chrisanthony1211

I've already completed one amp which I'm pretty happy with but I'm going to have another go just to iron out all the little flaws in my first attempt. My first amp project I sprayed with black truck bed liner which has given the amp a pretty professional looking finish, however I wondered if anyone has some other suggestions that may look even better.

For those of you that don't know, although the amp one has a line out, and a sub out, these need to go into a powered speaker and are not suitable for passive cabinets. I took my amp one in pieces and I wrote down all the measurements, even the depth of the reflex port, and with some help of the AER website I was happy that I knew precisely what I needed to build myself the perfect cabinet for the perfect mini stack. Up steps B&Q FREE cutting service! Double ding dongs and bingo bongos for B&Q, I will admit to reducing the depth and width of my measurements by 1mm to try and round most of the cuts down to the nearest 5mm, I also used 12mm ply as oppose to 15mm birch ply but that's all they sell. When I asked Mr B&Q how accurate his measurements were he said that it would be to the mm...... I was a little sceptical but when I got my wood home and measured up, it was perfect, and it made putting the cabinet together a very simple process, just a bit of wood glue and a few screws and job done. I sanded down all the edges and cut out the hole for my repaired speaker to go into. Next, what finish to put on my lovingly crafted cab, my mate said gotta be tolex, Internet said acoustic felt, however I found a forum that suggested truck bed liner spray, I did a little research and purchased a couple of cans of hoytes truck bed liner spray and I must admit to being very happy with the finish, it's very similar to the acrylic finish on my amp one but without the splatter effect! Time will tell how durable it is, but two cans gave me about 8 coats so I'm quite optimistic. Next the difficult decision of how to power this little beauty. Initially I was fancying a subwoofer plate amp, however I thought that if I could get something a little more transparent then the quality of the amp one may just shine through. After much research and consideration i plumped for a JB systems AVM 1. This is designed to go into a JB passive speaker and give it some power, it throws out 300watts at 8 ohms which is just what I needed, it fits nicely flush on the back of my amp, and the result!!!!??!?!?!?!?!!! I took my half finished clone to practise this week, I was optimistically hopeful, but also a little concerned that something may blow up. Powered from the sub output from my amp one this gave ,me loads and loads of extra bottom end, my amp one is not shy when it comes to producing those low notes, but this really does improve the overall package, it's a definite thumbs up. I've fitted some corner protectors purchased through eBay and I'm now just awaiting the arrival of the leather handle and speaker grill to finish this girl off. I now have the perfect set up, my amp one for practises and small gigs, and just add my little clone for anything else. I also really like the idea that if this does get a little battered, I can visit B&Q to get all my wood cut for £15, two cans of spray for £18 pound, a few screws and wood glue, then just take all the hardware out of my current set up and I basically have a new amp again! I will admit that when I do this again (and I will because I really enjoyed it) I will do a couple of things differently, I ended up using far too many and unnecessary screws which all needed countersinking and filling, when I could have hidden all the screws under corner protectors or on the inside of the amp and let the wood glue do more of the work, so less work for next time! There is a link below to photos and my schematics but the definite lesson of the day, is that making a decent amp to the spec and size you want is not as hard as you think, and very enjoyable to make as well. Photos below for anyone that's interested, will put some more photos on once grill and handle turn up. http://s1161.photobucket.com/user/chrisanthony1211/library/AER%20clone?sort=3&page=1