why ppcb hasn't made the classic MXR Microamp?

cris_mas

cris_mas

Active member
not sure if this is a silly question due to the existence of the distortion 250 project and the mxr microamp+ pcb's, but making some mental travels to the past, i was remembering how nice was to play my Jetcity tube amp with my Microamp clone boosting it. I wanted to put together a new pcb and came to realize that ppcb does not have the "original" pcb in the catalogue. To make matters worse, i have to hurry on buying pcb's since my government is desperate to charge taxes for imports less than 40 dollars and i have the feeling that buying pcb's from abroad will no longer be plausible or cost/convenient anymore.

I was wondering if it was possible to use the distortion 250 as a replacement for the lack of other alternative or if I've missed a more authentic alternative labeled under other brand model. I'm not considering the Microamp+ since with all the eq'ing i'm doing with the other pedals i have, i don't need further tone sculpting and wanted to keep things simple.

I'm open to other boost alternatives you could recommend to my angry plexi-esque sound. I was also thinking about a kliché mini, but have no access to the magic diodes, so i've discarded that one previously.

:giggle:
 
You could try the micro amp plus board. I'm not sure if it's the same amount of boost total as the original, but it does have the added treble and bass controls that you can use (or ignore).
 
cris_mas said:
not sure if this is a silly question due to the existence of the distortion 250 project and the mxr microamp+ pcb's, but making some mental travels to the past, i was remembering how nice was to play my Jetcity tube amp with my Microamp clone boosting it. I wanted to put together a new pcb and came to realize that ppcb does not have the "original" pcb in the catalogue. To make matters worse, i have to hurry on buying pcb's since my government is desperate to charge taxes for imports less than 40 dollars and i have the feeling that buying pcb's from abroad will no longer be plausible or cost/convenient anymore.

I was wondering if it was possible to use the distortion 250 as a replacement for the lack of other alternative or if I've missed a more authentic alternative labeled under other brand model. I'm not considering the Microamp+ since with all the eq'ing i'm doing with the other pedals i have, i don't need further tone sculpting and wanted to keep things simple.

I'm open to other boost alternatives you could recommend to my angry plexi-esque sound. I was also thinking about a kliché mini, but have no access to the magic diodes, so i've discarded that one previously.

:giggle:
Click to expand...
You could absolutely use the od250 board. Other than a few component changes (and only using 1 lnob and not 2), the circuits are nearly identical. In fact, Tonepad and some others sell the same
Board to do the Distortion+, OD250, and MicroAmp and just list the part differences in the BOM
 
GGG has the micro amp

store.generalguitargadgets.com

MXR™ MICRO AMP™ REPLICA RTS PCB

The RTS (ready-to-solder) PCB for the MXR™ Microamp Replica. The PCB dimensions are 4.5cm by 3.1cm. PCB has solder mask, plate-through holes and screen print for placement of components. Click here for complete instructions for this PCB.
store.generalguitargadgets.com
 
guitarpcb also has a microamp specific board.
i went on a side quest to find all the microamp boards.. the two i decided to try are one from guitarpcb,and the one from ggg that @jcpst suggested.
guitarpcb.com

NostalgiTone PreAmp Boost Single: The Powerful Clean Boost of Legends

<h2><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>With the NostalgiTone PreAmp Boost Single </strong><strong>open a sonic landscape of iconic guitar tones. Based on the Legendary MXR Micro-Amp. </strong></span></h2>
guitarpcb.com guitarpcb.com

Feral Feline said:
Tonepad site is still up.
Click to expand...
i looked at tonepad. the tonepad ones use a chip that is not the chip a real microamp uses. they're using 4558

@cris_mas: the guitarpcb and ggg ones do follow the actual microamp schematic, which calls for a tl061 or tl071.. if you are looking for 'the circuit'... get either one of those.
 
You can build the Kliché using BAT41s instead of the mythical diodes. It will sound pretty much identical. I generally don't bother with Ge diodes any more because I have broken too many of them - they're very delicate! I've built the Kliché both ways and they all sound slightly different because of part tolerances anyway. The sound isn't that sophisticated or subtle either way!
 
HamishR said:
You can build the Kliché using BAT41s instead of the mythical diodes. It will sound pretty much identical. I generally don't bother with Ge diodes any more because I have broken too many of them - they're very delicate! I've built the Kliché both ways and they all sound slightly different because of part tolerances anyway. The sound isn't that sophisticated or subtle either way!
Click to expand...
it's fun
it's kind of part of the fabric of cloning.. some clones will be better or worse than others. to me it's no different than finding the best clone of any other product..
in diy pedal building it's just easier to see what's behind the curtain. :p
 
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