Making a small/low-wattage power amp

[DankStar]

For no particular reason other than I want to see if it works, I'm going to make a small, low-wattage power amp for guitar/bass. Basically like the mini power amp pedals that many companies make but lower power and cheaper price.

The board is here:
https://www.parts-express.com/t-amp-tripath-ta2024-2-x-15w-audio-digital-amplifier-board--320-600

It's going to have dual ins and outs, a volume control, an on/off switch, and maybe an LED, housed in a small project box I'll paint.

Pretty bare bones. At 8 ohms, it'll only be about 10 watts a side. Runs on a 12V adapter.

Cost is about $40 including the power supply and shipping.

 

[IMENATOR]

Re: Making a small/low-wattage power amp

Just curious, what will you use as preamp?

 

[DankStar]

Re: Making a small/low-wattage power amp

Just curious, what will you use as preamp?

For bass, I think my ART tube mp preamp will work pretty well - I always liked recording bass with it direct. I'd like to get an ampeg or MXR preamp pedal for bass eventually.

For guitar, stuff I have laying around like an Ibanez tube king, marshall jmp-1, digitech gsp 1101, behringer GDI21, etc. I'd like to pick up a Mooer Fried Mien sometime, I really like the clips I heard & it's super small.

 

[DankStar]

Re: Making a small/low-wattage power amp

I wired up the minimal amount of components needed for a test and it worked! It had been so long since I messed with circuits I had to relearn a bunch of stuff and wasn't sure if the thing would even power up.

The bass was loud enough for practicing and sounded very clear. It made me very happy to play bass through a (mostly) DIY amp into a DIY cab. It doesn't really need a preamp IMO.

Pic of the setup:

 

[DankStar]

Re: Making a small/low-wattage power amp

Guitar sounded pretty good with my tube king (I didn't really spend any time dialing in a tone), but some noise (not sure if it was the unit). Again, plenty loud for practice.

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A little background:

This all started when I stopped by a house with a bunch of free stuff and I picked up two small fender practice amps (one for bass, one guitar). Neither worked. I tried to fix them, but couldn't figure it out. I was kinda pissed and decided to build my own thing. Seeing that this works, I have a design in mind for a low-wattage hybrid guitar amp for the small fender enclosure that doesn't work.

 

[DankStar]

Re: Making a small/low-wattage power amp

Just following up. I completed the amp yesterday, and it works fine. Bass sounds great with another DIY pedal I have (Sparkleboost).

I like these plastic Hammond boxes. Easy on the wallet, and look fine without any decals or whatnot. Slightly messy to drill but you can easily vacuum up the shavings. I may try to make some stickers sometime, but there's not much to label.

Specifics:
- 2 mono ins
- 2 outs
- volume control
- 12-volt power supply
- supposedly 15 watts with a 4 ohm load (I'm using an 8 ohm speaker)
- old school on/off switch
- green LED



quick snippet w/GSP preamp:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEMvmcID0do

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Making a small/low-wattage power amp

Great job! Very inspiring!

 

[DankStar]

Re: Making a small/low-wattage power amp

Great job! Very inspiring!

Thanks! Parts express has some cool stuff.