noob wants to build kit

[Lance Hoffmeyer[_2_]]

Hey all,

Got a hankering the other day to try my hand at building a tube amp.
I was looking at a couple of kits from TubeDepot.com. I am thinking
I would like to build a small acoustic amp or jazz amp that gets a
good clean sound. Don't need much power so I was thinking about
starting out with something like the MODEL 16LM Mono Integrated amp.
I figured with 16W and a SPL 100db or so speaker that should be enough
with the 5 or 6 watt Fender Champ clones others are using. Don't care
about tone controls. Hope the amp has good flat sound and will let
the guitar control sound.

Does this seems like a reasonable idea for a starter kit?
On the face of it, to my unknowledgeable self, there doesn't
appear to be any major drawbacks to using a Mono Integrated amp
as a guitar amp. Am I correct in my assumption?
What are your thoughts?
Just want to make sure I am on the right path before I spend money
and waste my time.

TIA,

Lance

[Phil Allison[_3_]]

"Lance Hoffmeyer"
>
> Got a hankering the other day to try my hand at building a tube amp.
> I was looking at a couple of kits from TubeDepot.com. I am thinking
> I would like to build a small acoustic amp or jazz amp that gets a
> good clean sound. Don't need much power so I was thinking about starting
> out with something like the MODEL 16LM Mono Integrated amp.
> I figured with 16W and a SPL 100db or so speaker that should be enough
> with the 5 or 6 watt Fender Champ clones others are using. Don't care
> about tone controls. Hope the amp has good flat sound and will let
> the guitar control sound.
>
> Does this seems like a reasonable idea for a starter kit?
> On the face of it, to my unknowledgeable self, there doesn't
> appear to be any major drawbacks to using a Mono Integrated amp
> as a guitar amp. Am I correct in my assumption?
> What are your thoughts?
> Just want to make sure I am on the right path before I spend money
> and waste my time.


** That kit is not ideal as a guitar amp but might be OK if you added a
pedal with gain between it and the guitar. The Boss AD3 ( Acoustic Preamp
pedal) is worth a look or even one of the older Boss Graphic Eq pedals might
do.

Note that the amp's output is rated for a 4 ohm speaker.



...... Phil

[Bret L]

Probably the best guitar amp kits are those from Ceriatone in
indonesia.


Before building a kit though I'd build myself up a full bench and
then some simple projects from scratch such as those intended for
youngsters in the Alfred Morgan and Harry Zarchy books. The library
will have copies on interlibrary loan, I'm sure. The best and simplest
starter project is a good regen radio.

Another good fairly simple beginner project is a preamp which is
simply the front end of an old Fender guitar amp. Alembic did this
forty-plus years ago, it still works. You can also take a Fender
Champ, hook the output up to a load resistor and use it as a pre. That
works too.