Favorite amp replacement pedal?

[matmonster58]

I'm trying to practice guitar more and want to convert my cheap combo amp to something nicer. I have amp modelers and nice pedals and all that, but I just want something that's plug and play.

I plan to gut out the amp and replace it with a preamp, a reverb, and a class AB amp board

Im shooting for clean to light OD tones

What sushi preamp would you recommend for the front end of an amp?

The basedude, diplomat, and particle accelerator are one my list right now.

Since I don't plan on using any pedals in front of the amp, it seems like the bassdude would offer the widest range of gain, but the diplomat and PA would offer better cleans.

What would y'all recommend I try?

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

I've built all three, you won't get much dirt out of the PA. I use the PA in my practice rig as a pedal platform to test other pedals as it can quickly be dialed in for both bass and guitar. Your assumption is correct, the bassdude is more versatile but I really really like the sound of the Diplomat with guitar. For your purposes I would vote for the Diplomat but honestly you can't go wrong. I guess my actual recommendation is to build them all.

 

[Tassieviking]

I would just put the class AB amp in the box and run the Sushi......ops.......the C2CE pedals into it, but since I have built nearly all the pedals I can just use the tone I want on the day.
I haven't completed my Wrecking Ball yet (box being made by Tayda right now) and I am also waiting for the Steddi Go PCB to arrive, the Steddi Go box is also being made right now by Tayda
If you build a Diplomat in front of the AB amp then just make sure you have an FX loop in between, then you can still play any other preamp you want.

 

[Tassieviking]

You can also get some nice power amps in pedal form these days, they are not that powerful but for guitar they are plenty strong enough.
I have seen several pedals that go up to 50 watts and more, and plenty that are lower power as well.
For a practice amp I would just get a small class D amp module that can run down to 9V and chuck it in a 1590 box with an in jack, power jack the same as a pedal (2.1mm/5.5mm) and a speaker out jack. Just search Fleabay for AP3001 amplifier and you will find a small amp module that can be stuck into a small 1590B box using some double sided heatsink tape.
( I know one person who was going to put that amp module in the C2CE pedal to make a complete amp pedal )
( I also have one of those amp modules but I haven't picked the pedal to place it in yet )

DY-AP3001 Amplifier Board 10W/20W/30W Monoblock Amplifier Class D 9243 | eBay

Before touching the amplifier board, you need to release the static electricity on your hands to avoid static electricity from breaking down the amplifier chip. Digital amplifiers are sensitive to static electricity;8.

www.ebay.com.au

 

[Tassieviking]

What we really need is for a C2CE pedal that is a small tube power amp pedal, I built one for myself using the C2CE power supply and it puts out about 1 watt.
I used a "Musical Power Supplies" output transformer because it goes low enough for Bass guitar as well, and I built the AMP part of a Rob Robinette 1 watt Bassman 5F6A-M amplifier with a Sushi power supply to power it.
I mounted the transformer on top of the box and it worked out fine.

 

[vigilante398]

What sushi preamp would you recommend for the front end of an amp?

The basedude, diplomat, and particle accelerator are one my list right now.

Those are all Conspiracy to Commit Electronics preamps, not Sushi Box

Diplomat does not drive period, it is a single gainstage and can't drive unless it's pushed with something else. Particle Accelerator will get you into light overdrive with a 12AX7 installed, but Bassdude is definitely the better of these options for overdrive.

 

[matmonster58]

For a practice amp I would just get a small class D amp module that can run down to 9V

Honestly I could just patch in whatever preamp to the existing power amp currently in the combo. There's no fx loop but it's easy to find where the patch point would go.

As for the class AB amp, I just want to give it a try. It's probably what the combo has already tbh. I might even try a class g amp. There are a few designs I've been looking at that would work well for a hifi setup or a guitar amp

 

[Tassieviking]

What is your cheap combo amp you want to strip ?
Hopefully you will find a circuit where you can use all the pot holes in the front panel, I have seen a few cheap amps retrofitted with a great tube amp inside and you could never tell from the front.

 

[drew.spriggs]

What we really need is for a C2CE pedal that is a small tube power amp pedal, I built one for myself using the C2CE power supply and it puts out about 1 watt.
I used a "Musical Power Supplies" output transformer because it goes low enough for Bass guitar as well, and I built the AMP part of a Rob Robinette 1 watt Bassman 5F6A-M amplifier with a Sushi power supply to power it.
I mounted the transformer on top of the box and it worked out fine.

If I get my shit together I've got a power PCB finished (using cheap 30v transformers to get ~160v for HV + 6.3v/1A + 12.6v/500ma for heaters), and a bunch of frequency/gain charts from somebody who spent months figuring out how to perfectly emulate 12A*7 stages with subminiatures. He's also put together a subminiature PP output stage that will do about 4w cranked.

I've also done the power supply with cheap Royer inverters, but they're a bit sketchy for others to be playing with (they can do 380v DC unloaded, and drop to about 250v with 50ma of load - enough to really, really ruin your day).

Same guy with the charts has done a couple of Trainwreck/JCM clones with some A/B testing, and I'll be damned if I can hear a massive difference (when volume levels are accounted for with attenuation boxes).

I've done this in the past, but ain't much you can do with 100mw of output

 

[Tassieviking]

There is a great dude on TB who was talking about a pedal amp and I sent him a link for a small 30W pedal from Asia somewhere, 2 weeks later he sent me a photo of the insides of the little power amp pedal and that is where the Class D AP3001 module idea came from.
I believe he was going to mount one in one of the C2CE pedals to make it a small practice amp, I haven't seen the final pictures of the finished pedal but I think it might be in a Nobelium.
They are really tiny modules and it looks like it was just glued into the box, placing one inside a C2CE pedal should not stop the pedal working normally, it just gives you a speaker output as well.
I would connect it directly to the power in jack, maybe a switch so you can leave it un-powered when you don't need it.

EDIT: you will not get 30 watts on 9V or even 12V but it should be plenty for home use I think.
EDIT again: https://www.svisound.com/index.php/products/amps-cabs/nano-amplifier-30-watts

 

[matmonster58]

That board is really tiny.

A mini Atmos setup has been climbing up my to do list and those boards would be great to put into the speakers.