I'm gonna make my own amp!! maybe.

[god himself]

ok, i'm poor real poor, i can't afford to fork out 3.5k for a mesa head, maybe like 1.5k at a stretch. Reckon i can make one using these schematics?
http://www.schematicheaven.com/boogieam ... tifier.pdf
I figure i'll just leave all the boring stuff like the effects loop out.

What do you think?

[zdali]

Only if you're real handy with all sorts of tools... and the transformers will cost you an arm and a leg. I'd expect the parts alone (electronics, chasis, transformers) will set you back in the region of $1500.

Must it be a mesa? There are cheaper amp kits out there. Or you can score an old Holden or Rockit and refurb that for much less than $1500. Rockit SuperLead 130s are a pretty passable Mesa clones...

[RobRoyMcCoy]

Only if you're real handy with all sorts of tools... and the transformers will cost you an arm and a leg. I'd expect the parts alone (electronics, chasis, transformers) will set you back in the region of $1500.

Must it be a mesa? There are cheaper amp kits out there. Or you can score an old Holden or Rockit and refurb that for much less than $1500. Rockit SuperLead 130s are a pretty passable Mesa clones...

Wot Dali said. Builing an amp off a schematic is not straight forward. For instance, what current capability will you specify for your main secondary winding on your power transformer? Unless you know how to work that out it is probably better to do a refurb as Dali suggested or get a kit.

Rob

[DaNextSlash]

God wouldnt play a Mesa...he would play a Bogner Uberschall
On that note...you never told us what the answer to "guess my guitar/amp" was...

[Bg]

don't even think about saving cash by building an amp - and unless you're confident with a soldering iron/DMM you're looking at problems down the road....

[god himself]

Thanks for your replys maybe, i should scrap it and get a job.



Nah....

[god himself]

God wouldnt play a Mesa...he would play a Bogner Uberschall
On that note...you never told us what the answer to "guess my guitar/amp" was...

I'm looking for my camera, so you guys can have a laugh. Noones even come close to the guitar.

[god himself]

Anyone know where i can get these kits? and for what cost?
Is it just cheaper to buy a pre made amp?

[Bg]

hows your electronics knowledge? know how a transistor works? or what a capacitor does?

[god himself]

To an ncea level 2 level haha. I know the fundamentals, but i'm no electrical engineer.

[Bg]

you can make an amp on a budget, I've just built a 36 Watt kit - but take the initial budget and double it, by the time you've paid for plywood, tolex, speakers etc for a combo

Have a look at ceriatone.com for example - a JCM800 kit will knock you back about $820 nzd assembled or $677 for the kit - you still need to build the head sleeve on top of that, and tubes of course.

But a JCM is a pretty basic amp though

[rocklander]

do BG's trick and get a valve jr, then throw a quad under it!

[IkeKrull]

Going straight for the 100W Mesa is possibly not the best way to get into amp building, as youre dealing with a lot of very expensive parts, very high voltages and currents and theres a crapload to troubleshoot - how many tubes in total in a recto? 8? 12?, and big $$$ transformers.

Theres lots of low-wattage tube amp schematics out on the net that would suit a first project a lot better, Building a tube amp cheaply is only possible if you have a volume to bring component costs down.

Also, if you want a loud metal amp on a budget, why get hung up on the tube amp thing? You could build your own 'valvestate' amp first, with a tube preamp and a normal solid-state (or class D e.g. crate power block) power section which will cut the complexity and cost down immensely.

I mean, sure, the valvestate configuration doesnt have the street cred of the 'Ja, look at my amp, it has *von hundred TUUUUUBES*' high end amps, but, are you going to be pushing a dual recto into full saturation much anyway?

Once you have a working amp, you could build a low-wattage power section to get the hang of tube design and construction, and finally tackle the task of duplicating a big mother amp like a dual recto.

In any attempt like this, your first go is almost sure to be less than perfect, and rather than tackling a mammoth project thats going to mean you will be ampless for months while you build the thing, if you can make things that give results in a couple of weekends, then that will probably keep your enthusiasm up, and give you much more to experiment with, without any huge financial outlays.

[the_haunted]

Yeah, these good folks are right. Mesa is NOT the way to go for cloning.

- Way too complex to easily make layouts for.
- the schematics are incorrect.
- Parts are expensive. (the switching IC's are ~$10 each, and there's ALOT of 'em).

If you want to get into amp building, get a kit from ceriatone. This guy sells Great quality kits for crazy low prices. If you really want a challenging, high gain amp, make a Soldano SLO Clone. But It's not easy, and it's not cheap.

Here's mine
Sloclone website:
http://sloclone.yesterdaysrevolt.com/

[sgt mukuzi]

get the kit BG got !

BTW howic transformers will build you a tranny for $150
u will need two
he will need to know what model amp your building to get the specs