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Velleman Kits (I hope this isn't flame bait)

Started by jambre, April 26, 2006, 09:54:46 PM

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jambre

I'm trying to put together an acoustic combo amp-does anyone have any experience with anything from Vellaman?

Jim

joecool85

I did one.  It was the TDA2003 kit.  I didn't really care for it.

http://www.ssguitar.com/index.php?topic=46.0

Not very loud, tone sucked as well.  I liked the little gem better.
Life is what you make it.
Still rockin' the Dean Markley K-20X
thatraymond.com

RDV

There'll be no flaming here, this is a friendly place. :)

To help you we need to know a few things.
How much soldering experience do you have?
How much money are you willing to spend?
Do you want to do this because you think it will cheaper? It won't be.
How old are you? Because I'm a little unwilling to to get a pre-teen or teen to fool with mains power?

I'll gladly answer any questions you have to the best of my ability.

Velleman does have some kits that would be decent guitar amps but the lower power ones(like Joecool mentioned) won't get it done.

Just tell us what you want to accomplish and we'll try to help.

RDV

jambre

There'll be no flaming here, this is a friendly place.

<> Thanks, I was being a little facetious on that comment<>

To help you we need to know a few things.
How much soldering experience do you have?

<>I've done some soldering, and I have some a "basic" knowledge of electronics- I can figure out a schematic-<>
How much money are you willing to spend?

<> The budget is open at the moment,but  I'd like to keep the entire project(amp, box, speakers) south of $500

Do you want to do this because you think it will cheaper? It won't be.

<> I want to do this because-well, my project after this will be a DIY Martin acoustic from a kit-

How old are you? Because I'm a little unwilling to to get a pre-teen or teen to fool with mains power?

<> I'm an old man of 49- twenty years of running US Navy nuclear reactors and some real-world power plant experience-with high-yard voltages of 345,000 Volts-

><Anyway, I've been on the AX84 site-I'm aware that tube electronics in an amp has its advantages, and there's posters with plenty of experience and they're willing to share-but what I'm looking for is a good, clean-sounding, reasonably priced "Acoustic" combo amp-it'll be either at home or church-I'd like to go with either a 2X10 or 2X12 cabinet with coaxial speakers, but I'm more than willing to listen to alternatives. I'm leaning away from tubes at the moment since my 8-year-old is taking lessons, he has a better ear and sense of rhythm than me and I'd like it to be his first amp-he wants a Turser "shark guitar" for his upcoming 9th b-day.<>

I'll gladly answer any questions you have to the best of my ability.

Velleman does have some kits that would be decent guitar amps but the lower power ones(like Joecool mentioned) won't get it done.

Just tell us what you want to accomplish and we'll try to help.

RDV

RDV

Cool, I don't think that a Velleman kit will be the way to go, but YMMV of course.

I would pick out some speakers and design a cabinet around them. What are you thinking as far as drivers go?

RDV

joecool85

Life is what you make it.
Still rockin' the Dean Markley K-20X
thatraymond.com

jambre

I was looking at the Eminence website, and notice that the Eminence Beta 10cx, APT-50 tweeter and crossover seem to work-

Jim

teemuk

I like Eminence too. They make really good products and on top of that they publish better specs of them than i've seen any other instrument speaker manufacturer do. They really make life easier for people who wish to design their own cabinets. Jensen might also be a good choice. They also publish good specs but i guess their product variety isn't as big as Eminence's though.

You should also think whether you need a cabinet that is loud or a cabinet that has a certain tone. If you prefer loudness use speaker(s) with highest SPL rating as possible - if tone, concetrate on specs about frequency response and free air resonance. The later one is quite important since a resonant speaker can really rattle an inadequate cabinet. Tuning the resonance up and down with the cabinet has a huge effect. Tone - loudness is in most cases a trade-off: You can always shape the tone a certain amount with the cabinet design but the more you focus on the tone of the driver(s) the smaller the choice of drivers with high SPL ratings get.

RDV

A common shortcut is to find an acoustic amp that you like and sort of copy the dimensions for your own cabinet. I sort of like the little Marshall one though I believe it has 2 8" drivers and a horn.

I'm considering building an acoustic amp also so maybe we'll be comparing notes and stuff. My idea is to use 2 10" drivers and a good horn, almost like building a small PA with an emphasis on mids and highs.

I'll be biamping mine using two different chipamps, an LM4780(running in parallel) for the lows/mids and an LM1875 for the highs. It'll use an active crossover similar to what I used on my subwoofer project(only with a much different X-over point).

I also plan to use a fairly simple preamp consisting of just one channel with a graphic EQ. I may also try a Bass/Treble EQ also but haven't made up my mind yet. For effects I'll just use a preamp out/poweramp in to use as an effects loop.

RDV