DIY

DIY electronics question?

I took a tape recorder and replaced the tape head with a stereo jack from radioshack, so it works as a guitar amp, HOWEVER, it gives me no distortion and sounds like an acoustic guitar, anyone know how to fix this and give it distortion?

First let me congratulate you on your experiment. It’s folks like you who occasionally create their own unique sound.

Unlike guitar amplifiers, tape recorder amplifiers are designed to add as little coloration or distortion as possible.

Perhaps you can get the sound you’re looking for through a footpedal effect.

See if you can track down a copy of Craig Anderton’s old book “Electronics for Musicians”. You might get lucky and find a PDF copy of it online. It will certainly be easier to find tan “The Stopmbox Cookbook” which is long out of print.

I’ve posted some other interesting links below.

Don

noisy cricket by beavis audio d.i.y 1/2 watt guitar amp with built in speaker