Beware, this is the opposite of almost every other Guitar World amp review! As a DIY musician who plays trash blues, I could give a rat’s heiney about the fine minutiae of frequencies and tube...
Beware, this is the opposite of almost every other Guitar World amp review! As a DIY musician who plays trash blues, I could give a rat’s heiney about the fine minutiae of frequencies and tube bias. I like to plug a guitar into anything, shove a slide on my finger and write songs. With that said, my wife, Melissa gave me this DIY 2.5 Watt Amp Kit ($49.99 from CBGitty.com), and it was a great project for a couple of evenings. The lunchbox-size amp comes almost completely pre-wired and includes a birch plywood housing.
Let’s start with a demo video using two insane Musicvox MI-5 guitars (six string & 12 string versions).
For me, this was a perfect, “I-should-lighten-up-on-my-drinking-and-do-something-else-at-night” activity. Also, I’ve become one of those guys who spends his evenings smoking cigars in the woodshop and building things. I like to be surrounded by tools and guitar stuff, playing old blues on the stereo and making something musical.
Granted, I’m not a fine luthier. I’m a tinkerer.
I decided to give the amp a nice dark stain and poly finish so that it would look good in my living room. I spent the first evening giving the wood a simple smoothing with some fine steel wool and then coated everything in two coats of dark oak Minwax PolyShade stain/finish. Once that was dry, I used steel wool to smooth it out and make certain areas a bit lighter, giving a slightly relic’d look. Then I gave it two coats of Minwax clear polyurethane.
The amp came with a shiny chrome handle that I knew would clash with the dark stain of the wood, so I antiqued it a bit with Rust-Oleum Forged Hammered spray paint.
Once everything was