OffsetGuitars.com

After looking at the BYOC pedal thread I got thinking.

Has anyone here built their own amp? Do kits exist? Is it cost effective? I remember having a catalogue years ago and it was really expensive.

kits exist all over the internet.

Weber has kits, so do Mission amps etc.

a google search will bring up quite a few links

To answer your questions, yes, yes, depends on what you think your time is worth.

Some good places to start for amp kits are:

http://www.ceriatone.com
http://www.trinityamps.com (I built an sIII with a custom cab for around 1k)
http://www.gdsamps.com
http://www.allenamps.com
http://www.dobermanamps.com/
http://www.tedweber.com (lower prices but you'll get lower quality transformers/pots/caps etc.)
http://www.mojomusicalsupply.com/products.asp?id=44991 (pricey)
http://www.stf-electronics.com/Page0015.Html

There are more but that's I have time to find now...  search some more yourself. 

Amber wrote: After looking at the BYOC pedal thread I got thinking.

Has anyone here built their own amp? Do kits exist? Is it cost effective? I remember having a catalogue years ago and it was really expensive.

Yes, they are everywhere.
In Florida we have Rogers' amps (amazing guy) and www.marshamps.com

There are other places like www.cpamps.com for some nice blackface, tweed, and marshall style tube amps. Indeed everywhere.

Yeah, I think the price of ceriatone (they're like a few hours away from me!) and marsh kits are pretty good. I was seriously considering trying to build a Tweed Champ clone, but considering I couldn't put together a distortion pedal... Some of them offer kits that have been 'pre-built' for you.

I was looking into it a while back but since its real electricity and not 9volt batteries i decided to pass on it,i wouldn't like to kill my self for an amp. Its a shame.i would've enjoyed it but i just don't have the necessary electrical skills.

weijie wrote: ...but considering I couldn't put together a distortion pedal...

Pumpkin wrote: I was looking into it a while back but since its real electricity and not 9volt batteries i decided to pass on it,i wouldn't like to kill my self for an amp. Its a shame.i would've enjoyed it but i just don't have the necessary electrical skills.

same here, i´ve been looking at the ceriatone kits for a few months now, but... i haven´t managed to succesfully complete my distortion+ clone yet, and that has like 20 parts in total 

Pumpkin wrote: I was looking into it a while back but since its real electricity and not 9volt batteries i decided to pass on it,i wouldn't like to kill my self for an amp. Its a shame.i would've enjoyed it but i just don't have the necessary electrical skills.

The only thing you have to remember is that you must discharge the caps before you go sticking your hands in it.  No big deal really.  It was the first project I tackled before ever even touching a pedal.  I did take electronics for two years in high school so knew how to solder, read a schematic, and stuff beforehand, but it really wasn't any more difficult then wiring up a pedal, in many ways, I'd say it was even easier.  There's more room to work in some of these chassis.

In all honesty i probably could do it fine cause I'm a whiz with pedals and guitar electronics  but I would definitely read up on it before hand.
Theres a few amps I'm looking into so maybe some day I'll get around to making one also......

Pumpkin wrote: I was looking into it a while back but since its real electricity and not 9volt batteries i decided to pass on it,i wouldn't like to kill my self for an amp. Its a shame.i would've enjoyed it but i just don't have the necessary electrical skills.

I was stupidly sure that I could build an amp bymyself, but some months ago I was trying to repair a cheap SS amp of a friend of mine and almost get killed as I connect it to the plug..I'll never touch something that has to do with 220V..