Great 2.5-watt Parts-Only Cigar Box Guitar Amplifier Kit - Build your own amp!

This is a kit of all of the parts you'll need to build your own 2.5-watt amplifier, whether in a cigar box or other enclosure of your choice. For such a small amp board, this little beauty really puts out some nice sound. This kit includes a two-page how-to sheet that shows wiring diagrams and covers some key points about wiring and assembly. Only basic soldering skills, and an ability to read simple wiring diagrams, are required to assemble this kit!

This amp contains the following parts (match the item letters up with the annotated listing photo to see what each part looks like):

• A)     2.5-Watt SDA-T Artec Amp Board with pre-wired leads
• B)      3” 4-Watt 8-ohm Speaker
• C)      3.5” black speaker grill, pre-drilled
• D)     (4) Decorative finish nickel-plated washers
• E)      (4) Flat-head machine screws
• F)      9V Metal Battery Holder Clip
• G)     “Chickenhead” Potentiometer Knob
• H)     2 feet each Red and Black 24-gauge Hookup Wire
• I)        Red LED (Power indicator)
• J)       Mono input jack
• K)      (4) nuts

The amp board also has an onboard Tone Trim Pot, adjustable with a Philips screwdriver , which allows for fine-tuning the tone from "clean" to "crunchy". We always crank the tone all the way up before shipping our own amplifiers we build in-house, so that they produce the loudest, crunchiest tone - because that's what we think sounds best with a CBG! For those of you who are interested in tweaking your CB amp, and aren't scared of a soldering iron, the amp board also provides connection points for an output jack and headphones jack as well! 

Mounting the Speaker/Grill: to mount the speaker and grill, you should lay the speaker on the box panel you want it mounted in, and then mark the four screw holes with a pencil. Then draw a faint "X" connecting the screw holes - where the lines cross in the center of the X should be the center point of what will be the speaker hole. Either use a hole saw (sized 2.5 to 3") to cut the speaker opening, or trace something round in the right size and use a small keyhole saw or other method. Sand lightly to remove any burrs, and if desired use a marker to darken the cut rim of the speaker hole so it blends better with the rest of the box. Finally, drill the speaker screw mounting holes using a 3/16" drill bit.To mount the speaker, put one of the screws through one of the decorative washers, then through the hole in the cigar box, then (inside the box) through the black grill screen, and finally through the speaker mounting plate. Screw on the nut, and then repeat for the other 3 holes. 

You can also add a panel-mount gain pot to this circuit, if you aren't afraid of a little soldering. The video below shows how. Please note that you can damage/ruin your amp board doing this and we do not warranty any damage caused by following these steps!