Can this $50 Mini Amp be MODIFIED into a BEAST?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ก.ค. 2024
- Join me in this journey where I take an inexpensive $50 portable guitar amplifier and modify it into a stage-worthy powerhouse! In this video, I’ll take this challenge - can I turn it into a powerful tool for an “amp-less” rig? Can we take this little toy guitar amp and turn it into a powerful guitar amp full of tone? Imagine pulling up to a gig with this tiny little “toy” amp, only to the astonishment of others in the band alongside the conventional rigs of fellow musicians. That's exactly what I set out to do!
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Inside this video:Crafty Modifications: Watch as I dig into the heart of this mini amp, adding a speaker output jack and an effects loop. These tweaks aren't just about improving the sound; they're about revolutionizing how we perceive portable amps. I’ll also tweak the distortion circuit, the eq circuit, and give it the ability to use with other devices that run Impulse Responses for the best in guitar cab sim technology.
Sonic Explorations: Experience the transformed tones as I test the amp with different settings, showcasing the versatility and depth added by the modifications.
Amp Anatomy Lesson: Gain insights into the technical aspects of amp circuitry. I dissect the amp's preamp section, explaining the nuances of it’s non-inverting op amps and passive mid controls.
Real-Time Experimentation: I connect this mini titan to various cabinets and load impulse responses, showing its newfound capability to mimic larger, more expensive amps.
DIY Tips & Troubleshooting: I share my experiences with budget electronics, offering valuable advice on dealing with common issues like flaky jacks and circuit board quirks.You’ll love the guitar tones coming out of this modified version:We’ll play this through a variety of cabinets and IR’s. From clean tones to mid-scooped settings, and even how it pairs with pedals like the Black 65 and our Belle overdrive, it's a sonic feast for those into great guitar tones!
Overall, this video isn't just about tinkering with electronics; it's about the joy and creativity in music gear modification. Whether you're a gigging musician looking for a compact solution or a DIY enthusiast eager to learn, this video is a treasure trove of inspiration and technical know-how.Stay tuned for more adventures in sound and don't forget to like, share, and subscribe for a front-row seat to my next guitar, pedal, and amp escapade!
Timestamps:
00:00 start
01:34 stock amp tones
02:46 circuit description and analysis
05:22 problems I encountered
06:39 after the modifications
09:11 changing the preamp
10:35 using the effects loop
11:07 Important Message - เพลง
Ah yes, another example of Brian being a treasure of the guitar community.
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I second that
Back in 1979 I took a portable cassette player and wired a guitar cable into the back of the tape head and voila a battery powered amp and because the guitar pickups were higher impedance I had good distortion as well. Not stopping there I took a small headphone speaker out of a pair of headphones plugged it into my new little amp and I put the tiny speaker between my teeth facing in my mouth and you got it I was playing like Peter Frampton with a talk box at 15 years old.
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Also, When you see the montage of me working on the amp i modified the circuit entirely, changing the preamp, clipping, and EQ. Notice how that tone control knob is different? I did not detail "how" to do the mods though, but the course will detail things like this.
This is fantastic!
❤this, signed up immediately.
Something I've always wanted to do is have a guitar amp circuit inside an old Hi-Fi turntable setup. Basically make it look like you're playing through your grandma's old Sears record player. Bonus points if you could have the turntable spinning and controlling an optical tremolo or something.
I've seen someone comment that they used that as like a preamp boost thing and funnily enough he mentioned that the turntable had to be spinning for it to work lol. I wonder if you could cut holes in a record and have a light sensor under it to control a tremolo or something wacky like that
I upgraded the speakers in one of these and the difference is night and day, awesome to see one of the masters actually break down how to improve on the circuit.
Did you replace the internal speakers? If so, what did you replace them with?
What a pleasure to watch a person that KNOWS what their doing.
I'll take. 3 of them
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You deserve the "Amp Mod Award of the Year" if there is such a thing! The incredulous looks you'd get from other guitarists seeing your Rig would be pure gold. What a fun Project. Thanks
I modified one of my MS4s into a head by yanking the electronics, throwing them into a wooden box, and putting in a speaker out. I then use a Danelectrode with the voltage dropped to the point where the amp barely functions and send the signal into a speaker cab. It creates a glorious noisy broken fuzz sound that was inspired by the first Foo Fighters album (namely, the songs Exhausted and Podunk), where a different portable amp (SLC "The Can") was used with nearly-dead batteries to the same effect. I then use this setup with my '60s ES-125 because I know that every time I do, a tone snob gets indigestion.
Cool. Just shows how important speakers are to tone.
Ooh boy, you're gonna upset the toob and toanwood bros with that hot take.
A nasa engineer told me once magnetics are the most important part of any circuit. So i said does that mean pickups and speakers are most important for tone. He said yeah
@@immy4104 Not at all , everything adds to the tone. If you have good wood and a tube amp , you need a good sounding speaker to hear them properly
So cool. Always wanted to see this come to life, instead of only being in my head.
Really suprised of how good the amp actually sounded through a bigger speaker. Especially with the gain at noon. Super nice crunch tones :) Great video Brian !
That was amazing! I can't believe the tones you got from the mini. Sorcery!
I did a similar thing to one of my own amps, which is a Fender Mustang modified with an external speaker jack to bypass the internal 8 inch speaker. I plugged it into a 2x12 with greenbacks and it was the best sound I'd ever gotten from my limited arsenal of amps. Whether it's a high quality tube amp or a cheap little solid state amp, either sound is essentially an equalized and distorted signal until it hits the speakers, and that's where your tone comes from.
This seriously demonstrates how important speakers and cabs are to good sound/tone.
I loved my Fender Mini as a pre-amp/overdrive but also as a bass amp for recording dirty parts.
I’ve ran the little Marshall MS-2 from the headphone out to a Mooer Radar and it was shockingly good too
So cool, sir. I love the videos. Most unique and informative videos out there.
That’s very kind of you! 🙏
I absolutely love these experiments
Did the same with Fender Mini Twin late 90's, it rocks.
I did the speaker output mod to the Marshall MS-2 years ago, I love that little thing!
I have installed output jacks on several mini amps over the years, I use a shorting Jack so I can still use the internal speaker. Most of the time I have been impressed at how good they sound going though a real speaker.
can definitely confirm though, I've wired a speaker out of one of those 1 watt belt amps and it sounds awesome through a cab!! that black 65 really helps make it sparkle for sure!
What a great illustration that the real tone comes from the speakers.
This is the fun content the world needs! thank you!
Back in the early 80's I used to practice and occasionally busk around Center City Philly with my Memphis 'Explorer' copy, one of those little battery-powered 'Marshall Halfstack' amps that had like 2 or 3 knobs, and I fed that with my MXR Distortion+ (which I still have) so I got a real super high gain. That little amp didn't sound too bad for what I was doing at the time, which was mostly running Sabbath, Dio, Ozzy, and other metal riffs over the fret board, as was the style at the time. I had this idea of building a belt of 5 of them chained together for more volume and directional dispersion, but I never got around to doing it. These days I could make a belt of 7 if you know what I mean. Especially after the holidays.
Dooooood that sounds rad!
I added a speaker out to my Katana Mini. Thru a 2x12 it is loud and sounds great. I've used it in rehearsal thru a Vox 8" cab and it sounded great!
Great video Brian.
hokey smokes! I have one of those little amps on my TV stand right next to a Fender Greta it may be in for some re-working lol. Cool idea and video Brian love your pedals, I have several.
I got one of these for my brother's birthday awhile back, and we plug into nice speakers and were floored how good it sounded. Honestly if wampler could make his version of this for $50-75 and sell a mini bravado that'd be an instant buy lol Just the power amp out would be a nice backup to have around.
Cool stuff dude.
Thanks for the opportunity Bryan!
I did a similar (but simpler) mod to my little Marshall ms 2 years ago, it actually was quite fun to hear how much better it sounded through a 412
Well this was fun! I'll admit that I am not a modder and my electronic skills don't extend into design type work, but I always appreciate the inside, technical componets with your videos. I probably wouldn't have even found the page if I wasn't already such a fan of your pedals! lol...
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Watching this video just gave me the hope to see one day a Wampler Practice amp !!! How killer this would be ❤
Your Awesome Brian Wampler An I Absolutely Love Every Wampler Pedal I've Ever Purchased From Sweetwater! Keep Up The Great Work Building Awesome Pedals An This Video Was Great Too! Have A Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year! Thanks For All You Do. 👍🙋♂️🎸🤘🎊🎁🎅🎄
Thanks so much Bryan, Merry Christmas and happy new year to you as well!
Very cool!
Brilliant! your videos are fantastic.
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Great video. I have the 57 twin mini, had it for over a decade and love it but I had always wanted to put a bigger speaker in it or connected it to a cab. It sounds great in your video. That clean vintage sound comes out great with bigger speakers. Have you had any modifications or issues from the amp pushing/driving through those bigger speakers?
I put a speaker out on a Squier SP10 .Sound great through 4x12 , 2x12 ,and 1x12 .
This is kinda why I went and bought the Boss WAZA Tube Amp Expander. I wanted to add an effects loop to my Blues Jr, and I wanted to run it into my 2x12 Vox cabinet. Just to play mind games with people.
When I assembled a mini pedal board for my mini-strat, I bought the mini-Katana. I had seen a few videos demonstrating how to add an audio out jack to it. But doing that AND adding an effects loop to the tiny tweed seems like an even better idea.
the Orange Crush Mini has a cab out- I run it into a 1x12 and it’s much better. actually very usable for a bedroom amp!
Just removing the two 4148s is a massive upgrade. It has a decent clean tone now and still distorts if you raise the gain up. I tried red LEDS and other diodes and liked it best with nothing in that place. Good little desktop amp for testing pedal builds to make sure they work before taking it to your actual rig
Do you tried germanium diodes like 1N60?
@@lecleto I tried every diode I had ended up preferring no diodes at all. I don't think I had a 1N60
I had a little plastic Fender amp. I’d use a wah in front of it and put a light jacket or shirt over it, to dampen the harshness. It would really scream. When the battery just started to die it would sound even better. I remember having half dead 9 volt batteries laying everywhere.
Step 1: Bypass speakers. Step 2: Bypass preamp. Step 3: Bypass power amp?
Ultimate $40 amp mod : don't use any part of a $40 amp.
@arferbargel nope…When you saw the montage of me working on the amp i modified the circuit entirely, changing the preamp, clipping, and EQ. Notice how that tone control knob is different? That’s “after” the circuit mods. I did not detail "how" to do the mods though, but the course will detail things like this.
@@wampler_pedals oh hey man, appreciate the response, but that was just a general joke about the general usefulness of these mini amps for most people in most situations. Super cool video, and I'm sure the course will be great for those who know the business end of a soldering iron from a hole in the ground.
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😳🤣
I need to do this for my next band practice
Pretty darn cool ☮️
Yer a madman. I love it.
I have found in my own experiments that speakers make a huge difference in the tone of amps. Oddly enough I am nearing the end of a draft for a book on amps that hints at everything you did here… only my work is much more of a hack in comparison. 😂 thanks!
I modded my old battery-powered Marshall stack belt clip thing to have its own clean power in and power amp out to a cab. Was hilariously good sounding for a tiny meme amp you were supposed to clip onto your belt.
I have this little tweed amp on my bench to test my builds, looks like it'll be getting an upgrade here soon =)
If you could do one of these tutorials for a boss katana mini, that would be really great for my solderwork!!
I modified a Blackstar Fly 3 with an upgraded 3 inch Neodymium 4 ohm speaker, and speaker out jack, I modified a BK Butler Blue Tube pedal to use an octal 6SL7 tube, and I'm using a Fryette Valvulator in the back of/beforthe input of a gifted Marshall VS15R amp. I'll be mounting the modified Blue Tube pedal in the back of a gifted Line 6 Spider 3 150 watt 212 amp
hey it sounds great, I have that little amp. So cool!
I've run a Katana mini into a wedge monitor. It sounded great. Would easily gig with it.
SKB has a 5watt amp available for $9 on parts express. You just need to add a speaker and a power supply. It takes a pedal 9V center negative. Or what I do is connect it to a usb power bank. I got a Fane Black Label 12” at a pawn shop for $10. off a broken combo amp.
It also sounds good just connected to a regular 12” full range sub. I’ve tried that also.
Some guys connect it to 12V for more headroom but I find 9 to be enough and it is loud. Has no trouble keeping up with a 20watt amp.
It also has a whole slew of extra stuff like ports for pedals, a cable tester. Headphone jack ,along with a port to connect it to an external cab. All for $9!
I’ve also tried it with a 4” speaker and a 10”. The ten was the best sounding.
What is the name or part # on Parts Express?
I gutted a cheapo mini amp and put a modded solid state jcm 800 circuit in it and it actually sounds amazing
I used to play the same joke, by having my 15 watt Gorilla practice combo perched on a chair on stage but I had modified it with a speaker output jack, so it was plugged in to a mic'd 2x12 just off stage. In truth, it wasn't so much a joke as it was a necessity, seeing as it was all I had back in the late 80s. Actually sounded reasonably good!
Brian continues to be the man
Making a power-amp out to any cheap guitar amp and then connecting it to a decent cabinet will make a huge difference even without modifying the circuit at all. The stock small speakers in these budget amps are the nail in their coffins, they will always sound thin and tincan-like, there's no way around physics.
Very true! I didn't go into the circuit details here, but I did change the amp's preamp, clipping, and EQ inside the mini-amp itself as well.
Fair point, ordinarily I would agree but, desktop amplifiers would appear to differ
Engineering does have a habit of progressing
Quite irritating to us dinosaurs but there you go!
yes you can. I plugged my entire rig into a marshall micro... I have a tube amp however you need to crank up to a certain level else it sounds very muffled...
Love this! I remember making a talk box out of a small practice amp, some tubing, a plunger and a suitcase. Also reminds me of Tome Morello, I think he used a practice amp on the RAGE album, I believe.
Nope, 50 watt marshall
this mini amp actually sounds killer already if you use it with an extension cab
I put a speaker output on every mini and practice amp I have now. I wish I'd known that my Peavy Micro Bass 20 watt amp that I had as a kid had one.
Amazing
It's possible to swap a Spring Reverb tank for a FX Loop? Cheers from colombia!
Did that with one of those Marshall ones. Was loud as fuck through a 4x12.
😂 that's very cool...and funny....dam it now I want one.
what about your eq in effects loop? sounds great but the bottom end is a bit flubby. cool preoject, i'll send you my little amp to mod...
when you played it clean-ish, it sounded pretty tubey. what's your opinion on this? do tubes matter?
I actually did this once with a Vox Mini 3. The other guitar player was surprised and asked me if that's what I was really going to use and I said yes. When the little amp was mic'd up it sounded just fine. LOL
Such a simple sight gag. Killed me tho.
The other guitar player in my old band had a tiny amp not much bigger than that. He'd sometimes show up on a motorcycle with his whole rig on his back. Tiny amp in a backpack.
I basically do this with my Micro Dark and an EQ, but that can get pretty nerdy.
I used to have one of those. Wish I still had it. A BUSKER stole it before I could even set up.😢
Very cool. Hey Brian where did you get the schematic for this or did you just figure that out? Signed up for the guitar pedal courses .. stoked to learn.
found it online, then reversed my circuit to make sure it was accurate. imgur.com/gallery/l17mOc9 and www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?t=28109 but the FSB schematic is missing a cap on the headphone output stage.
Have you tried the mini Laney amps? I'm pretty sure you could get away with just putting a mic in front of them. They sound real.
Speakers are the most impactful upgrade u can do in any amp. Speakers are to the amp what the pickups are to the guitar
If you used a boss katana mini you wouldnt need to do much modding to it.they sound great on there own just don't get loud enough
You can use it anywhere if you skip the preamp, poweramp and speaker ;)
This content caught my attention... Can you mod a boss katana mini for fun? It's actually decent for baseline
Not sure, I haven’t opened on up yet
wow it sounds like a real amp now
W so many good sounding effects and amp simulators , you'd think someone would have a clean only mini amp w increased headroom.. Altho my little NUX ( Curly of the 3 Stooges gives the proper pronunciation) has a good clean tone.
Cool
The blackface twin one sounds even better.
Cómo se hace un bucle de efectos ???
Whelp, now i definitely have to get one of these lil babby amps now.
do you have any experience with a guitar feeding a computer or cellphone through a USB soundcard taking the output to headphones or an amp? I tried Guitar FX but it would not
work on my android phone, kept causing the app to crash. I tried it on my laptop using headphones and it did work but he free version of the app was pretty limited and nothing
to get excited about. The $2 dollar USB soundcard had some hum and it was to good. There is something called IRIG but much more expensive and was wondering if it works any better. I am not a Pro guitar person just having some fun playing songs I grew up listening to and I can't get into expensive amps. Wondering if there was a cheap way
of getting a guitar to sound better than it does with a cheap amp.
That should work… might just be the app not working properly
Every single guitarist would buy that modded mini amp.
Hey, aren't you that actor from that movie Fido?
Honestly, it sounds shockingly good stock considering how small the speakers are!
nah
Sounds like crap stock
Don't listen to the replies, you're going to be the new Steve Albini
Mad scientists are mad. By definition.
Neato, BDub.
OK now show us how to put a FX loop in a Spark40...!
Any chance on a 'Chasing Tone" reunion this holiday season or other?
Not sure! possibly
I thought about modding my orange micro dark, but i can't find a schematic for it 😂 i actually tried running my plexi drive mini into it's fx return as a preamp
Anyone know what amps on top of the soldano?
Ceriatone dumble clone
So all you really did to the circuit was allow run it through better speakers? What was going on with the mid-range knob?
No, I modified the circuit as well, it’s mentioned elsewhere in the comments here
Moral of the story... any reasonably clipped wave pushed in to standard guitar speakers sounds like a decent amp...
Wait, how can a 1 watt power amp drive 4, 12 inch speakers? Obviously we are hearing it through the mic, but it must be pretty quiet with each speaker only getting 1/4 watt?
Yeah it’s not super loud, but loud enough to be fun
@@wampler_pedals gotcha. My electronics technology classes were nearly 25 years ago, and while I love electronics, I've forgotten a lot! Lol
Often all it IS is the speaker assembly, NOT a circuit itself! \m/