to try it out on a breadboard first. Not entirely sure how to lay it out, i could do with a bit of help in that area too.

[phatt]

Home etched PCBs are great, but they can take a lot of time and indeed money. You could also use perfboard, which done well can be almost as good (and it doesn't make a difference to the finished product) or even wire wrapping (i think it has a better name, just can't think of it at the moment), which can actually be used as a permanent solution while still allowing you to quickly fix any mistakes.

http://www.stevechamberlin.com/cpu/about/

But yeah, if you use perfboard or PCB then it's usually an idea to try it out on a breadboard first. Not entirely sure how to lay it out, i could do with a bit of help in that area too.

Hi E,
        Just get a breadboard and start building simple circuits. With Opamps it's hard to blow them up even if you wire it wrong,,, the beauty of working with low voltage devices
Some of the more exotic circuits can go fut but by the time you start messing with them you will have learnt enough to know how to avoid disasters.

I just finished building a *Zombie Chorus Pedal* .
I built and tested 3 different circuits in a very short time to see which ones worked and which ones where just trouble.
The *John Hollis* one worked straight up and only needed minimal tweaking.   Only took a week ,, thanks to the use of BB 
Have fun with it, Phil.