We record music. I focus on tape recorders, such as reel to reel machines like the teac 40-4, and four track cassette recorders like the tascam 414 MkII. Microphone preamps, tube mic pres, Ribbon mics, Cassette tapes, Guitars and Vintage guitar amps, great sounding mics- these are things that I feel deserve attention in the world of digital audio and DAWs. Not obsolete, these recorders are more viable now than ever, and should be used! Vintage gear rules!
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Showing posts with label mini guitar amp. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mini guitar amp. Show all posts
Make your own mini guitar amp from paper and an inexpensive LM386 amp! This little amp can be functional or just decorative. If you decide to make a decorative one, you won't need to buy an amp or speaker. It's as simple as gluing together a paper box!
Here's a one minute video of me making this amp. The music was recorded with the amp:
To start, print a picture of your favorite guitar amp, or print mine below. The body should be big enough that it will fold evenly from one sheet of printed paper.
Click here to print a copy of my "Priceless Amp"
Next, glue it to card stock, the heavier the better. Cut out your box design.
Now, trace the back folding edges with a pen or dull pencil to make it easier to fold.
Now, fold up your box and glue it together. Add a back now, if you just want a cool little decorative amp.
Or, to make a miniature working amp, continue below.
Cut out 4 holes from the amp. 1 for the speaker, one for the input jack, one for the power cable and one for the volume knob.
Now,
install your speaker and glue it in with your favorite glue. I used
super glue, which worked fine. I've also used E6000 and hot glue. Most
glues will work fine, you just need to figure out the drying time.
Next,
wire up your LM386
amp to the speaker, input and power. If your LM386 amp has a 1/8"
input, figure out how you'll plug that in. I removed the jack and
soldered in a 1/4" input and wiring harness. For no soldering, you
could use a 1/8" right angle plug. If you go this route, I'd make sure
not to glue the top on- make the folding top that will open or close.
Now install the amp into the box and tighten the nut.
Don't forget to add your knob
Mount
the input into the back of the amp, and glue on your extra backing
cutout. Make sure your power supply cable is installed if you're not
using a battery inside.
Fold and close the top. Now it's ready to plug in and play!
The guitars you hear in the video are all recorded through this amp with an SM57 exactly as shown above.
Here's where I bought the lm386 amp:
Assembled Amp: https://amzn.to/3ltljtr
Speaker: https://amzn.to/3ltljtr
Affiliated links(I'll make a small commission if you purchase here!)
#craft #crafts #papercraft #miniamp #cardboard #diy #practiceamp
Make a Mini Guitar amplifier! This simple practice amp is easy to build and fun to play! Use it with your favorite speaker cab, or DIY your own. The best mini amp is the one you make!
This simple electronics project uses a LM386 amplifier chip with a real wood head and speaker cabinet. Mine uses recycled paper headphone speakers.
Begin by drawing the layout on a peice of paper. This will help you understand the parts involved and how you'll be attaching them together. This is especially helpful for polarity of things like electrolytic capacitors. Also think about how your chip socket relates to the rest of your parts and wiring.
After you have a good idea of how you will "layout" your project, transfer your drawing onto your perf board with magic marker on the top of the board.
Start building the amp by placing your empty chip socket into the perf board. Bend a few pins to keep it in place.
Next, add the 10 ohm resistor, 220uf capactitor and 100uf capacitor. Bend those pins to keep the parts in place. Add the .047 cap and the .01 cap and bend the pins.
Double check your schematic and layout. Is everything in the correct place? Capacitor polarity ok?
Good, now you can solder your parts in place.
Now you need to wire up your creation.
For power, you are going to make a voltage "Rail" and a ground "Bus"
Voltage Rail:
Using a peice of thin wire (i prefer solid core here) make the connection between where your red 9 volt battery plug wire:
1. attaches to the board
2. to pin 6 of the chip AND
3. to the "+" side of your 220uf capacitor.
The wire will probably look like an "L" and you should solder it at all 3 points.
Ground Bus:
Wire the ground bus by connecting socket pins 3 and 4 with solder or a tiny wire jumper.
1. Solder a bare wire from socket pin 3/4 to the end of the board where your .047 cap and your 100uf cap (negative -) terminate. This wire will probaly look like a large "L" or a large "T".
2. Run the wire neatly along a row of empty perf-holes since you will be adding more "ground wires" to the bus.
3. Add your battery connector if you haven't already. (+) to pin 6, (-) to ground bus.
Add your input jack, positive to the open side of the .01 film cap(which ultimately connects to socket pin 2. The ground wire goes to the perf board ground bus.
Add your output jack, Positive attaches to the (-) side of the 220uf electrolytic cap.
The ground wire attaches to the perf board ground bus.
If you want a Rheostat volume control, wire it in place of the output jack(middle leg), then wire the output jack to either open leg of the rheostat as shown in the video.
If you want a High gain amp, make a jumper from a small peice of wire and install it between socket pins 1 and 8. That will set gain from "20" to "200". The video shows the high gain setting.
Install this into your favorite cabinet, or altoids tin, or candy package, or....
This amp will drive virtually any speaker cabinet.
