"Souped Up Amp" with wah

The "Souped Up Amp" is still going strong after two years, and turns out it works pretty well with a wah pedal too!

Crate GT212 pawn shop find

Side by side with a Fender Mustang I

          Pawn shops are pretty hit-and-miss with guitar stuff.  It seems like usually the people selling the guitars have no idea what they are really worth, and then proceed to sell heavily used guitars at full price to people who don't know better.

          Today was a lucky find though - a Crate GT212 solid-state amp.  On its own it isn't really special; it's a pretty good 2 x 12" amp combo with three channels and an open back.

          The price tag read $110 - this was in rather rough shape, with dirt, dust, and cobwebs in it and a rend in the leather on the side.  That seemed an okay deal, since the price of two 12" speakers alone would almost definitely be more than that.  I left for a few hours.

          Later in the day I went back and got it for $80.  Now that's more like it!

Build:
          Heavy.  Like 50 lbs.  The sides are plywood slabs like 1/2" thick, so it's rugged for sure.  The leather-esque covering was a little thin but good enough.  Knobs were all there, if a bit dusty, everything in good working order and built to last.  Only issue was the ground lead broke off.  This is a bit concerning, and I'll see if I can get that fixed.


Sound:
          It is a solid-state amp, but doesn't sound like it in any bad way.  Clean channel sounds pretty good, though very bass heavy.  Rhythm channel is great for pretty much all genres of rock, with a good range of flexibility built in.  Solo channel is just the rhythm channel with a boost to gain and further tone sculpting.

           Honestly, I haven't had it long enough to do a comprehensive tone comparison and get a feel for how much I like it, but so far so good - the twin 12" speakers give a much wider tone range than the 8" on the Mustang - the low frequencies are a difference you feel, rather than hear :)

Volume:
          One very important thing - volume.  The most shocking aspect of this amp is the sheer power of the sound it puts out.  I knew 120 watts through 2 12" speakers was going to be a lot of power. I could not have expected the amount of power I got.

On volume 1 it is fairly quiet and good for practice - all but the absolute lowest volume with low gain is still too much to play without waking the family.

Volume 2 is quite a bit louder, good for rehearsal or seriously loud practice.

Volume 3 can compete with a reasonable drummer, and is plenty for a solo performance in a medium-small venue.

Volume 4 can take on most drummers and is all you would need for most performances.

Volume 5 is plenty for all but the loudest, most obnoxious punk bands performing at very large venues.

Volume 6... no, we don't go to volume 6.

Volume 7... it's like the Fight Club.  Don't talk about it.

Volume 8... Even thinking about it is liable to damage your hearing.

Volume 11 - approved by Nigel Tufnel himself.


Now, it may seem strange that I focused so much on volume, but again, I haven't had it long enough to really gauge tone and sound quality.  It can be reasonably assumed that tone gets worse when volume is raised above 5 or 6, the sweet spot seems to be 2-4.  If you really need it louder than 5 you use a PA system if you ask me :)


Anyway, I'll have a full writeup done sometime in the future, but for now I'll keep playing with my new toy!

Thoughts?  Anyone else had much luck in pawn shops before, guitars, amps, or otherwise?

Altoids Headphone Amp

          Here we have another simple LM-386 amp I made, this one made in the style of all the Altoids tin amps out there, though I used an aluminum gift card case instead of an actual Altoids tin.  I really like this one because it is so simple, sturdy and portable.

          I didn't draw out a schematic but it is pretty much another Smokey amp.  The differences are that it has no switches, power is turned on and off by the input jack, it has a 220 uF cap on the output, has a cluster of resistors on the output to reduce volume, and uses headphones instead of a speaker.

          So what is special about it?  Well, while it's not unique, it does have some nice features.  The casing was perfect because it was exactly the right height to accomodate the two 1/8" jacks and the 9v battery.  Pressure from the lid actually holds the battery from sliding into other stuff it shouldn't.  Also, the casing is all aluminum so acts as shielding and conducts the ground between the two jacks.  And fits into a pocket ;)

          The cluster of resistors is the simple volume control I made by experimenting around with resistance.  The resistors are a mix of three 39,000 ohm resistors and four 22,000 ohms which puts total resistance at 3,864 ohms.  If you had four 10,000 ohm resistors in parallel that would work well.  I just added resistors until it was loud enough without being obnoxious.  Another plus side of using lower volume levels and running through headphones not speakers is that there is nearly no audible noise or hum, no doubt helped by the shielding.

          One last thing that I like that makes a headphone pocket amp more fun than a speaker amp is that you can use whatever headphones or earbuds you like and it gives a different tone with each one.  It makes a good judge of headphone quality as well, since higher quality speakers use energy more efficiently and play louder than others.

         That's about it for this amp, there really isn't much to talk about, but it is really great and was a fun half-hour project.  I'd suggest something like this for a great first build, or an easy side project for more experienced engineers.  Pictures coming soon, peace out.

Works in Progress

          I am in the middle of quite a few different projects right now and I would like to let you all know about some of the projects I am currently working on.  These include a completely passive pedal, an amp made of vintage speakers, adding phase switching and clipping to my Strat, and an all new amp design, pictured above.

Science Fair Experimental LM386 Amp

          You may have seen my "Souped-Up" amp already - my first shot at DIY amp building, cloned from the Smokey amp.  I did mention how these projects are addictive, and now here we are with my science fair project.

          In case you have no idea what you're looking at (it is a pretty weird little amp) it is the son of a Noisy Cricket and a cigar box amp.  Put together one LM386, one 4" speaker, six potentiometers and a wooden craft box and this is what you get.

Lots more after the break.

My "Souped Up" Amp

          One part of being a guitar player that can get really interesting is exploring the DIY amp and stompbox route.  As part of a science fair project I built this amp and another one coming up soon.

Fender Mustang I Review

          For $120, the Mustang I is pretty much the best amp for the money on the market.  The amount of effects and sounds available through Fender Fuse make it unbeatable.

Fender Frontman 10G Amp Review

          The Fender Frontman 10G is a small, portable 10 watt practice amp.  All good, but its low price shows through its lack of tonal variety.