Introduction: Build Your Own "Tinny Amp" Small Amplifier.
Here I will show you how to construct a small amplifier for your guitar, should be about 3 watts and run off a 9 volt battery.
Step 1: Parts
You Will Need:
-Soldering Iron
-Tin or box of some kind (or cigarette packet)
-1/4 inch jack input
-Wire
-9v battery clip
-9v Battery
-Speakers (I got mine from an old broken pair of speakers.)
-Amp i decided to use a 3.5 Watt amp from my local electronics store.
-Soldering Iron
-Tin or box of some kind (or cigarette packet)
-1/4 inch jack input
-Wire
-9v battery clip
-9v Battery
-Speakers (I got mine from an old broken pair of speakers.)
-Amp i decided to use a 3.5 Watt amp from my local electronics store.
Step 2: Disassemble Your Speakers
My speakers had a little amplifier bult in, but i chose to just remove it and take the speaker.
Firstly unscrew the housing that holds the whole speaker/amp and remove the front. Then disconnect the speaker from the amp so it can be removed easily. Unscrew the speaker, next I had to prise the speaker out with my penknife, because it had been stuck down with some kind of Uber glue.
Keep the amplifier for another project!
I decided to keep the other speaker housing to use as the case for the final amp.
Put all of the bits somewhere safe. (In my case a hat.)
Firstly unscrew the housing that holds the whole speaker/amp and remove the front. Then disconnect the speaker from the amp so it can be removed easily. Unscrew the speaker, next I had to prise the speaker out with my penknife, because it had been stuck down with some kind of Uber glue.
Keep the amplifier for another project!
I decided to keep the other speaker housing to use as the case for the final amp.
Put all of the bits somewhere safe. (In my case a hat.)
Step 3: Wire It Up!
Wire up your selected amplifier as instructed!
I used stripboard to neaten the whole thing up and get better connections.
Remember if putting yours into a metal case, all of your connections need to be covered. For me this involved electrical tape, lots of it. You could use a hot glue gun or just insulate it properly.
I used stripboard to neaten the whole thing up and get better connections.
Remember if putting yours into a metal case, all of your connections need to be covered. For me this involved electrical tape, lots of it. You could use a hot glue gun or just insulate it properly.
Step 4: Prepare Your Container.
The whole idea of this was to be portable, so it needed to be in something relatively small. In the end i chose a tin.
I then realised this wouldn't let any sound out, and in drilling two large holes for my now upgraded 2 speaker amp, the tin would become a bit flimsy. So I chose to drill 114 small holes.
Note: This is very tedious and time consuming.
Drill a line of holes down your tin, i used a set square and a pencil to mark it out 1cm apart both ways.
Do it again, and again and several more times until you heave roughly 6 lines.
Then drill in between the holes you have just made. *sigh*
Next drill two holes for your switch and jack, i chose to put this on top of tin, for ease of access.
I then realised this wouldn't let any sound out, and in drilling two large holes for my now upgraded 2 speaker amp, the tin would become a bit flimsy. So I chose to drill 114 small holes.
Note: This is very tedious and time consuming.
Drill a line of holes down your tin, i used a set square and a pencil to mark it out 1cm apart both ways.
Do it again, and again and several more times until you heave roughly 6 lines.
Then drill in between the holes you have just made. *sigh*
Next drill two holes for your switch and jack, i chose to put this on top of tin, for ease of access.
Step 5: Fitting It In
This is definitely the trickiest of the steps so far.
Tips:
-Do not try and pick too small a container you'll just get incredibly frustrated and end up hurting something. =]
-Make your electronic components take up as little space as possible.
-Don't force it or you'll break connections and have to take it out and re-solder it. (Twice)
-Be patient.
Sorry there aren't any more pictures, but once i had it in i didn't really want to remove it.
Tips:
-Do not try and pick too small a container you'll just get incredibly frustrated and end up hurting something. =]
-Make your electronic components take up as little space as possible.
-Don't force it or you'll break connections and have to take it out and re-solder it. (Twice)
-Be patient.
Sorry there aren't any more pictures, but once i had it in i didn't really want to remove it.
Step 6: Rock!
Now you can rock anywhere you want!
Be sure to bring music to the ears of every nearby person with your new portable amp!
Things I would change about it are:
-Sound holes at the front need to be a little bigger
-Get some better speakers, these pretty much distort straight away.
-Plan the internals out a little better as to replace the battery i have to remove all of the components
That's pretty much it, hope you enjoyed the Instructable and Vote For Me!
++ There is a sound clip now attached. I basically mess around with the guitars' volume controls subtly to change the tone. First it's on about 8 then 10 then I turn it down to about 7 and a bit. (Excuse the scrappy playing =] )
Be sure to bring music to the ears of every nearby person with your new portable amp!
Things I would change about it are:
-Sound holes at the front need to be a little bigger
-Get some better speakers, these pretty much distort straight away.
-Plan the internals out a little better as to replace the battery i have to remove all of the components
That's pretty much it, hope you enjoyed the Instructable and Vote For Me!
++ There is a sound clip now attached. I basically mess around with the guitars' volume controls subtly to change the tone. First it's on about 8 then 10 then I turn it down to about 7 and a bit. (Excuse the scrappy playing =] )
