modding a mini travel amp

[sbgodofmetal]

i know when dealing with mini amps you get what you pay for, but i've got a danelectro honey tone mini amp and i want to switch out the speaker its a little 3'', ''tweeter'' sized speaker and i'd like to replace it with a sony explode 3''. has anyone ever done this type of mod before? will the explode be capatable with the 9v power rating or will i need to increase it as well? the stock 3'' is 8 ohms, 2watts. any suggestions. (l'm only trying to get a better quality sound)

[jcgss77]

I am not sure of the ohm rating of the sony explode, but if it is a car speaker you are planning to use, you might not get your desired results. The amp is 1 watt, and though this is adequate power to drive a speaker, you will want a speaker with a high sensitivity (around 100dB) for maximum performance. Do you know what the sensitivity of the sony in question is?

I would also recommend not using lower than 8 ohms (impedance) rated speakers, especially if you run the amp at high volumes.

All that aside, if the impedance matches, just wire up your sony (by itself or in series with the internal speaker) and see if you like it.

EDIT: Do NOT increase the voltage to the amp. ONLY do that if you have electronics experience AND are skilled with SMD. Since you are asking this question, I am assuming you don't. If you increase the voltage, you will very likely fry some components in your amp.

[sbgodofmetal]

jcgss77 i don't have the spec's of the sony yet i do have their 6'' & 7''x9''s, in my car and i really like their clairity and overall sound so i thought of it 1st but being the same size they should be about the same in ohms and wattage give or take 1or 2 values

[jcgss77]

Mar 9, 2011 21:40:58 GMT -5 sbgodofmetal said:

jcgss77 i don't have the spec's of the sony yet i do have their 6'' & 7''x9''s, in my car and i really like their clairity and overall sound so i thought of it 1st but being the same size they should be about the same in ohms and wattage give or take 1or 2 values

sb,

you should never assume what a speaker impedance is if it is not clearly marked on a speaker, and the size of the speaker also has no bearing on impedance. For example, a 3" 1.5 watt speaker can be 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, or 16 ohms, or anywhere in between, and a 12" 100 watt speaker can be 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, or 16 ohms as well, or anywhere in between. When hooked up to your Honeytone, 8, 12, or 16 will work. 3, 4, or 6 won't. Sure, if you hook up a smaller impedance speaker than the rating of the amplifier, you will get sound. And it will sound good. However, what you are doing is making the amp work harder than it is rated for. That particular amp is already running in a bridged configuration, and I am assuming you know what happens when you bridge an amp-it runs the amp at a lower impedance, therefore demanding more power from the amp.

I would highly recommend you do some reading in this forum for ground already on this subject. You will also benefit from doing some old fashioned googling on the subject. Keep this in mind though when replacing speakers for any amp: solid state amps typically work fine when you increase the impedance, or use an ohm rating which is a higher number than recommended. Tube amps, I do believe, go in the other direction-they tend to prefer being run at the recommended impedance or lower.

If you have a multimeter or an ohmmeter, you can test the exact impedance of any speaker. Just turn on said device and touch the leads to each speaker terminal and walla! (just in case you didn't know)

Be sure and fire off any other questions you need answered!

[JFrankParnell]

dunno about the Dano, but there are guys modding the Roland Micro Cube with bigger speaks, etc. Might give you some ideas. just google roland micro cube speaker replacement or mods, etc.

[Yew]

The 3" speaker in my Orange Crush3 Is 8 Ohms, Probably not much use to you though

[sbgodofmetal]

another thing i would like to do is replace the 9v battery snap and wire in a rechargable 9.6v rc battery but i'm concerned about that extra .6v would this damage the circuitry from an over load or is it safe to do this it may be a $30 amp but these days i aint got the extra $30 to replace a blown amp

[sbgodofmetal]

i could lower that to an 8.4 or a 7.2 volt but i'm concerned about the lower voltages would this work

[sbgodofmetal]

jc i'm sorry i typed that wrong i had been looking at one the week before i bought the amp cause i was gonna put them in my car and i was trying to say that if memory serves the two weren't that far from being the same now don't quote on that cause i may be wrong on the ohmage

[ashcatlt]

Measuring DC resistance won't tell you the impedance of the speaker. It will be lower, something like 2/3 the actual rated value.

.6V won't be enough to kill the thing. A brand new "9V" can be close to that.

Lower voltage sshould work, too. It may not get quite as loud, and will probably distort earlier and harder.

I find myself wondering if replacing the cabinet wouldn't have a bigger effect on overall tone.

[sbgodofmetal]

thanks ash that'll save me a ton on batteries

[newey]

Just guessing here, but I would think that a car stereo speaker is not going to be the hot set-up for your Honeytone. Ever play your guitar through home stereo speakers?

The terms "dry" and "clinical" come to mind. IOW, they won't distort smoothly like a guitar speaker does (or should). They'll stay clean until the point that they drop off the cliff and distort horribly.

Of course, who knows, you can always experiment and see for yourself. Maybe there's some magic mojo in a 6X9" I don't know about.

But I think Ash is right, a bigger cabinet may be the way to go here. A small enclosure can only do so much. Of course, you sacrifice the portability a bit.

I believe Jensen makes a 5" guitar speaker for about $20 or so, one of those in a smallish cabinet (but nonetheless bigger than the Honeytone) might be the way to go.

[newey]

This is the one I was thinking of- $27.80 at Amazon:
Jensen Mod 5-30



Handles 30 watts. But I noticed they have a 6" 15-watter for only $21.

[sbgodofmetal]

thanks newey i'll go check those out in a bit, now i've played my guitar through a car stereo before and it sounded fine i was at a relatives house and this was an old tape playing stereo(I know I know) i had a tape adapter for my cd player and a 1/8 to 1/4 adapter plugged from my dod death metal pedal to the tape deck via the adaptor and was playing a dean dime bag guitar not the signature series just the same type i.e. i dont know its exact name but it looks like a lower case 'y' and it sounded fine

[sbgodofmetal]

but then again not all speakers sound the same what i can do is buy a $4 line in cable i saw the other day hook one end to the rca ports on my explode system and hook my guitar and pedal up again and see how it sounds that way and if i like what i hear then i'll go purchase it

[jcgss77]

ash-Thanks for cleaning up my mess...

newey-do you know if those Jensen mods any good? What kind of sound do they add to the mix?

@sb-There you have it. Just try out speakers until you get what sound you like. Just be sure you don't go any lower than 8 ohms on that one.

[newey]

newey-do you know if those Jensen mods any good? What kind of sound do they add to the mix?

jcgss-

I put a 10" Jensen Mod in my Fender Frontman 25. It was a vast improvement over the stock speaker, and at a reasonable cost.

It won't make you forget an $80 Celestion 10", but then, it's not $80. And I just couldn't swallow putting an $80 replacement speaker into what is, after all, a $100 amp.

But I like it, it stays clean and breaks up in a sort of "chimey" way. It wouldn't necessarily be a good choice for lots of high-gain stuff IMHO.

But who knows, a 5" is a different animal, I would think. But I'll wager it sounds better for guitar than a car stereo speaker, and probably lasts longer.