100W Guitar Power-Amplifier (Rise)

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The power amp board has remained unchanged since it was first published in 2002. It definitely is not broken, so there is no reason to fix it. The picture below shows a fully assembled board (obtainable as shown as M27). Using TIP35/36C transistors, the output stage is deliberately huge overkill. This ensures reliability under the most arduous stage conditions. No amplifier can be made immune from everything, but this does come close.

Guitar Power Amplifier Board

The power amp (like the earlier version) is loosely based on the 60 Watt amp historically in the past published (Project 03), but it's increased gain to match the preamp. Other modifications include the short circuit protection - the tiny groups of parts next to the bias diodes (D2 and D3). This new version is not massively different from the original, but has adjustable bias, and is designed to provide a "constant current" (i.e. high impedance) output to the speakers - this is achieved using R23 and R26. Note that with this arrangement, the gain will change depending on the load impedance, with lower impedance giving lower power amp gain. This is not a controversy, so may safely be ignored.

Ought to the output be shorted, the constant current output characteristic will provide an preliminary level of protection, but is not foolproof. The short circuit protection will limit the output current to a comparatively safe level, but a sustained short will cause the output transistors to fail if the amp is driven hard. The protection is designed not to operate under normal conditions, but will limit the peak output current to about 8.5 Amps. Under these conditions, the internal fuses (or the output transistors) will probably blow if the short is not detected in time.

Figure 2 - Power Amplifier

Figure two shows the power amp PCB parts - except for R26 which doesn't mount on the board. See Figure 1B to see where this ought to be physically mounted. The bias current is adjustable, & ought to be set for about 25mA dormant current (more on this later). The recommendation for power transistors has been changed to higher power devices. This will give improved reliability under sustained heavy usage.

As shown, the power transistors will have an simple time driving any load down to four ohms. In case you don't use the PCB (or are happy to mount power transistors off the board), you can use TO3 transistors for the output stage. MJ15003/4 transistors are high power, & will run cooler because of the TO-3 casing (lower thermal resistance). Watch out for counterfeits though! There's plenty of other high power transistors that can be used, & the amp is tolerant of substitutes (as long as their ratings are at least equal to the devices shown). The PCB can accommodate Toshiba or Motorola 150W flat-pack power transistors with relative ease - in case you desired to go that way. TIP3055/2966 or MJE3055/2955 may even be used for light or ordinary duty.

At the input finish (as shown in Figure 1B), there is provision for an auxiliary output, & an input. The latter is switched by the jack, so you can use the "Out" & "In" connections for an outside effects unit. Alternatively, the input jack can be used to connect an outside preamp to the power amp, disconnecting the preamp.

The speaker connections permit up to 8 Ohm speaker cabinets (giving four Ohms). Do not use less than four ohm lots on this amplifier - it is not designed for it, & won't give reliable service!

All the low value (i.e. 0.1 & 0.22 ohm) resistors must be rated at 5W. The 0.22 ohm resistors will get warm, so mount them away from other parts. Needless to say, I recommend using the PCB, as this has been designed for optimum performance, and the amp gives an excellent account of itself. So nice in fact, that it may even be used as a hi-fi amp, and it sounds excellent. In case you were to make use of the amp for hi-fi, the bias current ought to be increased to 50mA. Ideally, you would use better (faster / more linear) output transistors as well, but even with those specified the amp performs well indeed. This is largely because they are run at comparatively low power, and the extreme non-linearity effects would expect with only transistors do not occur because of the parallel output stage.

Make positive that the bias transistor is attached to of the drivers (the PCB is laid out to make this simple to do). A some quantity of heat sink compound as well as a cable tie will do the job well. The diodes are there to protect the amp from catastrophic failure ought to the bias servo be incorrectly wired (or set for maximum current). All diodes ought to be 1N4001 (or 1N400? - anything in the 1N400x range is fine). A heat sink is not needed for any of the driver transistors.

The life of a guitar amp is a hard, and I recommend that you use the largest heat sink you can afford, since it is common to have elevated temperatures on stage (chiefly due to all the lighting), and this reduces the safety margin that normally applies for domestic equipment. The heat sink ought to be rated at 0.5° C/Watt to permit for worst case long term operation at up to 40°C (this is not unusual on stage).

Make sure that the speaker connectors are isolated from the chassis, to keep the integrity of the earth isolation parts in the power supply, & to make sure that the high impedance output is maintained.