Tuesday, April 3, 2012

The Bells Oberon Mini Keg guitar amp!

I built this Oberon guitar amplifier for my brother's birthday present.

My brother is a bassist and like most guitarist he likes to play his acoustic bass at the beach with his buddies. His bass however is overpowered by acoustic guitars. He wanted a portable amp that would be loud and easy to carry around. I settled on a mini keg as they are durable and easy to acquire. Bells Oberon spelled the perfect keg. Oberon is a sure sign that summer has arrived and what better way to enjoy summer than with some beer and music at the beach. http://www.bellsbeer.com

We decided that using a rechargeable battery would be the best option. My brother works in the construction field, and as you might expect he has a number of cordless tools. With a little trimming I was able to get an entire DeWALT battery charger into the keg. This allows the keg to double as a charger.



The circuit uses the ubiquitous TDA line of chip amps. The tda2050 to be precice.

I followed this datasheet schematic.
I changed R4 for a 1k potentiometer that allowed me to set the gain for a guitar. I also added this simple passive equalizer.
The setup works better than I expected. The sound is deep and loud. My brother loves it and I hope to have video for you guys soon.
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6 comments:

  1. The RoverJune 20, 2012 at 2:22 PM

    Any chance you would post a parts-list?

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownMay 20, 2013 at 3:52 PM

    Can you explain how the Dewalt charger works in your setup? I was trying to figure out how to do the same thing but kind of hit a wall with it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. FriedrichMay 6, 2015 at 5:23 AM

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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