Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello everyone. I'd like to make a simple, rugged, combo amp. The problem is that, much like electric instrument making, the parts that parts suppliers sell add up considerably, and I am on a very low budget. I'd like some money saving tips i.e. what parts to buy secondhand and where, plans that are very simple (i.e. the only knobs would be volume, treble, mids, and bass), and I'd like to see if I can get it close to 100 watts and compliment a single coil pickup equipped instrument. I can build my own box for it, in fact that's by far the easiest bit because I can just go around my yard and pick up bald cypress boards just for an application such as this, not to mention all the crappy black walnut I got. Well anyway, I don't plan on getting this done in a hurry so I'm just trying to collect stuff early on, so any help on this would be awesome.

Thanks,

Ian

Is this a tube or solid-state amp that you are interested in building? Sounds like a neat project.

I've built 10 or so tube amps 'from scratch' and fixed up 25 or so. If you want to get something reliable and cheap, probably buying an amp ready-made would cost less.

In a tube amp, 100W is a long way from 'simple', and parts will be hard to find by 'dumpster diving'. A smaller amp might be a better starting point; you can sometimes get an old hifi that will contribute transformers and chassis.

Amp building is a fun thing to do, but like guitar building is seldom cheap or as easy as we imagine!

One big help these days is the vast amount of amp info on the web, and forums dedicated to amp building, so lots of help and info.

Cheers
John

hey ian, i built 3 small amps, from plans from angela instruments.com, and love them.
they are based on '50s tweed princetons, and are 6-12 watts.
my fav is a super single ended one, that has two 6l6 power tubes,
2 5u4 rectifier tubes, a slot for a 12ax7, or a 6sl6 for the pre.
12 watts, pretty loud.
angela doesn't have the plans up anymore though.
i have them on paper, and could scan em and shoot em to you.
100 watts is huge.
12 watts has always been enough for me when playing small clubs.
the fender amp field guide has schematics for all the old fender amps.
cost for good components? about $500.
i built one with a power trans somebody gave me, and used cheap parts, and it sounds really good.
if you think you need to know a lot to build a good git, same with amps.
so much to know.....
and learn..
fun stuff!

hey ian, i was just thinking that if you got an old bogen or dukane or knight p.a. amp on ebay for not a lot of scratch,
you could use the power and output trannies and some other parts as well.
i've done that and saved some bucks there.

100 watts is what's making it expensive. The transformers and tube complements are going to cost a pretty penny. My amps are usually 15 watts, and they're PLENTY loud.