DIY Guitar Amp - Amazon Parts

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Күн бұрын

Here's how to make a mini guitar amp from Amazon parts.
Parts Used:
Mini Amps: amzn.to/45G8D8r
Speaker: amzn.to/3ErW4Sl
Battery Boxes: amzn.to/3LdOcYi
Jacks: amzn.to/3r6E2BW
Mini cable, Mono: amzn.to/48gG17N
**If you don't have a soldering iron, you could use this cable: amzn.to/3qY1Yro
Fender mini amp: amzn.to/482kQ94
Parts in the video are in the above Amazon affiliate links.
The parts above are about $40-$44 depending on what speaker you buy. But as I mention in the video, you get 2 amps, so you can build a second one and that brings the price to about $20 each.
The mono TS mini plug is Tip="+", Sleeve="-"
A TRS mini plug is Tip=no connection, Ring="+", Sleeve="-"
Or
Save about $10 by removing the mini jack and soldering your 1/4" TRS plug cable directly to the board.
This amp uses a lm386 chip amp and a mini speaker. The bigger the speaker you use, the better the amp will sound(generally speaking). One important note, If you wire up another jack for the output, you can plug the mini amp into any guitar cabinet and play through that. It will drive any guitar cabinet up, including a 4x12 half stack! And yes, it will be pretty loud!
I've built these mini amps into many different types of enclosures- small cookie tins, cardbaord "chocolate" boxes, and even little folded printed paper boxes as shown in the video. The most important thing is to make sure your battery is securely fastened inside the box so it doesn't short out against anything.
You can also delete the battery all together and use a USB cable or an 9v wall wart adapter with the appropriate power jack.

Пікірлер: 38

@clicks59 10 ай бұрын

Another awesome video. Thanks for sharing.

@FrankOlsonTwins 10 ай бұрын

Thanks for checking it out!

@chrissiemilnarskii 10 ай бұрын

Super cool build. Truthfully, this sort of stuff has always intimidated me, but I've always wanted to learn, and you made it really easy to follow along!

@FrankOlsonTwins 10 ай бұрын

Great, this project is a good starting point for DIY amps!

@lawrencealexander1578 10 ай бұрын

Great design. Thanks for sharing.

@FrankOlsonTwins 10 ай бұрын

Thanks for checking it out!

@caseyholford 10 ай бұрын

Very nice build. Would using a slightly larger speaker significantly change the sound?

@FrankOlsonTwins 10 ай бұрын

Thanks! Yep, in this case a 3" or even 4" speaker can dramatically improve the sound. You can drive up to a 4x12 half stack if you add a little output jack to the speaker...it would be pretty loud too!

@brunogino1916 Ай бұрын

We think of Pignose, I think it sounds good too; However, you had to have some basics in electronics, I don't think it's sold in kits like guitars.

@ServingMyJesus 10 ай бұрын

That is great. Can you please say what I would need to build a bass version, please?

@FrankOlsonTwins 10 ай бұрын

Thanks! I'll check into it!

@FrankOlsonTwins 10 ай бұрын

Ok, so I plugged in my bass guitar and it seems like the only requirement would be a bigger speaker. You could wire up a an output jack in stead of a speaker to try out different cabinets. Good luck!

@noravitz 10 ай бұрын

Cool video - I’ve been wanting to build a mini amp powered by a usb battery pack. Any tips on making something like this running off 5v?

@FrankOlsonTwins 10 ай бұрын

Thanks! This unit works fine down to 5v. It can also run as high as 24v. No need to change anything but I do like to short the lm386 pins 1 and 8(gain pins) on the board. It will kick up the gain by about 5 times. If there's a cap there(probably is) you can just short the pins together or remove the cap and insert a little jumper. Good luck! Let me know how yours turns out!

@livecanal4754 Ай бұрын

Wow! Just wow! The best video I have seen. Is it possible to short the Pam8403 board as well ?

@FrankOlsonTwins Ай бұрын

I just checked the data sheet. I'm not sure. I don't think it works the same way as this chip, I didn't see any gain pins. It might already be set to 100% output.

@livecanal4754 Ай бұрын

@@FrankOlsonTwins Thank you. Anyway, I will follow your steps.

@rossbuchman2570 7 ай бұрын

Did you short the gain pins on this one like your short video. I got it to work, but stopped working once I shorted those pins.

@FrankOlsonTwins 7 ай бұрын

I've done it both ways with this kit. As it comes, there's a capacitor between pins one and 8. You can remove the cap for low gain or remove it and short the pins for full gain. If you leave the cap, it'll be about 75% gain, which is pretty good, too.

@synastershred2269 10 ай бұрын

I would like to add a 1/4" jack where the current jack is ( So I can position it where I want to inside the amp) so would I just remove the jack that comes on the circuit board? and solder the 1/4" jack into the circuit board? If so...which pins should I solder into? I believe there are 4 pins on the one that comes on the circuit board, just trying to figure out where to solder the 1/4" jack once the other one is removed, hope that makes sense, really interested in learning electronics, great videos by the way.

@FrankOlsonTwins 10 ай бұрын

Hello! Unfortunately a 1/4" jack is too big to fit on the board, which is why I used the 1/8" adapter for the video. If you decide to take the mini jack off the board and solder your wires directly to the board(which you can see at 3m19s in the video), you'll find that the center pin of the jack was ground, and the corner pin was "+" for input. The multi colored wires(3m19s) are going to "+" and the shield is going to "ground." You'll see it says "IN" on the board next to the "+" hookup. I suppose you could make long extender pins for your 1/4" jack and insert those into the board sockets when you remove the mini jack. Thanks for checking out the vid!

@shilohwoodcrafts2955 9 ай бұрын

Got it!!! Thank you, I somehow missed that at the end of the video, appreciate the help!

@gianni777m 5 ай бұрын

I made one and im really happy with it thanks. If I want to increase the gain can I just short pins 1 and 8? The data sheet says that putting a 10uF capacitor between them gives a max gain of 200. Would you happen to know what just shorting them would do? Thanks again

@FrankOlsonTwins 5 ай бұрын

Cool, glad that you got one going! Yes, shorting those gain pins will get you to 200 also. Here's a vid I made a while back, just shorting pins 1 and 8- no cap. You can hear what it sounds like: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/l6p9lcJ7vq_VeIU.html I think simply shorting the pins could lead to oscillation, but I've never experienced that. Sometimes using a gain pot without a cap can add a little static/noise as you adjust the gain. To me, removing the cap and shorting the pins has a bit more "bite" so to speak. It could be that gain is the same with or without the cap, but it just sounds different enough to notice. They're cheap enough that you could buy a second one to experiment with if you don't want to dismantle your working one.

@gianni777m 5 ай бұрын

@@FrankOlsonTwins awesome, thanks a bunch!

@FrankOlsonTwins 5 ай бұрын

@@gianni777m you bet!

@gianni777m 6 ай бұрын

Would connecting the ring to battery negative to act as a switch mean that it wouldn't power on with when a trs cable is plugged in? Thanks for the cool video

@FrankOlsonTwins 6 ай бұрын

Yes, correct!

@gianni777m 6 ай бұрын

@@FrankOlsonTwins thanks for the reply!

@loicflb 10 ай бұрын

To be sure, I have to buy a mono jack and cut one side to have a black and red wire to connect to the female jack 6.35mm ?

@FrankOlsonTwins 10 ай бұрын

Yes, mono plug (mini) to trs jack 1/4" jack

@loicflb 10 ай бұрын

Thanks a lot💪🏻 I think you should have a look at the 6j1 preamp board, I've tried a project with it but didn't succed as I'm a beginner.. with your videos I'm sure I'll make it!

@FrankOlsonTwins 10 ай бұрын

Thanks for the tip! I've made tube preamps in the past. They look easy but the power supplies are the hard part. And the enclosures... they are a LOT of work! Good luck!

@jeffgossett9701 2 ай бұрын

hi, I'd love to build this but not being familiar with the trs mono jack with shunt I found it hard to follow your video wiring. It appears you bridge two positives with a jumper wire but that is not in the diagram. A more explicit diagram would be much appreciated!🙂

@FrankOlsonTwins 2 ай бұрын

Hey, the diagram is correct, but so is the video! That red wire is coming out of the cable jacket, it is not jumpered to the other lug. Look closely before and after the red soldering scene, you can make out that the red wire is only soldered to one place.

@jeffgossett9701 2 ай бұрын

@@FrankOlsonTwins Great thanks for the clearing that up! Since the amp input is the aux cord, could I assume that if I've wired two speakers, a left and a right that this will also work. Also, we are using a similar class d amp with a TPA3116D2 chip 5-27v so hoping this will also work. building speakers with students but have one student that loves electric guitars so picked up one of the mono trs output jacks so they could use this as a guitar amp. great idea using the jack as an on off switch!

@FrankOlsonTwins 2 ай бұрын

Sure, you can wire as many speakers as you want, but you must do so either in series or parallel since this is a mono amp. There will be no left or right, just mono through all speakers. The hookup will be more or less the same with any chip amp board- Input to board, output from board and power supply.