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Building a small "travel" amp

#23
if you can access one you might consider the small Roland MicroCube BASS RX combo, I use the guitar version, the RX, and mildly abuse it to get my excellent Ampeg / Felix distortion but either might be acceptable for you in lesser settings. if you can't get one maybe someone here could assist your delivery.
 
#24
Bass V said:
if you can access one you might consider the small Roland MicroCube BASS RX combo, I use the guitar version, the RX, and mildly abuse it to get my excellent Ampeg / Felix distortion but either might be acceptable for you in lesser settings. if you can't get one maybe someone here could assist your delivery.
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That is again something that goes way over my budget :)
 
#29
BAG said:
If you don't already have this kind of gear it will most likely be too expensive but if you've already got a preamp effect pedal like the ZoomB1on and a rechargable speaker with any Aux input you can get acceptable sound at talking levels. Here's my travel practice rig below. Bass into B1on then into Sony SrsX2. I also plug my tablet into the Sony and jam along to tracks.

View attachment 2842149
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I have actually been doing something similar lately in the office with a Zoom B2 (I had it in a drawer doing nothing) and a JBL charge 3, and it actually sounds pretty decent at low volumes!
 
#30
BassmanPaul said:
That module is only a third of the equation. You need a pre-amp of some kind and the biggie is a suitable safe power supply - unless you plan on running on batteries.
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A power supply isn't too hard to find if you know what to look for. There's lots of "junk" out there with perfectly functioning power supplies. Lots of electronics run on 12 volts it seems. 9 volts is common too. A good source of higher voltage and higher current power supplies is old laptops, they will run something like 15 to 20 volts and 3 or 4 amps. Old cordless tools are good sources too, the tool will break or the batteries go dead but it will usually have a 9 to 18 volt power supply as a "dumb" charger.

A "dumb" charger is just a DC power supply and can be easily re-used. A "smart" charger will have some electronics in it that could prevent it from being used as a power supply. So long as someone can keep an eye out for dead electronics, can read the labels, and knows what to look for, then they can have a shoe box of spare power supplies real quick for small projects like this.

Not that I'd know anything about that. There's no boxes of power supplies in my basement. Really. So stop asking.
 
#31
BassmanPaul said:
That module is only a third of the equation. You need a pre-amp of some kind and the biggie is a suitable safe power supply - unless you plan on running on batteries.
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I think that I mentioned somewhere that my bass is active; it has built in preamp. I can even use my Digitech XBD before actual module to boost signal. This kind of modules are made for running on batteries, so they have variable working voltage. I have an 9V adapter that should do the trick+I can buy several rechargeable batteries to carry around with my "thing".
 
#32
Common Tater said:
A power supply isn't too hard to find if you know what to look for. There's lots of "junk" out there with perfectly functioning power supplies. Lots of electronics run on 12 volts it seems. 9 volts is common too. A good source of higher voltage and higher current power supplies is old laptops, they will run something like 15 to 20 volts and 3 or 4 amps. Old cordless tools are good sources too, the tool will break or the batteries go dead but it will usually have a 9 to 18 volt power supply as a "dumb" charger.

A "dumb" charger is just a DC power supply and can be easily re-used. A "smart" charger will have some electronics in it that could prevent it from being used as a power supply. So long as someone can keep an eye out for dead electronics, can read the labels, and knows what to look for, then they can have a shoe box of spare power supplies real quick for small projects like this.

Not that I'd know anything about that. There's no boxes of power supplies in my basement. Really. So stop asking.
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Oh, I DO have tons of working adapters that I can use for this kind of stuff. We save stuff here in Serbia. Whenever you get a new electronic device you get some kind of power supply with it. Device dies, power supply continues its life connected to something else.
 
#33
Since your budget is so low and you accept that the sound may not be great, and will likely be very low, have you considered a powered 2.1 computer speaker system? At least those have a sub box of some sort that is designed for lower frequency. I found one on Craigslist for 10 bucks and it crushes the little Bluetooth speaker I have. The "sub" is like 8"x8"x4" and the two sattelites are like 3"x3"x3". It uses a 7v wallwart and is probably about 3.5 watts or so per channel, maybe another 3-5 watts for the sub. A little swaperoo of the two RCA connectors and some duct tape I could probably put together an ugly but functioning unit. I bet you could too.
 
#34
dindinbre said:
Oh, I DO have tons of working adapters that I can use for this kind of stuff. We save stuff here in Serbia. Whenever you get a new electronic device you get some kind of power supply with it. Device dies, power supply continues its life connected to something else.
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Used adapters are saved the world over. I have a rack full myself. OK enough talk from you - get down to building! :D
 
#36
In my view, if possible, find a small Class-D power amp module. The reason is that they tend to run on more widely available power supply voltages, and the smaller ones usually only need a single supply rather than plus and minus supplies.
 
#37
basscooker said:
Since your budget is so low and you accept that the sound may not be great, and will likely be very low, have you considered a powered 2.1 computer speaker system? At least those have a sub box of some sort that is designed for lower frequency. I found one on Craigslist for 10 bucks and it crushes the little Bluetooth speaker I have. The "sub" is like 8"x8"x4" and the two sattelites are like 3"x3"x3". It uses a 7v wallwart and is probably about 3.5 watts or so per channel, maybe another 3-5 watts for the sub. A little swaperoo of the two RCA connectors and some duct tape I could probably put together an ugly but functioning unit. I bet you could too.
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That is something i wanted to try at first. But most of them work on non-regular battery voltages (1.5,4.5,9,12, etc) and I wanted to make something that I can carry to, lets say park, and play
 

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