I think it looks super cool! I'd bet the sound will be very surfy. Great idea!

Once I'm good enough then I'd like to try making a similar combo.

Awesome! My Duel Reverb Quilty Bear is being built today.

The Kahuna Kings

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Kahuna-Kings/459752090818447

https://thekahunakings.bandcamp.com/releases

How cute!
Where's the future space for the extra pots?
I hope you plan to protect those corners/edges. Disintegrating particle boards are not only an eyesore but hazardous to breathe.

In no particular order, yes I don't think at low volume the particle board will be a problem. Yes all the particle board will be sealed up and finished somehow. When the tremolo is available, I plan to put it to the left of the output jack on the reverb. The pots will have to be on top. I thought I allowed enough room for all on the front but the knobs I used were larger than planned. My fault completely. This evening I did more testing. I have been trying to get it to run through both channels to the speaker. The speaker has tandem inputs so I doubled up on the wires going to the PAM. It would work for about a second and go silent. I was using a 1.2 amp supply. I went and got a 3 amp unit to try. That was the end of the board. I'm glad these only cost 3 dollars. I think I received a defective board. This was using an mp3 player plugged into it bypassing the fet-verb circuit. Prior to this I plugged the fet-verb into my Vox. It sounded just as good as it ever had. And this was with the shorter 3 spring tank. That eliminated the Surfy Bear from the equation. I ordered several different PAM boards to experiment with as well as a TDA7297 board. The others haven't arrived yet. The "slow boat from China" hasn't arrived. This is a short term setback. There are too many people on youtube that have used these. They haven't had the privilege of the fine Surfy bear products to make their world better. I will continue to update this after more boards arrive. I'm confident this will end well. When I reach a satisfactory conclusion, I will list a materials listing, cost and suppliers.

Last edited: Jan 23, 2017 18:49:24

Ladies and gentlemen, we have an update! Good news and bad news. The 1st pic shows the PAM8403 chip which is the smallest, the PAM8610 which failed and a TDA7297 board. You can see the TDA has the heat sink that is quite large. I connected the 8403 1st. It runs on 5 volts as usb. I had some static but no sound. That board didn't come with a volume pot so I think that is the answer. My box of misc. crap has nothing to help that. Next I was going to plug in the TDA. Because the 8610 had been fried, I robbed the 12v input from it. It says it needs a 2 amp supply. I 1st plugged in the 1.2 amp supply with only one channel. We have music! I connected the other channel and we were making popcorn noise. I plugged in the 3 amp supply and we have music. I then connected the fet-verb and hooked up the jag. I wouldn't say the reverb is as strong as through a much larger amp but everything works. I ordered 2 more of the 8610 amps to play with. I don't have space for the TDA as this was put together. I planning on the next 8610's to make all this work properly. If it doesn't , I'll have to mod the area where the amp will fit or build a new alum. top cover and relocate items until it all fits. The 2nd pic shows it powered up but the on board led is washed out by the light when taking the pic.

Last edited: Jan 25, 2017 19:56:54

Question: Many of the 3.5mm interfaces I see on miniaturized radio gear are - structurally - not the most robust in the world. In some cases they don't stand up very well to the larger form-factor cables and the downstream weight of the wire itself, often benefitting a little using a right-angle plug. Might not be any issue with your application but I was wondering how you regard the mechanical strength of the inputs on these boards in general.

Wes
SoCal ex-pat with a snow shovel

DISCLAIMER: The above is opinion/suggestion only & should not be used for mission planning/navigation, tweaking of instruments, beverage selection, or wardrobe choices.

Badger wrote:

Question: Many of the 3.5mm interfaces I see on miniaturized radio gear are - structurally - not the most robust in the world. In some cases they don't stand up very well to the larger form-factor cables and the downstream weight of the wire itself, often benefitting a little using a right-angle plug. Might not be any issue with your application but I was wondering how you regard the mechanical strength of the inputs on these boards in general.

This is a problem. Generally speaking, these amps are quite good but they seem to be designed to be mounted directly behind a very thin faceplate. I usually desolder the 3,5mm connectors and replce them with pins or wires. Sometimes I just solder the wires to the connector. If it's absolutely neccessary to keep the connector I snip a plug with its wire from a set of cheap earplugs. These are small and flexible enough to fit into a small space and don't put any stress on the connector.

Last edited: Jan 27, 2017 02:32:28

Minor update: home made vinyl label with color laser printer

Dig hearing of all your efforts. Poor amp; all Surfy Trem'd up & no date at the front door.

Wes
SoCal ex-pat with a snow shovel

DISCLAIMER: The above is opinion/suggestion only & should not be used for mission planning/navigation, tweaking of instruments, beverage selection, or wardrobe choices.

Fantastic! DEMO!!!!

The Kahuna Kings

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Kahuna-Kings/459752090818447

https://thekahunakings.bandcamp.com/releases