Chip Amps???

[luke691]

I recently finished testing a Real McTube -

http://www.dogstar.dantimax.dk/tubestuf/mctube.htm

- and was hoping to put it into a guitar amp, as a preamp stage. The amplifier will only be used for recording and practicing, therefore power isn't an issue, I was just wondering what sort of chip amp I could use to get a decent sound?? Anything in the 12v car-amp TDA range sounds fairly good and ive used several 12v chips before such as the TDA7370B. As I only wish to use the power amp as a clean amp deriving all the sound from the preamp will this not matter? Should I only concentrate on getting a nice sounding speaker.

Thanks

[ambulancevoice]

there are numerous chip amps you could use
the JRC/NJM386 (the LM386 probably wont work as well) is a possibility to use, but it does color the tone in its own way
take a look at the noisy cricket for some ideas
also, alot of the TDA amp chips should work fine (check there data sheets for some simple circuits)
the LM380, 14 pin dip might work but it needs a heat sink, which are hard to find

[Mark Hammer]

The TDA2030 is used as the power stage on more commercial low-power amps with a single 8" or 10" speaker than you can possibly imagine.  If it doesn't come up higher than your knee, bills itself as a 10-15W "practice" amp, the chances are very good a TDA2030 is powering it.  I picked up a little Fender Sidekick SK-20 stereo chorus amp recently and it uses a pair of TDA2030s to power the two channels and 8" speakers.  Very dependable.  Easy to find another for very little money if something results in the chip blowing.

The ever-generous Dean Hazelwanter put together a layout for the entire TDA20x0 family in this little project PDF:  http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/pdf/ggg_20x0_amp.pdf  You can stick in a 2030, 2040, or 2050 if you want, depending on what you have.