CBA – Cigar Box Amp for CBG.

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I had this idea for a long time. So long that I started to notice that some other CBG hobbyists started to make them. The guitar amplifiers made from the cigar boxes – cigar box amp. 

And my idea is to build a very basic SMALL amp which can operate on a 9V battery.

So, here what I had for this project:

Small Cohiba cigar box: from some point of time my local cigar stores started to give away the cigar boxes if the are smaller than a certain size.

2 Watt speaker from the old computer audio system:

And here what I had to add:

• 3/4 input jack ($0.70).
• 9V battery connector ($0.90).
• Switch ($1.50).
•  And finally the amplifier module itself. After some research I’ve ended up with this one:
  LM386 Mini DC 3V To 12V Amplifier Board

  

That’s actually it. As you may see on the upper images the amplifier module is quite small. And 3 of 4 sides have the connection/control elements:

• DC Input;
• Audio Input;
• Volume Control.

There is no way that I can adjust the amp module in the cigar box to make all 3 things accessible from outside. That’s when it’s time for soldering!
So I extended all three controls with the wire. The “spider” on the following image is the result of this soldering.

So. The final result is like this:

When I demonstrated it to my son last weekend I asked him: “Sound awful. Isn’t it?”.
He responded immediately with the question: “But that was the point. Isn’t it?” 🙂

The following is just a demo of the sound. Nothing more.
Oh, and the sound was recorded through the Fishman Loudbox Mini.
But the only alteration to the sound made is a slight reverb. No any other effects.