Can this $50 Mini Amp be MODIFIED into a BEAST?

[@LucasFowler]

Ah yes, another example of Brian being a treasure of the guitar community.

[@wampler_pedals]

🙏

[@caleshtcincredibles]

I second that

[@joe-dp3ng]

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.

[@MindfullyBased]

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.

[@HittingImage]

Did you replace the internal speakers? If so, what did you replace them with?

[@ChainsawRosary]

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.

[@heggy_69]

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

[@picksalot1]

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

[@CA10Z]

What a pleasure to watch a person that KNOWS what their doing. I'll take. 3 of them

[@wampler_pedals]

🙏

[@dennisneo1608]

They're?

[@beachsidetech]

Cool. Just shows how important speakers are to tone.

[@immy4104]

Ooh boy, you're gonna upset the toob and toanwood bros with that hot take.

[@Ottophil]

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

[@terryenglish7132]

@@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

[@ErickC]

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.

[@wampler_pedals]

For years I’ve had many folks ask me to make dedicated courses on some of these topics that I dive into here on youtube, but have been wanting me to go into way more detail. I’m proud to announce that we now have two guitar pedal courses available that are deep dive on all of those pedal questions you’ve been wondering, and we are ALSO taking pre-enrollments for a huge “How to design overdrive and distortion pedal circuits” course for beginners and intermediates who are wanting to learn all about the electronics side of guitar pedals.* All of these courses are ABSOLUTELY RISK FREE - 100% money back guarantee within 30 days of your purchase. If you don’t love the courses, I’ll refund you, no questions asked. If the thrill of building and tweaking your own equipment ignites your passion, you’ll love it. Swing by my other website, www.guitarpedalcourse.com For a VERY limited time, you can snag any of our courses at a steal. Just type in the code 25offnow to slash 25% off any course. Don't delay though - this deal ends shortly. What have you got to lose? ;) 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.

[@danielmiller2886]

This is fantastic!

[@RobertMcSherry]

❤this, signed up immediately.

[@vidarfro]

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 !

[@alexcorona]

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!

[@alexcorona]

I’ve also tried it with a 4” speaker and a 10”. The ten was the best sounding.

[@ethelvermin2224]

What is the name or part # on Parts Express?

[@ctsilva45]

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

[@lecleto]

Do you tried germanium diodes like 1N60?

[@ctsilva45]

@@lecleto I tried every diode I had ended up preferring no diodes at all. I don't think I had a 1N60

[@acasadiluca]

Thanks for the opportunity Bryan!

[@JamesDierken]

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.

[@leftofpunk]

What a great illustration that the real tone comes from the speakers.

[@jasonulrich3818]

So cool. Always wanted to see this come to life, instead of only being in my head.

[@sski]

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.

[@LetMeGoForever]

I loved my Fender Mini as a pre-amp/overdrive but also as a bass amp for recording dirty parts.

[@minorcek]

I have a portable Kustom Amp that I'm able to get great tone from using a Joyo American sound into the Aux input ( to bypass the pre ) of the amp. It sounds SO good. It also allows me to put reverb after the joyo, which works like having an fx loop. Quick and cheap way to make a portable amp sound awesome

[@Chucksguitargeekery]

I’ve ran the little Marshall MS-2 from the headphone out to a Mooer Radar and it was shockingly good too

[@aristocaster]

Did the same with Fender Mini Twin late 90's, it rocks.

[@richarde3378]

Very cool!

[@adamlanghans]

I absolutely love these experiments

[@Mike28625]

That was amazing! I can't believe the tones you got from the mini. Sorcery!

[@kyledurand8528]

So cool, sir. I love the videos. Most unique and informative videos out there.

[@wampler_pedals]

That’s very kind of you! 🙏

[@ralph_clay]

This seriously demonstrates how important speakers and cabs are to good sound/tone.

[@NoahRichardHarris]

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.

[@tlinrin887]

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.

[@NoBrakes23]

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.

[@sc3ku]

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!

[@jasonlee8497]

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.

[@richdonn]

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!

[@jacksonhoward3743]

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

[@ColbyJohnson303]

I did the speaker output mod to the Marshall MS-2 years ago, I love that little thing!

[@jeffhughes1039]

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

[@MoreMeRecording]

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...

[@wampler_pedals]

🙏

[@TheVerlaine]

Brian continues to be the man

[@bradbarker4041]

Step 1: Bypass speakers. Step 2: Bypass preamp. Step 3: Bypass power amp?

[@arferbargel]

Ultimate $40 amp mod : don't use any part of a $40 amp.

[@wampler_pedals]

@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.

[@arferbargel]

@@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.

[@wampler_pedals]

🙏

[@sneifert1968]

😳🤣

[@dennismullins4930]

Pretty darn cool ☮️

[@stevedurrant8815]

I put a speaker out on a Squier SP10 .Sound great through 4x12 , 2x12 ,and 1x12 .

[@MrDaNee32]

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.

[@wampler_pedals]

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.

[@glennlilley8608]

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!

[@lenix125]

I gutted a cheapo mini amp and put a modded solid state jcm 800 circuit in it and it actually sounds amazing

[@RobertMcSherry]

I need to do this for my next band practice

[@gibgezr]

Yer a madman. I love it.

[@FuriousMess]

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.

[@TealScarab]

If you could do one of these tutorials for a boss katana mini, that would be really great for my solderwork!!

[@CyberneticArgumentCreator]

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.

[@marshpw]

This is the fun content the world needs! thank you!

[@darrellminx5459]

Great video Brian.

[@baldyhead]

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!

[@marshpw]

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!

[@nckncknck7408]

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...

[@adilO.o]

Watching this video just gave me the hope to see one day a Wampler Practice amp !!! How killer this would be ❤

[@alexwoolridge94aw]

Cool stuff dude.

[@ShadyLurk3r92]

Brilliant! your videos are fantastic.

[@wampler_pedals]

🙏

[@alanredversangel]

I've run a Katana mini into a wedge monitor. It sounded great. Would easily gig with it.

[@bryancarter8117]

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. 👍🙋‍♂️🎸🤘🎊🎁🎅🎄

[@wampler_pedals]

Thanks so much Bryan, Merry Christmas and happy new year to you as well!

[@csumme7]

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?

[@RileySullivan]

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.

[@jwstout007]

I have this little tweed amp on my bench to test my builds, looks like it'll be getting an upgrade here soon =)

[@MRxr400]

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...

[@caseyryanclayton]

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.

[@Ottophil]

Nope, 50 watt marshall

[@Mike28625]

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.

[@MadScientistGuitarLab]

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!

[@SenkuDarwin]

hey it sounds great, I have that little amp. So cool!

[@Bloor005]

Did that with one of those Marshall ones. Was loud as fuck through a 4x12.

[@martijn_yt]

You can use it anywhere if you skip the preamp, poweramp and speaker ;)

[@brycejames9475]

this mini amp actually sounds killer already if you use it with an extension cab

[@jefgirdler7232]

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.

[@Telorchid]

Such a simple sight gag. Killed me tho.

[@zaturnneo]

I basically do this with my Micro Dark and an EQ, but that can get pretty nerdy.

[@gobigrey9352]

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.

[@alexcrouse]

Honestly, it sounds shockingly good stock considering how small the speakers are!

[@AaronNGBnTech]

nah

[@HeliBenj]

Sounds like crap stock

[@camillaquelladegliaggettiv4303]

Don't listen to the replies, you're going to be the new Steve Albini

[@wesmitchem825]

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

[@imslicc]

when you played it clean-ish, it sounded pretty tubey. what's your opinion on this? do tubes matter?

[@aznsensation44]

Speakers are the most impactful upgrade u can do in any amp. Speakers are to the amp what the pickups are to the guitar

[@Keith-rk4td]

I used to have one of those. Wish I still had it. A BUSKER stole it before I could even set up.😢

[@danitinez85]

Amazing

[@heavybrett-al4082]

😂 that's very cool...and funny....dam it now I want one.

[@basicforge]

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

[@CentaurusRelax314]

Mad scientists are mad. By definition. Neato, BDub.

[@StealthParrot]

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.

[@wampler_pedals]

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.

[@NICKORAZU]

It's possible to swap a Spring Reverb tank for a FX Loop? Cheers from colombia!

[@peterhall4852]

Every single guitarist would buy that modded mini amp.

[@acynecki]

wow it sounds like a real amp now

[@terryenglish7132]

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.

[@truce11]

This content caught my attention... Can you mod a boss katana mini for fun? It's actually decent for baseline

[@wampler_pedals]

Not sure, I haven’t opened on up yet

[@wordofmouth7679]

The blackface twin one sounds even better.

[@kiillabytez]

Hey, aren't you that actor from that movie Fido?

[@jwhite1016aol]

Any chance on a 'Chasing Tone" reunion this holiday season or other?

[@wampler_pedals]

Not sure! possibly

[@josephesposito3499]

Can you modify my Dan Electro honey tone mini amps? In would consider paying you to do this

[@ryandague7177]

So all you really did to the circuit was allow run it through better speakers? What was going on with the mid-range knob?

[@wampler_pedals]

No, I modified the circuit as well, it’s mentioned elsewhere in the comments here

[@robinpare5155]

OK now show us how to put a FX loop in a Spark40...!

[@immy4104]

Whelp, now i definitely have to get one of these lil babby amps now.

[@n1kkri]

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.

[@wampler_pedals]

That should work… might just be the app not working properly

[@flmason]

Moral of the story... any reasonably clipped wave pushed in to standard guitar speakers sounds like a decent amp...

[@paulsonn1308]

Cool

[@danielmiller2886]

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?

[@wampler_pedals]

Yeah it’s not super loud, but loud enough to be fun

[@danielmiller2886]

@@wampler_pedals gotcha. My electronics technology classes were nearly 25 years ago, and while I love electronics, I've forgotten a lot! Lol

[@kieahn7588]

Anyone know what amps on top of the soldano?

[@wampler_pedals]

Ceriatone dumble clone

[@subjectt.change6599]

So, the entire secret of good tone is the speakers? I guess I don’t really need new pedals then, do I?

[@wampler_pedals]

I *always* recommend changing your speaker first if a person is unhappy with the sound of their amp, even before buying any pedal.

[@victorycrosby4896]

If it has no tubes than why not just put a speaker in an old toaster ? Its also compact.

[@wampler_pedals]

Good question. A major fault of a toaster, when used as an audio device, is that there is no circuitry inside that manipulates audio in a good way. It’s basically just hot wires, which doesn’t do much for a guitar signal. I suppose I could rip it all out and install audio circuitry but then at that point I might as well just build a complete pedal. Also, they aren’t true bypass.

[@victorycrosby4896]

@@wampler_pedals I would recommend you drop that idea and just have a tube toaster rectifier with a crumb tray and aux cab and your preferred loaf bread and butter.