Home made Cigar Box Amp - sound test

This is the first amp I've ever made and I couldn't have done it without the leaflet "How To Build A Cigar Box Amp" from Smojo. (If you want one Smojo can be contacted at smojoguitars@yahoo.co.uk)
I used a Montecristo cigar box, a Kemo MO32 12 watt amp module and a 4" 4ohm car speaker. It's powered with a 9v battery (didn't want to do anything linked up to the mains while I'm still SO inexperienced!!)
If you want to see some photos, including one of the inside have a look here
http://www.cigarboxnation.com/photo/albums/montecristo-cba
I'm playing my 3 string Red Dog Cigar Box Guitar...if you like the sound, check out this site
http://reddogguitars.com/
or John McNair's YouTube channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/johnmcnair

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Montecristo
• cigar
• box
• amplifier
• home
• made
• Red
• Dog
• guitar
• Panasonic
• SDR-SW20
• bottleneck
• slide
• Delta
• blues

[phisherben]

That is so cool! How long does the battery last when you play for about an hour a day with it cranked up pretty loud? I want to make one, but I am leaning more towards a plug-in type rather than a battery type. Thoughts?

[bemuzic]

@phisherben cheers...mmm not sure about battery life, as I have several amps, so only play any one for a few minutes here and there. I wanted to stick to battery as I didn't dare do anything connected to the mains with my very limited electrical knowledge!! If you are confident about that and don't need it to be portable, maybe you should go for plug in...or have the best of both worlds and do it so it has both : -)

[chriskettle427]

Hi great sound, could you let me know what strings you use & also what tuning ?

Thanks Chris.

[bemuzic]

@chriskettle427 Hi, thanks.It still has the strings it came with, so I'm not sure what they are. Some kind of light acoustic ones. It's the D,G and B strings. They were tuned to A,E,A of this video...If you like Cigar Box Guitars check out the Cigar Box Nation website : -)

[justinmason100]

holly fuck that is awsome can u please do a tut on it

[bemuzic]

@justinmason100 cheers..if you get the leaflet I mention in the "more info" it explains how to make the amp : -)

[techDASHtutDOTcom]

@phisherben I've checked the current usage of an LM-386 type CBGA, and at full volume about 0.25A is drawn which would give a 9-volt about 2 hours of play. I'm not sure about the Kemo M032, but I imagine that it would go through a 9-volt pretty fast. Hope this helps.

[justinmason100]

@bemuzic thanks

[bemuzic]

@hollandampsguy thanks : -)

[hollandampsguy]

it sounds great .. you did a good job ...