Cassette Player Guitar Amp

With some inspiration gained from other similar projects posted on the Internet, I turned a Sony Walkman cassette player/recorder into a guitar amplifier run on 2 AA batteries.

Step 1 What you will need

Here is a list of the items you will need to make the amp:

1. A cassette player with a speaker (Preferably also with an equalizer so you can change the sound settings just like on a real amp).
2. A regular instrument cable.
3. A wire cutter/stripper ( I used a fruit cutter knife :P)
4. A Solderer.
5. Rosin-Core Solder.

Comments

[moesboy]

Could you use a cd player?

[fireman115]

i got that guitar but with 3 pickups its a nice guitar

[Pantxo]

Hi, this device works with a bass? Thanks, nice Instructable

[strat6911]

an amp is an amp is an amp  it would work with a bass

[Alex-c]

Hmm I wouldn't know since I don't have a bass...
I remember someone telling me that if you connected a bass to a guitar amp something broke (can't remember if it was the amp or the bass), but this may not apply to this amp... I guess all you can do is try it out and research the risks...Hope this helped a little.
Thanks =)

[icepick244]

could u do this with a bass guitar

[Alex-c]

scroll down

[wheatstone]

If you use a big 6 battery cassette player you can get more sound. Nice EPI, Black is my fave.....

[cdousley]

how did u get distortion

[wheatstone]

Wired it to the recording head wires, sound has some crunchy overdrive to it when cranked up to full volume! Rock - on! Or one can add a preamp and double the out put. Ramsey Electronics has a preamp kit.

[cdousley]

o pedal lol i ansered myself

[mattyuke]

Nice instrustable ill try it, But AWESOME LOOKING GITUAR

[Alex-c]

Thanks :D Just watched "The Hangover" on cinema and proudly saw how the guitarist from the wedding band had the same guitar!!! ;DD I appreciate all the nice comments but I don't see the rating being as generous:P Stay tuned for my next instructable!

[tyeo098]

You could have soldered the wires to the Walkmans internal amp, instead of directly to the speaker. That way you can actually USE the EQ and get a louder sound.

[astro boy]

its just a mistake he actually connected it to the tape reader head as a stand alone guitar can't drive a speaker and the tape reader is really a magnetic pickup so they will go trough the equliser and amp but it still needs to be corrected

[dobbish11234]

im doing this as we speak..but i have two small wires that connect to my speaker....dose it matter witch one i connect the guitar cable 2?

[Alex-c]

well the guitar cable is supposed to have 2 cables inside it aswell (once stripped). You just have to try connecting and see which goes to which. Hope this helped

[IdrisB]

I did this for the science fair last year (they were making me do something in school, so i figure, i need an amp anyway, so why not)

[LeviMan_2001]

I tried this once, but i fried my tape player, haha. I then upgraded to an old 8 track, that worked.

[n0ukf]

"...take the two wires from the stripped instrument cable and try to locate the wires in the circuit that gives the sound to the speaker"

The wires to the speaker are the output from the tape player's amplifier. The guitar pickups are incapable of driving a speaker, the level is too low.
What you want to find is the wires coming from the tape head (one or two shielded cables, depending on whether it has a mono or stereo head). This way the amplifier will boost the signal to drive the speaker.

If the tape player has no speaker, you can still do this and use it as a headphone practice amp.

[davethescubarock]

i did the same thing with a small wind up radio! trouble is because i only made the lead long enough for an mp3 player to plug into it i have trouble getting it attached to my guitar... its a great sound from it though - like the "small radio" setting on my effects pedal.

[Alex-c]

hehe thats cool! I enjoyed the sound of my amp too. At first I was a bit disappointed with the volume as it could not be heard easily while playing with others. However, when I plugged in a pedal and increased the gain, this problem was partly solved.

[Alex-c]

Thanks for the comments and the improvement suggestions! I'm sorry the sample file dosen't work. =)

[angusyoung1001]

dude ur guitar is so sick

[x133tx0n3x]

This is a good instructable, although i agree with tyeo098 in that you could get a better sound if you'd soldered the wire to the Walkmans amp. needs some work but good start!!