I've been building one of my Stella Amps into a cigar box. I've been taking pictures the whole time, and some day I'll collect them all to one post. But for now I'll post what i just finished up.
Here in this pic you can see the knobs I just put on, and the new hinges. The old hinges were push-in cheap shiny brass and they fell apart pretty quick. (My kids might have had something to do with that.)
The new hinges came off an old jewelry box my wife didn't care about any more. I don't know what she did with her jewelry box, but I got the hinges. I had to be real careful to avoid over-tightening the screws with that soft plywood.
This is what it looks like on the inside of the cigar box. I don't have anything mounted yet (need to get the right kind of screws). I took off all of the tape holding everything to the sides so you can see the internals. Here you see the Stella amp, and in the back, you can see the Tillman preamp I put in. The speaker is a 50W Boss car audio speaker.
Next step is mounting everything securely, including a new 4xAA battery holder. I also need to make a hole for the input jack and some labels for the controls.
So how does it sound in that
So how does it sound in that box?
Member for
12 years 10 monthsIt sounds fabulous. I have
It sounds fabulous. I have some video of it but I haven't put together the footage and edited it yet. One thing I really like about it is using it for an ipod amplifier. Yeah, it's not stereo, but I love playing old mono jazz recordings through it. And podcasts are great, because the cigar box gives it a little bit of an old time radio feel.
Another thing that's great about it is practicing the bass. Yes, it's very quiet but that's what's so great, I can take it all over the house when the kids are asleep and never worry about waking them up.
I built one of your kits and
I built one of your kits and it's fantastic. I did happen to destroy my c11 capacitor. You says its ceramic. Would that be multilayered ceramic? You got a digikey or could suggest something I could sub it with? Thanks!
Ps. I soldered my remaining resistor into rpd2. There wasnt anything for it on the build page. Is that right?
Member for
12 years 10 monthsI'm glad to hear that you
I'm glad to hear that you like it! Let me know if you have any build photos or if you make a video of it, I'd love to see it!
The digikey part number for C11 is 445-2857-ND. Any 1 uf, non-electrolytic capacitor should work just fine.
Rpd2 isn't going to hurt anything. It is an optional part that you only need if you are using the amp as a stomp box. It is there to help remove pops when you stomp on your stompbox. But if you are using the Stella as an amplifier and powering a speaker, the resistance of Rpd2 is so high it's not going to affect the amp output.
Hello I bought your Stella
Hello I bought your Stella Amp when it was featured on Make's Site. I'm powering this unit with a switch mode power supply at 11 volts. Can you suggest a speaker for this current setup? I dont want to waste any cash on something that wont sound well. I have read about car speakers being installed. Is there anything special involved in the setup using that kind of speaker?
Member for
12 years 10 monthsWell, I don't know how big of
Well, I don't know how big of an enclosure you'd like to put it in. Any speaker 4 inches or larger that handles 3 watts or more will probably be great. Either 4 or 8 ohms is fine.
For a cigar box amp (or even a little larger) I like these: http://www.amazon.com/BRS40-Replacement-Individually-Packaged-Clamshell…
The 3.5 inch in that line of car speakers is too small and I don't really like it as a general purpose amp. It doesn't have enough bass for me, although maybe if I had it in a more rigid, air tight enclosure it would work better.
One thing to watch out for is make sure you are getting a full range driver. I got a nice 10 inch speaker but I can't get any highs out of it. (I might pair that 10 inch with the 3.5 inch boss one!)
I have a box that's going to
I have a box that's going to be a bit larger... what is your standard size of speaker you like to use? I mean, if not constrained by size limits? Any particular one you'd recommend?