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Old 05-21-2014, 09:29 PM
J.R. Rogers's Avatar
J.R. Rogers J.R. Rogers is offline
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Default The cigar box amps

A cigar box plus a speaker and a circuit board from eBay and a little creativity = Sweet tone that's portable and super-lightweight. These amps are a lot of fun and they are all unique in some way. I really admire the creativity that people put into making these micro tone monsters and I've accidentally started a small collection. Today I even recorded a short tune with a new box that I got in the mail from Mead Guitars. This one is unique because it has a clone of the Boss DM-2 delay circuit built in and I think it has a fuzz box, too. Looks properly aged and distressed and kind of resembles an old piece of analog test equipment.



Here's the sample song I wrote and recorded with this amp:
https://soundcloud.com/bluesjr/cigarboxamp-fun

I took a few minutes to put a R0DE NT-5 mic in front of it and patched together a quick song. I recorded the background tracks with the delay circuit turned on and the foreground/lead with the delay off. No other effects were added except some EQ and final compression.

Big amps may sound great but they are usually heavy, solitary objects that you have to go sit in front of and try to be creative. Or you can throw one of these in your pack and go be creative wherever YOU want. That's what I like about these little guys. Inventive sound on the cheap that goes anywhere and is a whole lot of fun.

This is Goldy - she's the one I used to make this recording

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Old 05-22-2014, 09:11 AM
ttcycling ttcycling is offline
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Sweet amp....they really are fun to play with. I have been building and playing CBG's for a few months now and am having a blast with them!
Also built a small steampunk amp out a cigar box, fairly easy to do.
Any chance AGF will add a catagory for CBG's in the future?

Last edited by ttcycling; 05-22-2014 at 09:28 AM. Reason: Did not like photo that was posted
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Old 05-22-2014, 09:38 AM
RedJoker RedJoker is offline
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I assume that's built off the lm386 amp chip. I built one so I could have a battery powered amp to play outside. Though it sounded ok, I made the mistake of hooking it up to a real 12" guitar speaker. Holy cow does it sound great!
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Old 05-22-2014, 06:56 PM
Dru Edwards Dru Edwards is offline
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That's a cool looking amp, J.R. I checked out the Mead Guitars eBay link - very unique and interesting looking amps.

Your sound clip is great and has a wonderful melody to it. Made me want to pick up my Les Paul and play a harmony with it.
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Old 05-23-2014, 11:14 PM
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J.R. Rogers J.R. Rogers is offline
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Thanks, everyone!
Joker, I'll have to try plugging into a big cab. That sounds like fun. lol
AGF getting a category for CBG's? hmmmmmm
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Old 05-24-2014, 12:40 AM
perttime perttime is offline
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Cool amp...
... but what is the pictured guitar?
I'm assuming the switch is either for series/parallel/single coil, or for some tone control bypass wiring.
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Old 05-24-2014, 07:42 AM
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J.R. Rogers J.R. Rogers is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by perttime View Post
Cool amp...
... but what is the pictured guitar?
I'm assuming the switch is either for series/parallel/single coil, or for some tone control bypass wiring.
It's a Rock N Roll Relics Fifty Two custom with a David Allen Powerage pickup and Russian Military vintage caps. Hot rodded, dialed-in, and played-in - pure attitude. The switch is actually just an on/off switch. Not sure why and I'm not sure of the history on this switching mod but it's a real clean/solid switch... maybe designed to get a sort of tremelo effect right on the guitar? This one is an early model and I think they've since changed the body a bit to avoid problems with the son of Gib.

JR
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