Personal Guitar AMP

Hi,

last year I wanted to make a personal Guitar AMP but all the ones on here I didn't like the cases or they just looked sort of crappy IMO with the exception of a few of them. I decided to come up with my own design.

I now make them in the shape of Guitar Bodies 6"x8", This model features a headphone jack so you can play and not bother anyone and a speaker in case you just want to hear it out loud and these little suckers for running off a 9v battery can seriously crank.

I wanted to make them so that if you wanted you could leave them out and have a cool conversation piece. I have got a lot of feedback on them and people love them and the fact that I also came up with my own circuit design and make the boards them self and put them all together myself. Since this model was my very 1st one I have got a lot better at soldering and they look much more professional. I have bought the necessary tools to cut the boards better, the Software to design them better. I even own my own sticker making machine so I can design labels and guitar labels. I have been turning everything into AMPS.

The one thing I have learned was what was supposed to be a cheap project turned into a fun one and ended up costing me a ton of money in Tools and Software. But if you want to make one and just have fun at doing it and not worrying how perfect things are it can be very cheap. The board and parts would cost next to nothing, If I can remember right every thing was under $10.

If you want a Guitar body but do not have the means to cut the wood, or just want to make one of these little guys I can supply everything, Circuit board, Parts, Instructions +the shipping cost for just the cost of everything. I am not trying to make any money of any of this cause it is really fun for me.

I have included some pics of the other things I have turned into AMPS as well, From an RC Car to a Wall Mount. I am now working on one that has my Distortion pedal built in as well. So you could have one clean sound and if you want Distortion just click the on button and away you go. I will soon have my other pedals made for other sounds.

Check the videos out on the last page of this..

Since this is my board I designed I am going to keep that info (I hope you all can understand - But even though I didn't post it for the world, I have been known to give it out in email), My board is based off this same board with various changes and additions. I have also added rechargeable batteries, USB port for recharging & bluetooth (So you can pair up your ipod/phone to listen to your music) I have supplied the board info for the "Ruby Amp" from runoffgroove.com Since this is their board and parts list any questions on those please direct towards them so they can get the credit for their efforts.

Difficulty Level from 1-5: 3 You just have to have basic knowledge of soldering and machine tools to make the enclosure and make and cut the holes.

Parts Needed: (You can buy all on Amazon or go to your local Fry's Electronics or Radio Shack) Cheapest place is Amazon, Radio Shack is a little pricey on some things, Fry's has a good selection of Enclosures, Copper board, etc and alternate Fry's brand of parts. If you need any help in putting the parts together you can email me at aaron@tragic-kingdom.net. Sometimes I may respond right away and sometimes it may be a couple of days but I will respond.

Resistors (1/4 watt rating)

1 – 10 ohm

1 – 3k9 (3.9k)

1 – 1M5 (1.5M) Pots (1/4 watt or higher rating)

1 – 1k Linear (or 1k Trimmer)

1 – 10k Linear Transistors

1 – MPF102 (or 2N5457) ICs

1 – LM386 2 – 0.047uF film or ceramic

1 – 0.1uF film or ceramic

1 – 100uF aluminum electrolytic

1 – 220uF aluminum electrolytic

1 – mono quarter inch jack (speaker out)

1 – stereo quarter inch jack (input)

Optional LED and 1k resistor

9v battery snaps & holder and/or DC jack

Copper-clad board, etchant, or perfboard 24 gauge stranded wire Enclosure

So get your creativity going and make something cool, You can use various things such as the Altoids can, The cigar box but go a bit further do do the same thing everyone else has already done. I am making one now out of a M&M candy dispenser using the Big Red M&M

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Added

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I gutted a Computer speaker using its case and speaker and used my board and circuitry to make a 1.5w AMP

And

I a,so made a 2 channel 2.5w AMP using a 9v power supply. Added a video using its sound. The speakers where not the right wattage and just used in the example so it doesn't do it a ton of justice but you will get the idea of how loud they can get. In this example the AMP is only turned up a 1/4 of the way.