Custom Guitar Amp

Discussion in 'Guitar Gear Talk Forum' started by ronnieanand, Aug 19, 2005.

  1. ronnieanand

    ronnieanand n00bier th@n th0u

    Made a Guitar / Bass Amp for a friend. It's a 70W Solid State Head. With the simplest possible features. Just single input and a speaker out. Also got a custom 12x1 cabinet done. Having some problems in the Pre Amp section but the setup is playable. It's got real solid lows. The clarity is far superior compared to my Marshall MG15CDR. Almost fallen in love with this thing. Planning to get one made for me too. It doesn't look all too good but sounds really nice.
     
  2. sridhar11_2

    sridhar11_2 Instrumental guitarist

    :nw: You never seem to stop amazing me
    Great Work
     
  3. ssslayer

    ssslayer Banned

    hey dude ... can u make one with local made vacuum tubes? ...
    ofcourse with a preamp section ...

    infact what i was thinking was to make only a preamp section (which can offer anything from smooth overdrive to hard grainy distortion ... using valves ... which can be used as a stomp box ... i guess such kinda thing will be in the market .. but ofcourse for a heavy price ...

    i could use my MG10CD as speaker ... man now am getting fascinated by this idea ... i havta do it now ... any help ron ... or mebbe if u can make it yourself it'll be easier for me ***am lazy*** :grin: ...

    and one more thing ... how often do those tubes get blown away ... coz i heard from somewhere that more u play the driven tones ... more frequently they blow out ...
     
  4. sanjivdas

    sanjivdas New Member

    I'm making one

    I'm making a tube amp now, I'm using Philips tubes made in holland for output stage and telefunken preamp tubes. Clean and driven channel both inputs in the amp.

    About the combination of Valve pre amp and solid state output, many people have tried to do it, but the second harmonics and the smooth increase in THD with dB levels (which are the speciality of tube amps) will never be the same.

    The whole thing is turning out expensive though, the tubes alone cost me Rs. 1500 almost. I'm getting screwed with the transformers too, I have to make 3, and each is like solid 3-4 kg in weight, and I have to get them made, and they cost a bomb. But now that i have put my hand in, i shall finish it.

    I haven't heard anything about the blowout, but yes, the electron movement is increased if you increase the gain, and the tube after all works like a bulb, with a filament, and is subject to breakdown. However i guess it would be more a matter of continuous long play than high distortion for the filament to burn out. Will keep you all posted, right now the transformers have been ordered, will take a week.
     
  5. chintan9

    chintan9 yay! i won the ipod!

    @ronnie- was this the amp you told me you were working on?
     
  6. ssslayer

    ssslayer Banned

    wow! ... pls keep posted ...
     
  7. ronnieanand

    ronnieanand n00bier th@n th0u

    I dont remember. I did this recently. Took me a week's time to make the amp, test it, drill all the holes and fit it in the cabinet.
    I was about to make a small tube amp. But the high voltage scares me to work on it. I might do one or get it done through somebody. Planning to get a JCM800 50W Lead done sometime.
     
  8. Alfons

    Alfons C.F.H

    hhmm maybe u can start a new company........
    call it RONDALL !
     
  9. ssslayer

    ssslayer Banned

    LOL ... yeah it could happen ...
     
  10. ronnieanand

    ronnieanand n00bier th@n th0u

    Rondall or Round Dhaal. Both names are cool.
     
  11. ssslayer

    ssslayer Banned

    Rondall will sound too much like Randall ...

    but then they make amps ... u also make amps ... so it can be ...

    flipside ... it ll become like givson and gibson ...

    so better names please ...
     
  12. ronnieanand

    ronnieanand n00bier th@n th0u

    Made one Overdrive Pedal which is amazingly responsive and clear. I played Purple Haze through it and actually I liked it better than my Keeley Modded Boss BD2.
    Making is fun but fitting inside the cabinet is horrible job. All the drill job gets the Metal Dust getting in my hands.
     
  13. real_illusions

    real_illusions Clapton Is GOD

    sounds awesome. how much did the parts cost?
     
  14. ronnieanand

    ronnieanand n00bier th@n th0u

    The Amp inclusive of the 12x1 cabinet cost me about Rs.3500 to Rs.4000. I guess next time I make it I will even save a little bit because of the lesser cost of experimentation.
    The pedal cost me about Rs.1700 to make it. About Rs.1500 is only the cost of the Die Cast Aluminium Case, 3PDT Switch and the Switchcraft Jacks. The actual Distortion cost me only about Rs.200. It's only the casing that gets expensive.
     
  15. ssslayer

    ssslayer Banned

    ^^ yeah even i read somewhere that the cost of the circuit comes to about 10-20% ... the rest is just the housing/casing of the circuit ... coz it should be able to withstand all the kicks and abuses ... :)

    AND it was worked out that if u are in US ... building pedal effect at home is far more expensive than purchasing one ...

    guess in India everything is relatively cheap ... so it comes out to be much cheaper ....

    1.5K is kool ... u can seriously try selling the pedals dude ...
     
  16. ronnieanand

    ronnieanand n00bier th@n th0u

    I can sell but need to work out somethings. It takes a lot of time to build a pedal even if it's as simple as an ABY Switch or something like that.
    My next pedal would a Cool Looper. It will select between two Effects Loop.
     
  17. ronnieanand

    ronnieanand n00bier th@n th0u

    About the cost, it's not always that hand built pedals are expensive. It depends on what you want to make. If you want to make some Vintage Fuzz or Overdrive Pedals, you'd be doomed if you go out to buy one. It's much easier to make one. Where the current in production pedals are cheaper to buy. Things like ABY Switch, Custom Loops or Switches are pretty expensive if you want to buy them. It's easier making it. Same goes with Clean Boosts. Clean Boosts are damn expensive stuffs. You can make a real boutique quality ones much cheap. Things which involve Delays like Delay, Echo, Chorus, Flange, Phaser are better bought because of the complexity involved in making them.
     
  18. ssslayer

    ssslayer Banned

    i guess in US buying sheet metal and then fabricating a box shape outta it is more expensive ... thats y the fact that hand building is more expensive ...

    actually what i would like in a pedal is: three options ... first is bypass (clean) ... second would be overdrive/dist (that can be adjusted by gain ... and third would be brutal metal dist (gain preset at 11)...
    kinda dream pedal ...
     
  19. Alfons

    Alfons C.F.H

    how do u get da distortion ????
     
  20. ssslayer

    ssslayer Banned

    u need ta take an EE110 course to actually get it - how amplification works ...
    otherwise it is pretty simple:

    1. the electrical singnal comes like a wave ... (yeah like the waves on water bodies) ...
    2. if u chop off the tops of the waves u will get fuzzy sound ...
    3. overdrive is when u slightly shave off the tops
    4. distortion when u clip the top portion of the waves
    5. fuzz, when this clipping/chopping is too brutal ...

    for understanding the real funda behind u need an MA110 course which deals with fourier transforms of waves ...
    but basics:
    1. on acoustic play a note ... sounds quite clean aint it?
    2. play the note which is a 5th after ... like A note and E note ... simultaneously ... u get a tone which has both the notes A and E ...
    3. likewise when u chop off the waves, u generate lotsa other frequencies (having varying volumes) ... (infact the "clean" note that u picked also has a lot more frequenices other than pure A or E - the only thing is that they have very less volume - also the reason why different instrument sound different - timbre) ...
    4. so when u clip off the waves u produce (and amplify other frequencies knowns as harmonics) ...
    5. these harmonics cause the buzzing/distorted sound ...

    so producing these sounds u need to really clip the top of the waves ... how u do it influences the sound u get ...
    1. u can have an amplifier which just increases the signal volume ... however the amps contain active components (like transistor, FET, MOSFET, vacuum tubes) ... which have a dynamic response ... and when they are driven really hard (i.e. u increase the output very high - also known as gain) they distort the sound ... that is clip the wave tops ...
    so as u increase the gain ... initially the volume will increase ... however after a point the signal becomes too high and the wave starts getting chopped ...
    2. u put a device in between the guitar and amplifier/speaker which does the same job - pedal ... now pedals can have a pre-amp kinda circuit ... which gives almost the amplifier like distortion ... however, u can also use diodes ... which just clip the sound brutally ... that is waht is done (or atleast was done) in most of the fuzz pedals ...
    3. u can perforate or change thge speaker ... the speaker should ideally reproduce the wave signals coming to it .. however if the cone or coil is damaged slightly ... the speaker itslef does the wave clipping ... and u get a fuzzy tone ...

    in the amp distortion:
    1. u can either have vaccum tubes which is supposed to give a more mellow distortion (more of an overdrive) ...
    2. u can have solid state devices like Transistrot/MOSFET ... which gives a more harsh distortion ...
    3. the harshness of distortion again depends on the harmonics (additional frequencies being generated in the circuit) ... so the solid state actually produces more of odd harmonics ... whereas the vavle (vacuum tubes) produce more of even harmonics ... (am not an elec engr so i cannot verify this - mebbe Ronnie cab) ...
     

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