Hello!

[Jaxon]

Hey everybody! Just wanted to introduce myself. I've been fooling around with tube amps for a few years. NOT a guru by any stretch, just learned enough to be dangerous.  :duh  I got into the low wattage tube amp thing looking for cranked tone without the volume. Even low wattage amps get much louder than one would think. And to get the distortion most people want, you still stick a pedal in front of it!

Another guy at work plays bass and we both have an interest in guitar gadgets and such. This is how we came to acquire Minty Amp kits! Most of you probably know but this is a LM386 based amp and I was impressed at how such a simple circuit sounded. It drives my homebrew 4x12 at the volume I was looking for with the tube amps. Has some good distortion and with a pedal, it rocks.  :tu:  So, what I have in mind is a slightly more powerful and cleaner, small SS amp that would sit between my pedal chain and speaker. Can someone point me to such a project? I'm thinking something around 2W with gain, volume and possibly a tone stack.

cheers!

[joecool85]

First, welcome to the board!

Second, I do know about a lot of LM386 designs, but not the "minty amp."  I would assume it's this: http://www.mintyamps.com/ ?

Do you have a schematic to share with this?  It looks like it is probably similar to the Little Gem from runoffgroove.com

As for a step up, you won't get much cleaner of a circuit until you hit at least 5 watts or so.  I personally would go with ~20 watts from a LM1875 based circuit.  I have a stereo LM1875 setup for my computer speakers and they sound great.  I've hooked my guitar up to it with a Marshal DRP-1 preamp and it rocked both clean and OD. 

I'm pretty sure you can still get a LM1875 power amp kit from Brian at chipamp.com if you email him (tell him you were told that from joe at ssguitar.com).  I've worked with Brian quite a bit, real nice guy.

[Jaxon]

First, welcome to the board!

Thanks! 

Second, I do know about a lot of LM386 designs, but not the "minty amp."  I would assume it's this: http://www.mintyamps.com/ ?

Yes, that would be the one.

Do you have a schematic to share with this?  It looks like it is probably similar to the Little Gem from runoffgroove.com

No. For some reason, they have chosen not to publish a schematic. I haven't had time to sit down and draw one up from the pcb. I imagine it is pretty similar.

I will look into the LM1875 amp, thanks!  :tu:

[joecool85]

Also, if you want to get that cranked tube tone without tons of volume, try out a sopht amp http://www.sophtamps.ca/mambo/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25&Itemid=37

They run on 12v power (or 30v depending on which one you build) and are based around tubes that were used for car stereos back in the day.  The 12v one puts out about 40mw, with the right speaker it would be louder than the mintyamps (as shown on their site with ~2" speakers in an altoid tin etc).

[Jaxon]

Yeah, I've been following Stephane's projects for a while now.

Actually I was surprised how well the minty drives my 4x12. But a reasonable
listening volume is the best it can do in its current configuration. Nothing left
for those moments!

I have a lot to learn with the solid state side of things.

[joecool85]

Solid state = easy.  If you can build your own pedals you can build your own power amps.  At least if you use an IC (like a LM1875 or LM3886) it is.

[syndromet]

I second the LM1475. Use this as a poweramp, with a good tube pre, and you should get grest distortion st sny volume. i have also had success running my Lm1475 with the FET emulation pedals found at runoffgroove.com. Very tube like. Even the Little gem, wich looks very simular to your mintyamp, sounds superb.