How to build a guitar amp from scratch

GeeDub

Mojo Seeker
I wish I had the space with a workbench. I would definitely like to try my hand at building something similar. It appears to be a pretty straight forward process. However, I will wait for enlightenment from our resident amp build/rebuild expert - CapnDenny.
 

Iheartbacon

Blues Junior
I wish I had the space with a workbench. I would definitely like to try my hand at building something similar. It appears to be a pretty straight forward process. However, I will wait for enlightenment from our resident amp build/rebuild expert - CapnDenny.

Building a kit with good layouts and instructions is a relatively easy project as long as you can solder. The issues come up when you make mistakes. If you have a bad solder joint, put something in wrong etc. then the average guitarist will quickly find themselves over their head trying to debug it. If you lack the skills to debug and repair an amp, build VERY carefully as going slow will get you done much quicker than building fast! It also wouldn’t hurt to have an amp tech on speed dial ready to help you out if needed.
 

CapnDenny1

Student Of The Blues
Yes, I agree with what’s been said. I recently built one for a customer, and debugged a completed one for another customer. The customer built it 4 years ago ad it sort of worked, but kind of went crazy, so he closeted it for 4 years. The one I built I had several errors, but they were partly due to poor schematics.

If anybody wants to try I would be glad to help troubleshoot if it has issues. Most issues are wiring errors or unsoldered wires. I had a couple parts that I switched locations.

It’s important to understand good wire routing And as stated learn to solder. It’s not that hard, but get a nice iron with temp control. Hakko makes excellent stuff. I also use a Weller pistol shaped iron for point to point tube amp work.

Now the disclaimer. I don’t believe there is anything magical about point to point wiring. Well designed pcb’s can be far superior to point to point wiring in every respect.

But a hand wired point to point amp that you built yourself is still cool! Just don’t expect it to be better than a well designed modern amp.

Also don’t expect to save money doing it. There are so many great sounding amps now, both tube and SS. In the used market there are great amps that sell for a fraction of what they cost new.

But again, it’s still cool.
 

Iheartbacon

Blues Junior
The big advantage of point to point, turret boards or eyelet boards over PCB’s with surface mount components is they are much easier to debug and repair or mod. Otherwise, a well designed PCB will often have less noise and otherwise sound as good.

And I second the comment on not saving much money. When you price out quality components, especially good transformers, tubes, and speakers, you will quickly realize that a quality hand built amp isn’t cheap even if the labor is free!
 

CapnDenny1

Student Of The Blues
Yes, SMT is not very easy to work on. I have had to return some stuff that had SMT parts. I was thinking of the through hole pcb builds.
 

DesmoDog

Desmo was my dog. RIP big guy
I've built a couple amps, well three actually. Sorta. First one is a Champ clone built from a kit. Second one was more ambitious but in fact I never got it to work right, even with the (phone) help of a talented amp guy. I ended up using some of it's parts in the third one, which is a Firefly. Started building that on an eyelet board and then bought a PCB to populate instead. I still need to build a cabinet for that one.

I'm seriously tempted to start on Bassman Micro (Rob Robinette has a few "micro" designs and I like low power amps) but I just started on a guitar so likely won't for a while. I also have a few bikes that need TLC and a car project too, so it's not like I'm looking for things to do .

https://robrobinette.com/Bassman_Micro.htm

I think kits are a great way to get started. Buying all the parts seperately is a pain and more expensive. I haven't found a single stop shopping source for an amp.
 

DesmoDog

Desmo was my dog. RIP big guy
Have to say I still haven't gotten around to finishing my 5F1 kit. Got distracted building pedals, but I'll finish it eventually. Got this one: http://www.boothillamps.com/5F1_Kits.php

That's the same one I built.

Looks like this now:

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