PCB type for amp project

[makaze808]

Hi, is there a grade / type of copper clad pcb which is suitable for an amp project. Thanks.

[diydave]

I'm working on a Soldano amp myself, all pcb-board but it's just the pre-amp part.

In a review I've read that there is a higher quality of board that's being used in the original amps (thicker board + copper), but no details and no reference to where you can get them. It was in a book about tube-amps I think.

I'm taking my changes with normal pcb-board. Should work ok I guess.

[armstrom]

You should be able to get away with normal 1oz copper board. The thickness/weight of the copper only comes into play if you need both high current capacity and thin traces. So the need to increase to 2oz copper (or higher) will depend greatly on the type of amp you're building. If you're doing a tube amp you can usually get away with really thick traces since the parts are generally larger and more spread out on the board. If you're doing a chip amp then you may need to increase thickness if you need to reach some pins on the IC that won't allow you to use thick traces. Here's a handy calculator to help determine the current capacity for a given trace width and copper thickness.
http://www.circuitcalculator.com/wordpress/2006/01/31/pcb-trace-width-calculator/

[PRR]

> an amp project

That covers a lot of turf. 9V battery amp? Six hot fire-bottle amp?

There used to be two extremes of PCB. The military stuff you could drop from bombers, and the low-low-lowest cost stuff for $9.98 table radios (and old fuzzboxes). The cheap stuff fell apart in soldering or any time it felt like failing.

These days the cheap-product makers prefer to use a good grade of PCB because re-working bad production is more expensive than just using good stuff for everything. Any PCB you can get today is likely to be more than good enough for most DIY use.

You ought to patronize the specialists. A reputable DIY stomp-box vendor will only sell good PCB-stuff.

Fire-bottles are different. Small tubes on old cheap 1960s PCB tend to toast the board after 30 years. The modern good PCB will last "forever" around small tubes, but large HOT tubes will tend to fry it. IMHO the large tubes should be chassis-socket.