building an amp

[i love everyone]

i'm very new at the whole concept of amplifier design, but a friend of mine told me i could look here, so...i play guitar in an incredibly noisy, incredibly loud raw punk band, and while i'm satisfied with the results of my current setup (Squire Strat through DS-1 and Big Muff distortion pedals simultaneously, Peavey Transtube head through two 4x12s, and two other 212 combos as power amps), i thought it would be interesting to build my own amp. basically, i'm trying for the simplest and most raw circuit necessary, with all treble and almost no mids or bass, and distortion times 1000, preferably the kind that makes all sorts of strange and "unwanted" tones appear in your sound. i'm not at all concerned with having it sound clean or good or smooth, only with it being loud as all hell, trebly as all hell, and raw/distorted as all hell. i know this probably isn't the best place to be asking, but does anyone have advice as to how i would go about creating such an amp? any help would be appreciated, as just about every website for diy amp-building seems to be concerned with getting good tone, which i am not. thanks.

 

[DankStar]

Re: building an amp

Just an idea....maybe get into stompboxes to achieve your sound. There's a TON of noisy, trebly, off-the-wall circuits for stompboxes that would really only need amplified by a power amp. It'd be safer too, if you're worried about frying yourself like I get with high voltage stuff.

here's a thread with a crapload of descriptions and names of noisemaking pedals.....

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=55603.0

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: building an amp

How many watts? I'd say do a tweed deluxe and run it cranked. If you want more treble than the tone knob (the only EQ on it) will offer you can get a treble booster or EQ pedal.

Luke

 

[greco]

Re: building an amp

diy amp-building seems to be concerned with getting good tone, which i am not. thanks.

I'll bet that this has possibly never been stated in the forum. LOL

Welcome to the forum. Hope you enjoy.

Your last statement might just result in some of the forumbro's feeling suddenly faint and weak.:barf:

They will survive.

Dave

 

[jeremy]

Re: building an amp

welcome to the forum!!

tweed amps arent overly bright and right now he is running three amps so i dont think a 5e3 would cut it.

sounds like you want a 100w amp with 6550's, no eq, three or four gain stages pushed really hard. start with an old marshall design and take away the excess and push the tubes harder

 

[daemon barbeque]

Re: building an amp

Build a 1 Channel JCM 800 clone with a build-in equalizer.The 6550 tubes will give you the power you need ,but you can try the KT88 tokay it would not be as "raw" as it getts.
Oh and Try to use Duncan Distortion on your guitar!It will give everything you need.Powerfull ,distorted and Raw authority!
Cheers Bro!
And welcome to the Forum!

 

[Scott_F]

Re: building an amp

Unfortunately, everyone around is pretty concerend about tone, justifiably so. It sounds like you need loud and ballsy with no concern for tone. Maybe hit ebay and find an old PA amp or something? Just a thought.

 

[i love everyone]

Re: building an amp

Unfortunately, everyone around is pretty concerend about tone, justifiably so. It sounds like you need loud and ballsy with no concern for tone. Maybe hit ebay and find an old PA amp or something? Just a thought.

actually, this was the first thing i'd considered...i just wanted a more powerful amp because, with the excessively trebly tone i use, i have trouble keeping up with the bass. the only PA we have, though, is 1200 watts and has blown more than one speaker in its day, so i'm more than a little cautious about putting that into two 140-watt cabs.

also, i've heard that speakers usually get blown due to overpowering by low tones. is this true, and can they be cranked a lot louder with high tones instead?

 

[jeremy]

Re: building an amp

speakers typically blow cause they cant disapate enough heat so im not sure there is a huge difference in how much bass or treble they can handle. they can probably handle a little more treble than bass

 

[Gamera]

Re: building an amp

I have no answer to your question, only a plea: If you ever do get this thing built, please give everyone in a 3-state radius enough warning to pack-up and get out before you plug in. Or at least time enough to grab some earplugs. Yikes!

And welcome.

 

[drew_half_empty]

Re: building an amp

man... i don't even know what to say to this

as far as having 140 watt cabs, well, go on ebay & look at some cheap PA speakers, they'll be able to handle a lot more wattage

beyond that it sounds like you could probably just run a dist pedal into a power amp

 

[SirJackdeFuzz]

Re: building an amp

man... i don't even know what to say to this

as far as having 140 watt cabs, well, go on ebay & look at some cheap PA speakers, they'll be able to handle a lot more wattage

beyond that it sounds like you could probably just run a dist pedal into a power amp

Ahhhhh, this made me think about a very special band ! :smokin:

http://flickr.com/photos/jinxxer22/157623232/


. . . welcome to the wonderfull world of JUCIFER !!!


http://flickr.com/photos/miltown77/72788625/ - WOW !


They are a duo/two-piece, and Amber (guitarist/vocals) use a combonation of LOUD guitar amps, bass amps (and cabs) & PA AMPS (and PA Cabs) !!! (ALL AT THE SAME TIME !)


http://flickr.com/photos/jinxxer22/157623400/
Insane rig for a duo !

http://flickr.com/photos/miltown77/277922400/

http://flickr.com/photos/mscrimson/223389776/

http://flickr.com/photos/jinxxer22/157622994/


OK, so you get the idea !

 

[Scott_F]

Re: building an amp

I can honestly tell you guys that this is the first time I've ever seen someone come along looking for an amp that is all treble and is not concerned about tone. Surely someone is pulling our collective chains?

 

[loudriver23]

Re: building an amp

I can honestly tell you guys that this is the first time I've ever seen someone come along looking for an amp that is all treble and is not concerned about tone. Surely someone is pulling our collective chains?

+1

I mean there really are only 2 reasons I can think of to build your own amp. One is the never ending quest for tone. The other is just for the love of a fun project.
But to spend time and money and effort on building something that's all treble and just plain LOUD doesn't make sense.
Back in the days before dirt when I used to play punk, we also didn't care what we sounded like, just so long as it was loud and miffed everyone within a square mile.
I would NEVER EVER think of building some custom amp jobbie to satisfy my needs.
There are PLENTY of cheap LOUD crappy sounding amps out there.
I think if you do a ebay search for Loud and Crappy you might even find my old Sun Enforcer head on there.

 

[Pierre]

Re: building an amp

:O

 

[i love everyone]

Re: building an amp

well, it turns out our old 250-watt Randall bass head broke down, and is pretty much unfixable. the power amp stage, however, still works, so i was thinking of just running two cheap distortion pedals through the line in. my only question is: will the power amp from this bass amp work just as well for guitar? or would it be harmful/less powerful if we ran a guitar through it?