DIY bass amp

[6thplanet]

Couldn't wait to get home from work to mess around with my idea.
I cut a quick test panel and routed out a spot for some strip LEDs and a piece of mirror plexiglass.

Once I threw that in an enclosure, I had to mock up an amp to see it for real....Light off

Light on

In the dark

Hell yeah!! I'm totally digging this. I'd like to see it with a warm white. The lighting can match what ever color the power LEDs are. What do you all think?

 

[JFlo]

I love it! I have an old Ampeg BT-140 I bought just because I thought the illuminated panel looked so cool.

 

[2saddleslab]

Couldn't wait to get home from work to mess around with my idea.
I cut a quick test panel and routed out a spot for some strip LEDs and a piece of mirror plexiglass.
View attachment 6983565
View attachment 6983566
Once I threw that in an enclosure, I had to mock up an amp to see it for real....Light off
View attachment 6983568
Light on
View attachment 6983572
In the dark
View attachment 6983573
Hell yeah!! I'm totally digging this. I'd like to see it with a warm white. The lighting can match what ever color the power LEDs are. What do you all think?

Love it!

 

[6thplanet]

Knobs and V2 position tubes came in today. This is where taking on ten amps hits the ol wallet.
One knob, $1.60, x70, now $112!
I went with the black chrome ones, they look stellar with all the variations of the amps.

 

[6thplanet]

All the rear grills are done. I fabbed these from salvaged grills from work. They were originally rounded, so I had to flatten them, cut to size, and bend a flange for the bottom. Next I punched holes and cut the trim. Last was some foam tape along the flange where it sits against the amplifier chassis.

Also got all the machining done on the front panels.

 

[Redbrangus]

The lighting can match what ever color the power LEDs are. What do you all think?

The purple makes me think it needs killer 21" rims and low-profile tires.

 

[6thplanet]

Lol, big pimpin!
Camera makes it look purple, it's actually blue. Kinda like it makes the reddish bloodwood look orange.

 

[6thplanet]

Couple more coming together...

 

[B-string]

Love seeing what you're doing here. Awesome stuff.

Not to be that guy in the room, but.....I hope the ones you send out into the world you have the "buyers" sign a liability waver/ use at your own risk?
People don't think when seeing these ventures just how much testing and certification processes are required to sell as a commercial venture. Yes you can benefit from tax exempt and quantity component/scheduled delivery discounts but the cost and time involved make those savings trivial in small production runs. Keep it fun and protect yourself on the units that leave your control.

Please understand I'm not trying to be a wet blanket, more like looking out for your efforts and educate a little into what it takes to build for the masses for anyone asking "why not sell them".

 

[6thplanet]

I appreciate it, that's in the works.

 

[6thplanet]

More work over a long weekend. All the boxes are assembled and have all the front panels ready for finishing.

I solder on the PCBs for about an hour a night, those are coming along nicely. I assembled one of the DI output boards and tested into my interface. It's working fine. This being a DIY venture, I will be posting the schematic, soon. I just need to address a couple things.

 

[S-Bigbottom]

Them purty.
Love the different wood faces.

 

[6thplanet]

Lots of soldering lately. All the preamp boards are done.

Depth control / harnesses completed

and very close to having the DI boards done.

Everything will still need a good cleaning, but I'm through the bulk of it.

I'll be picking up the logo badges this weekend. Still working on the sticker for the back of the chassis.

 

[6thplanet]

 

[Passinwind]

Lots of soldering lately. All the preamp boards are done.
View attachment 6993760
Depth control / harnesses completed
View attachment 6993761
and very close to having the DI boards done.
View attachment 6993765
Everything will still need a good cleaning, but I'm through the bulk of it.

I'll be picking up the logo badges this weekend. Still working on the sticker for the back of the chassis.

Where did you get the PCBs made?

 

[6thplanet]

PCBway, takes about a week to get them.

 

[Sparky Mark]

What a brilliant thread. Truly impressive craftsmanship in all disciplines.

 

[6thplanet]

Thanks guys! Like to also mention, I use KiCad for the PCB design. It's a wonderful program to use with plenty of tutorials and website support.

 

[beans-on-toast]

Next up was layout for the front panel. I went with the font Megrim that I used on the PCB, thought it looked neato. I had the shop that did the chassis cut the plates, then sent them to a friend that does laser etching.

View attachment 6977906
Went with a dark bronze aluminum, looks pretty snazzy if I do say so myself.

Do you think that the 9V power output close to the input jack will present a problem? I’d test it under full load just to be sure that it isn’t.

 

[beans-on-toast]

Thanks guys! Like to also mention, I use KiCad for the PCB design. It's a wonderful program to use with plenty of tutorials and website support.

For a laugh, I tried running KiCad on a Raspberry Pi 5. I was surprised that it did well.