Metropoulos Forum

Hello guys,

well, for my bedroom, ( and as i can't run my metroamp superlead 69 on a real cab at my place because of the neighbours ) , i'd need to find some feedbacks and advices and schematics or anything, related to a nice small ( 5 - 10 - 15 - 20 watts ... ) solide state guitar amp, with some nice cleans, and some nice crunch. you know, the kind of mc gyver project i could do with parts left in my stock, and a few from an electronic store. doesn't even need to be in a chassis , and it'll run any speaker i may have, surely not a 12" celestion but craps left in my basement, or found in the street. ha ha, this could be fun. you know, quickly made for a few $, simple like a fuzz, ...
and the purpore is to test some home made effects, the sustain, the saturation, feedback ...
to test some fuzz, and some echoplex preamp clone. and various stuffs.

any idea ?

i rremember my cousin and i when we were like 12, we had a small 5 watts or something, a solide state, and we were very happy with it !
and for the wah wah effect, one of us was turning up and down the treble control of the amp while the other would play. lol. this was fun, and not too bad sounding.

i can't have such resulsts with my superlead, even if it goes through a transducer, then a speaker simulator in cubase, then in altiverb ... good results, nice cleans, but it can't behave like a regular setup, for the feedbacks, and several complex phenomen.
a small amp would be the way to go for me, just for testing or fun.

thanks !

why solid state ?

http://vintageusaguitars.com/misc/Firef ... de%208.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

tubes sound better , easy project , hard part is to find the pcb ( but it's traces are shown in the pdf , lots of pcb guys on the web can do it for you ).... you can buy the hammond transformers on the tube town website , everything else is even more easy ...

ooops upate ; pcb is available here ;

http://ronsound.com/index.php?main_page ... cts_id=882" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

thanks !
not a tube version, because i cant this project to cost like 10-20 euros max ! lol. i have my tube superlead and my jtm45/100 project almost ready to get started, with $$$ pieces and nos parts.
i want this crappy solide state amp to be just a fun mc gyver amp, with left parts, not even a pcb ! lol

nice small tube amp project, should be fun.

i thought of this one perhaps, but i'm not too convinced with the clips i heard :

http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/pdf ... a841b3e85a" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There's a bunch of battery-powered amp schematics out there that use a single chip and a few parts... it's basically like those "smokey" amps that came in the cigarette packs. Even Radio Shack has the audio chip... it's super simple to put one together and they can even drive a 4x12 cabinet (not screaming loud, what do you expect from 9v?)

http://www.runoffgroove.com/littlegem.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Now tell me, is that mcgyver enough for you?

totaly ! very cool. i didn't know the "smokey amps".
thanks !

and the little gem sounds very good enough !!

I think those little battery operated Marshall amps run on the same audio chip, the LM386. I think it is a happy accident that when those chips are overdriven they sound very good. One day I'm going to build one, I think I even have the chip. Maybe put a jfet booster in front of it to really make it scream.

yeah ! and guess what, i'll even build four of these : one ruby ( evolved version of the little gem ) , a double D, a professor tweed, and an omega.
now, except for putting more voltage inside, ( but it might get wrong voltages with the fets or chips ? ) i wonder how to perhaps make them louder. i want to make them scream like some joe gagan clips, it'll be fun ! very cheap and fastly built

hey i built the Ruby amp in 20 minutes, and indeed it's a mac gyver result, it works !
very fun stuff. just what i needed thanks again.