Building amp?! I am interested

[fenderfloyd]

I have never really heard much about building custom amps. How dificult is it, do you save much money? I am intreged.

[Turbo7MN]

Good to hear someone is interested!

It's a bit overwhelming at first. Not quite as much if you're building a Fender clone from a kit or something, but when you get into designing/rebuilding amps yourself it gets a little confusing. That's what I'm here for. You end up saving a ton of money if you go from scratch, even more so when you use an old PA amp as a chassis as I do.

I'll be posting tons of info when I get the chance, but right now I'm a little busy here in class . Feel free to ask anything, I'm sure I'll be able to help you out.

-Darren

[fenderfloyd]

Thank you, I am very interested now. Likewise I am busy with class. Maybe my electrical engineering major will help me... to bad I am only a freshman.

[freya]

maybe i should build my own amp? i'm quite the metalhead, but i desire great clean as well as great distortion. i know nothing about building complex things. parts, or electricity. can i do it? how big of an amp do you think i need to make and is it worth it?

[fenderfloyd]

Eh, vac tubes are some pretty old technology. All the complicated stuff is in the tubes. The dificulty is fabircation and less knowing how it all works.

[Turbo7MN]

Not true, there's a lot more invlolved than just chaining tubes together. You have to worry about the power supply, how you're getting the signal from one tube to another, how to bias each stage, and other fun things like that. The tubes are actually fairly simple if you think about what's inside them. To really make a decent amp you have to understand how everything all fits together, and how to choose the right values of caps, resistors, etc.

That being said, anyone who is fairly intelligent, patient, and can handle a soldering iron can probably build a pretty respectable amp. It's just a matter of how much you're willing to learn.

I like to think simpler is better. It's easier to build and troubleshoot, plus less components in the signal path usually results in a better sound. Compate an old tweed Fender Champ (simple as it gets) to a modern amp and there's a major difference in components.

Hopefully tomorrow I can get a start on putting up some basic info and this weekend get into it a little more.

-Darren

[fenderfloyd]

Still seems simple to me. Then again I have had to do things like this before on paper in a extra credit physics class.

What I ment to say is it isn't too hard to manufacture as long as you got everything set up right. The hard manufacturing is already done with the components. I will stop making myself look like an ass now.

[Turbo7MN]

Ah, I see what you're getting at now. I agree if you're building something from plans or a schematic, it's fairly simple. Actually designing an amp is where the difficulty is.

[munga]

So far with my limited expierences, building amps can be cheaper and more expensive at the same time depending on what you are doing. If you want to build a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, it will probably cost you 4x as much to build. However, say you wanted to build a Marshal 18 watt. The kits are usually around 800, as opposed to well over 2000 for a reissue and who knows what for an original. In other words, it really helps if you want to build older or vintage amps for cheap, and get your dream tone.
I have also found that "metal" amps are not usually build-friendly, because of the need for the extremely complicated channel switching and the millions of features.

[Turbo7MN]

True, and who wants to build an HRD?

My philosophy has always been keep it simple. The vintage and boutique (handwired) amps people pay over 1k for usually have the simplest circuits. Cloning an expensive amp is much cheaper and easier than cloning a cheap amp .

The sad thing is the modern HRD and such are so low quality it's horrible. They use 1/4 watt resistors! I didn't even know they made those (I only use 1/2 watt carbon comps) until I heard about swapping a lower gain-tube into a modern Fender can blow a power supply resistor because the tube pulls too much current. Ugh...

And don't get me started on PCB construction .

-Darren

[shiggityshwa]

So...when's the schematic lesson coming. I'm really interested in building amps especially since I finally have a soldering iron. My birthday is coming up soon so I could probably get a bunch of parts then to build a small one.

[munga]

shiggityshwa said:

So...when's the schematic lesson coming. I'm really interested in building amps especially since I finally have a soldering iron. My birthday is coming up soon so I could probably get a bunch of parts then to build a small one.

I would recommend you start out by getting a kit from Weber or some other kit service, because of two reason. Firstly, everything is included, and no complicated chassis fabrication is necessary. Also, they usually either include a layout diagram or *even better* instruction manuals. I know that for me, laying out an amp based upon schems is an absolute pain in the ass, mainly because I am not that great at it. But a layout diagram or instruction manual takes away all those types of headaches for your first build.
What do you think, Turbo?

[fenderfloyd]

I figure I will just dive into it from scratch becuase by the time I will start I will have had Circutry I, physics I, and another engineering class under my belt.

[vash03]

hehe how difficult would it be to build your own rectifier, or 5150 clone?

[Turbo7MN]

Sorry, this weekend I was jamming with a friend (who now wants me to build him an amp ) and doing college homework, now I've got class all week . I'll get there eventually, having school 9-12 hours a day sucks nuts.

Vash, you don't wanna know . I'm gonna hopefully be doing an amp for a buddy in a couple weeks out of a 6-channel mixer amp, it'll be my fist multi-channel design and I'm hoping for a nice Mesa-ish crunch with a simpler circuit design. Those amps scare me.

A kit is a decent way to start, but I will always reccomend a PA convert. I don't put much effort into layout honestly. Divide the amp into "sections", add your terminal strips, components, and then run the wires where they need to go. Once in a while you get weird stuff happening if certain wires are too close, but I haven't had any trouble so far . The only disadvantage is the more wire you use, the more it'll pick up interference. Of course, that's assuming you don't use shielded wiring inside the amp. The main learning curve is getting used to soldering in a cramped space without burning stuff. The old insulation they used to use on the high voltage wires will sting your eyes so bad you'll think you're going blind if you accidentally brush it wth a soldering iron.