hi all, iv never done any audio amp but im intrested in trying to build a amp for my acoustic guitar, can any1 advise me on where to start

regards jason

 

Hi Jason,

Welcome to the board. What kind of electronics experience do you have, outside of audio amps? That'll help judge what kind of thing you might like to try.

Also, what are your hopes for the thing? Does the guitar already have a built-in pickup? What about a preamp? Or would you like to use a microphone?


Torben

 

hi, iv been playing around with elec projects using op-amp, leds, lcd with pics.
just messing around with different ideas ect, what i have learn is out of a book or on this web site.

my guitar is an acoustic guitar with a built in pick up with a plug on the back of it to plug into.

i dont want anything to fancy just a amp and if i can maybe adjust bass ect

many thanks

jason

 

Wikipedia has a nice article on guitar amplifiers. Not too technical, but perhaps a good place to start your search and narrow down what you want to do; e.g. solid state or tube amp.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitar_amplifier

 

OK. Is the pickup a piezo under-bridge pickup, and does it have a preamp in the guitar (does the guitar need a battery and maybe have a volume/tone control)? If it doesn't have a preamp you may need to compensate for the high piezo output impedance; if it does have the preamp that will be taken care of by the preamp.

Maybe I should just ask what the guitar make and model is.

This simple project (http://www.runoffgroove.com/ruby.html ) should get you started. It's easy to build, has few parts, and is a decent starting point. It has high input impedance so you might be able to just plug your guitar straight into it and play. It's no Fender Hot Rod DeVille but makes a half-decent first practice amp.


Hope this helps,

Torben