Working Man's Amp

[Pete Halliday]

I wanted to share this just because I think it's kind of fun. A few years ago I built a speaker cabinet to look like it was made from an old crate (after looking for old crates at antique stores and rrealizing how flimsy most were). I thought that it would be fun to build an amplifier into a tool box to pair with it but didn't get around to it for several years. I play in a band that thankfully practices at a pretty low volume, but that gives me the problem of having too much clean on a lot of songs with even my 6G3-ish 15 Watt amp and I don't want to schlep around my HRD which is alright on the gain channel or my Vibrochamp-ish amp which I put in a fancy case that does not travel well. So after poking around on ax84.com and learning about the projects for a while and then coming across the <a href="http://diyguitarfreak.wordpress.com/201 ... 2-0/">Mini Amp 2.0</a>, I finally came up with a plan based mostly on the latter. The result is a 1.5-2 W amp that has uses 2 12AX7 tubes and an ECC99 running in push-pull as the output tube. The first gain stage runs into a Vox-style TMB tone circuit which runs into a recovery stage and then into a third gain stage before a cathodyne phase inverter. There is a post-tone gain control and a post-PI master volume added. The transformers are Hammond 269EX for the PT and 125C for the OT. It is also switchable between 4, 8, and 16 ohm loads. The controls are very interactive and it's a ton of fun messing around with preamp vs power amp overdrive or cutting mids for more of a silverface type sound. With the master volume it sounds pretty good at levels that don't bother the rest of the family (too much) and was also loud enough for band practice last night. There is not much headroom at all, but it does clean up a bit with the guitar volume backed off a tad. And best of all, it looks like a stock tool box from four sides with only an output jack and IEC jack on the back.

[Steve Senseney]

I don't know how it sounds, but it looks great!

[Jason Rodgers]

A tool box for an amp head: brilliant! That's all super cool!

[Tom Barton]

I like that! May have to steal this idea...

[Mark Swanson]

That's really neat! Maybe you could make a drawer pull out for storing cables and a pedal or two.

[David King]

I Love it! Do you keep effects pedals in your lunch box?

[Pete Halliday]

I thought the idea was kind of a natural and was surprised that it was somewhat hard to find pictures of similar builds, although there are some really nice ones out there. I did think originally about using a toolbox with a drawer for cords and what not and may go that route if I do this again.

[Art Davila]

Yeah what mark said,
but put in spare tubes instead of pedals.
So you never have to worry about a tube going bad,
at a gig late at night with no music store near by, or open.
Just pack them in foam so they roll around in the drawer.

[Chad McCormack]

That is really cool, and well-executed Pete... pretty much like everything else you've ever posted on here! Well done.