As the title suggests, it's not pc connected, but my boy wants a leccy guitar and I'd like to get him a dinky practice amp, I saw those tiny "smokey amps" at one of those boy toys sites and wondered if anyone could design a circuit and supply a parts list (maplin?) and construction instructions in a language a mechanical engineer who can solder but has no idea what components do what, could understand. I would be willing to reward such an individual, but not with huge amounts. The smokey amps cost £25 and there can't be much in them, they fit in a *** packet (which I would try to change for a pokemon trading cards box) and they have 0.5 watt output through a speaker, they have an input and output socket on the bottom and that's it, no volume control, and they run on a 9 volt battery. Any takers???? In anticipation of you clever buggers coming up with something....cheers Steve
If Maplin is where your shopping, why not just get a Velleman kit amp? There easy to build. Is it for driving headphones or a small speaker? I can guide you towards some simple IC circuits for driving speakers if you want. 1) Is it to be battery powered, DC (via mains block) or AC (homemade PSU)? 2) Is it to drive headphones, speakers or both? 3) What wattage do you want? (0.5W is very weak for a guitar amp) 4) Is it to be belt mounted, or in a small cab with speaker? TDA7052 is good IC for really simple amp, but only good for 1W output.
Tnx for the reply, in answer to your questions, I can only go by the smokey amps, they take a 9 volt battery, they have a tiny speaker but also an output socket and although are quoted with a 0.5 watt output they get rave reviews. I had a look at the Velleman kits and they do one that is 2.5 W, it states that the max output is 2.5 4ohms @ 12 volts. I assume that I could use a 9 battery and a 8 ohms speaker (couldn't see a 4 ohm speaker) and just get reduced output?? I want to build it into a tiny box for him to just practice with, so it doesn't need massive output. cheers again. steve
Have you any idea what signal level the guitar puts out? Maplin do the basic K2637 kit at £10 that might do, but their guitar practice one, K4102, headphones only but cased, is £25.
No offense, dude but for £30 you can get a small Marshall combo or similar which would be far better. Those little things aren't much good at all. It'll be better for your son also. A decent sized amp will better produce the tones and frequencies he'll be producing...It'll be much harder for him to learn if he's listening to a tinny thing like that. *n
cool, tnx for all your input no offense taken here mate, I haven't a clue really, we off to town tomorrow so I'll see what the music shops have. I just thought a tiny amp would be cool, maybe later once he's playing like Lifeson!! Cheers Steve
Being that i work in a guitar shop, i can tell u wholeheartedly that those lil amps are completely nob - but ud be surprised at how many people 'just gotta have one'. Seriously, the best way to go is spend £40 or so on a decent sized 15/20watt amp with some EQ, reverb and Distortion to play with - the kids love all that stuff. Plus, any practice amp worth its salt will have a headphone socket that cuts off the main speaker, so u can have some peace and quiet every now and then. Even better, some these days even have tape/CD inputs so he could sit there and practice along with his fave records and ud never even know he was there Seriously, nice to see a wee fella gettin interested in guitar. With only 4% of the entire UK population even playing an instrument these days, its nice to have one more to bolster the numbers. If u need any guitar/amp recommendations or any help gimme a shout id be pleased to help
El_jimbob...cheers for the advice mate, we went into Cambridge yesterday and he spent his hard saved cash (£89) on a Fender Squire Strat Affinity, second hand, 'serviced' new strings 12 months guarantee. It's quite old apparently, the guy said something about having a solid not ply body. Sounded OK to me (what do I know!) in the shop. Didn't notice til we got home but it has Squire 20th Anniversary plate on the back. It's got some marks the boy loves it. Can you tell from the serial no. how hold it actually is?? I have decide to loan him the money to get an amp now. I have had a quick surf, this is a short list of sorts? marshall mg10cd - £50 -- www.soundslive.co.uk Fender Frontman Amp® 15G - £54 -- www.soundslive.co.uk Ibanez Amplifier - IBZ10. - £50 -- www.guitarsuperstore.com B.B. Blaster 10W Amplifier £ 33-- www.gear4music.com Washburn BD12 Bad Dog -- £47.50 -- www.spectresound.co.uk What do you think, are the 'branded' ones worth the extra, and do the seem good prices?? What stuff does your shop sell? What I will say that the music shops we went to were brilliant, endless help, advise and more than happy to let the little fella have a go. Thanks for your advice and help, it's much appreciated. Steve
Yeh the Squier was a good choice. If u email Fender in the US with the serial no. they should be able to give u some more info on the guitar. As far as the solid body goes, its a purely tonal thing and helps give good sustain (like Nigel from Spinal Tap said ). Practice amps are a bit of a dilemma. Truth be told, young beginners have no preconceptions about sound (or even branding) so it might be worth it to save some cash and buy the cheaper amp, providing it has some 'extra' features, like EQ and distortion like i mentioned b4. Oh, and the headphone socket is a must. If u wanna search for other makes, Watson practice amps are pretty damn good, and quite feature laden. He will break strings quite regularly when learning, so u could spend the leftover cash on some extra strings. Ernie Ball Slinkys are pretty much the best budget strings u can buy, and shouldnt cost u more than around £6 a set. And if i could add a request - make sure he practices the basics of guitar maintenence - like stringing it, cleaning it (household spray polish will do for the body, and some linseed oil if its got a Rosewood fingerboard). You would be surprised at how many established guitar players dont even know these things Good luck to u and yr wee fella. If u need any help over time, feel free to email me at: el_jimbob@btopenworld.com Rock On
