Solid State Guitar Amp Forum | DIY Guitar Amplifiers

hi everyone,

For 30-40w guitar power amplifier which chip you will recommend concerning power rating and mostly on the sound quality ( warmth in the sound is preferable as to emulate tubes as much as posssible ). please provide the reasons from the experience that u have gathered in your DIY journey........

thank u guys!!!!

Most popular and well tried is LM3886.
Sounds *very* good.
Up to 50/60W but of course you can use it as a very robust 30/40W, not bad.
In SS technology generally it´s better to have a clean faithful power amp and "make" whatever sound you want (clean, sharp, sweet, fuzzy, whatever) in the preamp.
You know there exist 1000s of excellent pedals, which are 99,9% SS which provide any imaginable sound.
That´s the basic idea.

I agree that a LM3886 would be ideal.  If you really want 30-40w, just run less voltage.  At those low voltages it would be incredibly stable (I've found it to be very stable even at peak voltages) - perfect for a stage rig.  Also the lower voltage would make less heat at the chip meaning smaller heatsinks are necessary and less likelihood of overheating the chip.

TDA2050 is also a great chip although unless you are making your own boards it will be more of a pain.  It does have less pins though and is still good for 30+ watts.

There are several places to buy premade LM3886 boards making life very easy for you, not sure about TDA2050 boards.