Cigar Box Practice Amp Build

[Will_White]

I've been using a slightly modded danelectro honeytone n10 (sealed the holes, and stuffed with poly fill, it has a surprisingly interesting tone) as a headphone amp and a noodling amp. Since I'm moving into a tiny house in a few months and I can't take even my 1x8 combo I got to thinking about how I was going to keep playing.
So......

I'm planning on reboxing the amp portion of the honeytone into an even smaller case, add a second battery for "18 volt" operation, and disconnect the speaker leads and connect them to a 1/4" output jack.

As for the two speakers, they're 5.25" 4 ohm car speakers. The power amp of the honeytone has an 8 ohm minimum so I had to use two, I'm not going to complain about the extra volume; the mrs. might about the extra space. Those will be going into a ported enclosure.

I tested the speakers and stock amp open air and there was marked improvement in clean headroom, stuff was shaking off the table and I could feel the bass in the floor so I think it will have much better bass response then the puny 3 watt 2" speaker. I'll be getting the battery leads, and output/input jacks on thursday.

Thanks for checking out my project,

 

[JimmyM]

Interesting. The whole tiny house phenomenon is pretty wild. I could never do it but I'm always pretty surprised how folks can shove so much into a small space.

 

[n4vgm]

Great idea! Keep us posted.

 

[Will_White]

Interesting. The whole tiny house phenomenon is pretty wild. I could never do it but I'm always pretty surprised how folks can shove so much into a small space.

Yes it's pretty interesting, I'm moving in with my fiance into a 10x21 house after we get married, and she agreed that I could have an amp if it fit into an Ikea shelving cube(13x13x12) and as it happens nothing that fits the size fits my budget. I'm hoping that the total cost for this project will be under 50$

 

[Will_White]

So I checked the ratings on the caps last night and it looks like most are 25volt but there are a few 16volt caps in there, since I'll be using a pair of lithium batteries which are 8.4 volts I think I'll be ok but if one of the caps fails buy another amp, replace the caps, and reset it's only 20bucks.

 

[NightCat]

Salem?? I'm in Corvallis. Howdy neighbor!
You should SteamPunk it!

 

[Will_White]

Salem?? I'm in Corvallis. Howdy neighbor!
You should SteamPunk it!

Howdy, I'm planning on simple and bright, I bought purple leds for the indicator lights on the amp, and I'm going to head to the craft store this weekend to find some grill cloth probably a bright green or a purple, and just black enclosures.

 

[Will_White]

Well I either connected the batteries backwards or the caps couldn't take the extra volt, in any case I let the magic smoke out, smoked all the 16 volt caps and the IC, while it was working however it sounded awesome, well reset and try again. I was planning on adding a sag control anyway. Would it be worth it to replace the caps with film caps?

 

[B-string]

No to the film caps. What is the ID on the IC?

 

[Will_White]

No to the film caps. What is the ID on the IC?

TL072 and TDA7052. Also would there be any way know if it was overvoltage that caused the problem or if it was the battery polarity, looking at the circuit it doesn't have any protections for reveresed battery polarity.

 

[B-string]

If the polarity was reversed you likely wouldn't have gotten any usable sound at all. The output chip has a max voltage rating of 18 volts supply so don't use alkalines. It was most likely over-voltage the ICs being collateral damage (unless you used fresh alkalines). The TDA7052 might need a heatsink at the higher voltage.

 

[Will_White]

If the polarity was reversed you likely wouldn't have gotten any usable sound at all. The output chip has a max voltage rating of 18 volts supply so don't use alkalines. It was most likely over-voltage the ICs being collateral damage (unless you used fresh alkalines). The TDA7052 might need a heatsink at the higher voltage.

I used rechargables at 8.4 volts each, and the IC wasn't hot to the touch.

 

[Will_White]

So while I was looking for a deal on another honeytone I came across guitar fuel amp harnesses and I think I'm going to use this instead, [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] I'm also thinking about putting it in a cigar box.

 

[shaginwagin]

Subbed! I like stuff like this! Even though I don't understand cap values and all that electronics mumbo jumbo. Makes my tinker bone tingle haha...

 

[Photobassist]

Subbed as well... I use an AC1 Rhythm Vox when noodling around in the living room and have often wondered how I could get a little more out of the tiny box.

 

[Will_White]

Subbed as well... I use an AC1 Rhythm Vox when noodling around in the living room and have often wondered how I could get a little more out of the tiny box.

If you want more bass you can stuff it full of poly fil (pillow stuffing) but it will reduce overall output, atleast that worked on the honey tone. Also depending on how it's wired and how many speakers there are you could put a low pass crossover on one of them.

 

[Photobassist]

I haven't tried the poly fill or the crossover, but I have connected it to my house stereo speakers a couple times using regular black/red speaker wire which gave the little amp some headroom and a little more bass.

On a side note, I've been eyeballing tiny houses for about the past ten years and would love to live in one. I should've pulled the trigger back then when prices weren't quite as high as they are nowadays. Do you have any photos of the house?

 

[Will_White]

I haven't tried the poly fill or the crossover, but I have connected it to my house stereo speakers a couple times using regular black/red speaker wire which gave the little amp some headroom and a little more bass.

On a side note, I've been eyeballing tiny houses for about the past ten years and would love to live in one. I should've pulled the trigger back then when prices weren't quite as high as they are nowadays. Do you have any photos of the house?

Here's where I got the idea for the crossover on only one speaker, there's some good info in there,
Cynosure | Parts Express Project Gallery

As for pictures of the little house I actually don't have any right which is kinda sad as I'm going to be spending all day working on it and not going around to cigar shops. I'll try to get a few today.

Edit: here's a picture of the outside.

 

[Will_White]

The house is done so I finally have some time to work on this project and by chance I was chauffeuring around my fiance and my friend planning a baby shower on our way home and my friend decided she wanted to go to the craft store and there I found this:

A little bit of laying out,

A bit of sabre saw work

Mounted the crossovers for the two "woofers" and added some damping for the top and back,

Took out my wood burner, stained it with some grey stain I had laying around, and mounted the woofers.

I ordered the amp harness tonight so it'll be here sometime.

 

[alaskaleftybass]

Subbed! Whenever we travel to Oregon we stay at a nice hotel near Lancaster Mall usually weekly. I'm so glad that Salem finally has it's own Guitar Center!