Amp discovery!

[Kinski]

So I found this tiny amp while reading on some Hi-Fi audio forums. Thought some of you might be interested.

Mine has been going strong on a 12v 6800mah battery. Sounded good at 9v (OneSpot) too. I'll try 18v eventually as I've read they sound best at that voltage.

I've paired mine with a cab/speaker sim and it sounds fantastic! Produces no heat.
$5 total and was here in Brooklyn from China in 7 days.

Based on the TPA3118 chip.

Super clean, full range sound.
Up to 60w (mono) output.
Wide range of operating voltage.
Low power consumption.
Cheap!
FREAKING SMALL! Not much bigger than a guitar pick.

This thing is a serious winner.

You could even get two and make a home stereo out of them. Thats what the Hi-Fi guys were doing on the forum with great results. So I figured, one would be great for a guitar amp.

Im gonna experiment more, but will be making a portable battery powered amp, pairing this with a cab/speaker sim and a nice amp-in-box circuit/overdrive.

Link:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/401098186294

Here is mine:

[Muadzin]

Most interesting. Color me dense but why would you need a cab sim? Assuming you're going to run this from a preamp into this power amp and then into a cab.

[Kinski]

You certainly don't need a sim. I just found to prefer the sound of it. 

On Jun 20, 2016, at 1:48 PM, Muadzin [via Guitar FX Layouts] <[hidden email]> wrote:

Most interesting. Color me dense but why would you need a cab sim? Assuming you're going to run this from a preamp into this power amp and then into a cab.

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NAML

hey, thanks for sharing that!

Just bought one. I'm gonna try to build a small practice amp (with a chinese copy of tech21 blonde as preamp).

Any idea on the power consumption at 18V? Do you think some kind of master volume pot would be easy to implement?

Cheers

[Kinski]

Volume pot should work just fine. The vol pot on the preamp would probably be enough.

have not tried 18v so I don't know.

[Muadzin]

I bought a couple and they arrived yesterday and I noticed it has pads for a mute function. Do you have any idea how it works, how it should be wired and if not used if it should be left alone or jumpered?

[iggy]

Hey , thanks for the heads up on that one. Looks very cool. Ordered a couple to try out.

[Kinski]

Hey Muadzin, I just left the mute pad as they are and it worked fine. Probably if you connect them the sound cuts. I've been out of town a lot and have had to chance to further mess with this thing.

Any of you guys messed with this thing yet? Any success? I'm still looking for the right EQ/Preamp to pair with this.  

[notnews]

Re an EQ, I'm a huge fan of BJF's Sea Blue EQ... it works so well with so many different amps. Are you using this with an electric guitar? the Sea Blue shines with solid state amps.. I use it with my Roland JC-120 and my bandmates love how it EQs guitar and makes it the guitar fit into a mix really well.

[iggy]

have you tried the Blue EQ on that yet? That was my thought as well. Love that pedal. Just waiting for my boards to arrive and I'll try it out. Also interested what one of the Plexi circuits might sound like. hmmm!!!

[Kinski]

Okay, had some free time today with the wife and kid gone.

Before today, I've only been playing it through some shitty home stereo speaker cab I found at a thrift shop with an unmarked speaker.

I finally ran the amp though my real guitar cabs, with nice speakers. They all sounded so better. Really nice actually. All my issues disappeared. A huge full sound. Still didn't run direct though. I had a ROG Condor before it.

Way too loud to play in my apartment at full volume on a 12v battery. This thing is awesome. A simple TMB EQ or SeaBlueEQ would probably make this thing even better.
 
Im going to try a SeaBlueEQ again. I built and used one years ago, but ended up scrapping it for parts, as I found it distorted way too easily. The headroom was so low. But it did sound nice otherwise.

[El-even]

Hi guys,

i want to use this litlle amp with my preamp wich run with +15/-15v
i use this power build for my preamp

kinski, you say the amp run best at 18v so,
is it possible for me to catch some 18vdc somewhere on this schem without destroy something on the 18vac adapter, preamp or amp?
and if i want to put one general powering switch and one fuse, where can i put it?
thanks

[Kinski]

Hey, dont know about that layout and getting 18vac. 

And as far as it running best at 18v, i just read that on a hi-fi forum. A few mentioned that they thought it sounded best around there. I’m pretty sure they can take up to 24v. I’ve only tried 9v and 12v so far.

On Thu, Jul 14, 2016 at 1:58 PM, guile31 [via Guitar FX Layouts] <[hidden email]> wrote:

Hi guys,

i want to use this litlle amp with my preamp wich run with +15/-15v
i use this build for my preamp

kinski, you say the amp run best at 18v so,
is it possible for me to catch some 18vdc somewhere on this schem without destroy something on the 18vac adapter, preamp or amp?
and if i want to put one general powering switch and one fuse, where can i put it?
thanks

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NAML

[El-even]

Ok, i'll buy one and test it with the 15v i already have from the +15/-15 build
thanks for the review of this little beast

[El-even]

kinski, what kind of cab did you use (4Ω,8Ω,16Ω) ?
Is there any restriction?

I have got one vox v112tv

do you think it can go with these tpa3118 poweramp kit if i don't push it too hard?

[Kinski]

Im still experimenting. Ive tried both an 8” 4ohm and a 12” 8ohm and both sounded quite nice. 

On Sat, Jul 16, 2016 at 8:49 AM, guile31 [via Guitar FX Layouts] <[hidden email]> wrote:

kinski, what kind of cab did you use (4Ω,8Ω,16Ω) ?
Is there any restriction?

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NAML

[iggy]

Here's a link to the digital chip that's the amp in this thing. Seems it can handle a wide range of ohm loads.  From 2 ohm up to 8 ohm. Since it doesn't use a transformer like a tube amp it really pretty flexible. I gives some good info on ohm loads, power and what you can hook up. If you load it up hard, you might have to attach a heat sink to help cool the device.

http://www.ti.com/product/TPA3118D2

still waiting on mine to arrive. looks like fun.

[Kinski]

Yeah, these amps are often run by the TPA3116 or TPA3118. They are pretty much the exact same chip, except that the TPA3118 does NOT require a heatsink, if run within spec, of course.

The chip that I posted in this thread uses the TPA3118.

On Sat, Jul 16, 2016 at 10:48 AM, iggy [via Guitar FX Layouts] <[hidden email]> wrote:

Here's a link to the digital chip that's the amp in this thing. Seems it can handle a wide range of ohm loads.  From 2 ohm up to 8 ohm. Since it doesn't use a transformer like a tube amp it really pretty flexible. I gives some good info on ohm loads, power and what you can hook up. If you load it up hard, you might have to attach a heat sink to help cool the device.

http://www.ti.com/product/TPA3118D2

still waiting on mine to arrive. looks like fun.

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NAML

[El-even]

thanks for the infos,
I don't think my 16ohms cab can match with the poweramp; too bad!
In any case i must find a new cab because the watt limitation

[iggy]

Got two boards in today. and wired one up. Definitely works. Very flat EQ running direct. So some form of EQ is needed. I tested it with the Sea Blue EQ. Really sweetened up the sound. That thing does wonders for any set up I think. But I don't think I am getting any where near the volume level out of this thing as I should. Nothing like I'd expect for 30 watts. More like 5 watts. I don't see any adjustments on the board. And tried it with 9, 12 & 18 volts. From the little bit i was able to play with it. I did like the 18 volt best. More dynamic sound. But a very small playing sample. Until i knocked it off the bench and now it's just squealing at me.

Time of death. 17 minutes.

Next one gets a box.

How much volume are you guys getting? 30 watts that sucker should be loud.

Give that EQ circuit a try with this thing. Might be a winner.

One thing I did notice. Is that this digital circuit is very revealing. If you put something into that doesn't sound good, it'll sound like ass coming back out.