Picowatt 3000 - mini amplifier

Post by **Skyone** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 2:21 pm

Clocking in at a minuscule 1/2-watt power consumption rate, the Picowatt 3000 is a battery-powered, multi-purpose amplifier featuring volume control, bass control, treble control, input, headphone support, charging jack and a tri-color LED that displays the current state of power (battery = green, charging = red, charging and powered on = orange).

<a href="http://skytroniks.com/wp-content/upload ... g_2001.JPG" title="Picowatt 3000"><img src="http://skytroniks.com/wp-content/upload ... mbnail.JPG" alt="Picowatt 3000" /></a> <a href="http://skytroniks.com/wp-content/upload ... g_2002.JPG" title="Picowatt 3000"><img src="http://skytroniks.com/wp-content/upload ... mbnail.JPG" alt="Picowatt 3000" /></a> <a href="http://skytroniks.com/wp-content/upload ... g_2003.JPG" title="Picowatt 3000"><img src="http://skytroniks.com/wp-content/upload ... mbnail.JPG" alt="Picowatt 3000" /></a> <a href="http://skytroniks.com/wp-content/upload ... g_2004.JPG" title="Picowatt 3000"><img src="http://skytroniks.com/wp-content/upload ... mbnail.JPG" alt="Picowatt 3000" /></a>

Perhaps I'll have some pictures of the state LED soon, but for now: enjoy the beauty.

Took me forever to finish this thing - but it was worth it! What say you guys?

khaag · Post by **khaag** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 2:59 pm

Give us some deats! What voltage of battery does it use? And upload a sound sample if you can! That thing looks dope!

Post by **Skyone** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 3:08 pm

Ha, it runs on two 12v/1.2Ah gel cell batteries in parallel, which give the whole thing about 15 hours of battery life. Pictures of the inside will come later - I just finally put the thing all together, no need to take it apart so soon.

Post by **CronoTriggerfan** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 3:23 pm

Nice amp, man!

That's pretty sweet, and it'd be really easy to throw in a guitar bag instead of hauling one around all the time. How many decibels do you think that thing could pump before the sound starts to distort/crack?

CTFan

blackbox_dev · Post by **blackbox_dev** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 3:46 pm

Sweet! I love the look, man. It looks real nice. How loud is it? Not very, I'd imagine for a tiny amp like that, but since you built a small amp I'm assuming its for practice anyway. What's the tone like? I bet that if you overdrive it you'll get some cool Kurt Cobain/Greg Ginn style solid-state distortion.

I've been wanting to build an amp for some time. Have you seen that 100W amp schematic floating around on the internet? That's what I want to build, because I'm in a band and need something DAMN loud. I'm sooo building a cabinet and covering it in tweed though. I like the vintage Fender amp look.

Btw, nice guitar. Is that Strat american?

-iam

Post by **Skyone** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 3:56 pm

It's a Mexican Strat, I think. I'll record some of it's noise later in relation to some other common noises.

It's surprisingly nice and loud, though.

Post by **Sparkfist** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 7:56 pm

If only I could play the guitar I'd have a purpose for such a device. But seriously it's very nice amp, the fact it's battery powered and puts out some good noise will attract some positive and envious attention, congrats man.

Looking forward to those pictures and audio file.

cowsgoquack101 · Post by **cowsgoquack101** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 8:15 pm

Nice job man! Very retro looking too. I'm an acoustic guy myself but that's because I'm hippie.

Post by **Skyone** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 12:00 am

http://youtube.com/watch?v=loZ6X3hBQRc

Uploaded a video to demonstrate the sound quality, pics coming tomorrow!

Post by **CronoTriggerfan** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 12:25 am

VERY nice, man! And the freehand video game tunes weren't bad, either.

CTFan

jeroen · Post by **jeroen** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 2:57 am

Those songs were very good. (some mistakes but everyone makes mistakes, and I don't even play anyway!)

twilightprincess · Post by **twilightprincess** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 5:28 am

Awesome! I really want one. It's some great work you've done there, I would pay a lot for that thing. Great work, again.

Felino · Post by **Felino** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 7:03 am

I have a really nice amp on a chip, 50W into 8 ohm. It sounds ok too. Its only around 2 x 1cm too, the more caps the better! Mono though. Made it for or cross country, sat with a friend as a 'field marshall' and listened to an iPod on it, bliss.

12 volt gel batteries rock, i use them for everything!

-The fel.

blackbox_dev · Post by **blackbox_dev** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 6:24 pm

Felino wrote:I have a really nice amp on a chip, 50W into 8 ohm. It sounds ok too. Its only around 2 x 1cm too, the more caps the better! Mono though. Made it for or cross country, sat with a friend as a 'field marshall' and listened to an iPod on it, bliss.

12 volt gel batteries rock, i use them for everything!

-The fel.

I could really use something like that. Who makes the chip, and what's the part number?

-iam

Felino · Post by **Felino** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 12:29 am

Not at home at the sec, will get the part no. when i get home.

They come in lots of different sizes too! Make sure you have a small heatsink on them though, they make a tad of heat, but are otherwise indestructable, temp, overload, and other protection.

Nice!