hello everyone im the new guy!

[smsuryan]

So i have dave hunter's book about building tube amps...im still studying all of this stuff and trying to digest how to make an amp...ive made guitars before and saved a lot of money doing it myself and now id like to make the jump to amps...also i just ordered a vox pathfinder 15r which im stoked about getting soon!  a few questions:
are solid states less expensive to make compared to tube amps?...you dont need tubes obviously and i dont know about the pt and the ot, if theyre are in solid states...
where do i start studying how to make ss amps?  books?  this site of course...
i used to work for a living assembling and soldering curcuit boards so i know some basics about grounding and soldering and a little schematics...
also look at this board....it came from my central air unit, had to get it replaced...anything useable on it?  or should i just 86 the thing?  thanks...thats all the questions i can think of now...

[J M Fahey]

Google "jack darr's electric guitar amplifier handbook" which will give you a general introduction.
That board carries 3 12V general purpose relays plus 2 heavy duty ones.
I'd at least salvage them.

[DJPhil]

Welcome!

are solid states less expensive to make compared to tube amps?...you dont need tubes obviously and i dont know about the pt and the ot, if theyre are in solid states...

For the most part I'd say yes, but there's a lot of maybes. The chassis, speakers, pots, power transformer, power supply caps, and other items that they share stay the same, but you don't (usually) need an output transformer or tubes. The output transistors are a few bucks each on average, and you can get just about any chip amp for less than $10US. I suppose most tube amps don't use a large heatsink, but that's not too bad as cost goes, especially if you salvage them from something else. That, and you don't have to worry about the tubes wearing out. The real benefit in my mind is avoiding the high voltages inherent in tube circuits.

where do i start studying how to make ss amps?  books?  this site of course...

Books, books, and more books. If you're search savvy you can find almost everything available online in pdf form. I recommend starting with Teemuk's 'Solid State Guitar Amplifiers' pdf, it covers just about everything and it's free!

i used to work for a living assembling and soldering curcuit boards so i know some basics about grounding and soldering and a little schematics...
also look at this board....it came from my central air unit, had to get it replaced...anything useable on it?  or should i just 86 the thing?  thanks...thats all the questions i can think of now...

If it were me I'd salvage pretty much everything there, maybe even the microcontrollers if I could find datasheets for them. When salvaging, especially appliance boards, keep an eye out for conformal coatings. It's a (usually) polyurethane coating that covers the solder side of the board to protect it from moisture, but desoldering through it will release some nasty smoke that's guaranteed to give you a headache and make a mess. Most of them glow under UV light for easy inspection. You can scrape them off or remove them with chemicals, but that's usually where I draw the line unless there's parts I really want.
You never know what will come in handy.

Hope that helps.

[morgoth2006]

I salvage everything I can from old or defective boards. Those relays are quite nice and you can use them to make a soft start for speaker protection or for some other projects.
The chips look like they have been sanded off, so take note of what pins connect to gnd and vcc before you throw away the pcb. It may be though identifying them, unless you can get the schematic for the board. They can be pic, avr, 8051, z80 etc..

[smsuryan]

Thanks for all the great advice!!