MOD 102 DIY Guitar Amplifier Kit

I will start by saying if you are pondering whether or not to buy this kit, you should definitely buy it. This amp sounds great when it is complete. Building this amp, however, is not a 2 hour project you can wiz through. I have been soldering my guitar, and changing components in my amps and pedals for years, but this was my first time actually building anything electronic from scratch. All of the directions are very clear and detailed, and they give you parts lists and diagrams and test points to make building pretty straight forward. I actually nailed it on the first try. However, building with two transformers mounted to the top gets a bit awkward at times. It won't sit flat and there are two tube sockets preventing you from stacking anything underneath on the one side. This amp is all point-to-point and no PC board is used. It does get tight and there are a few spots where about 5 components go into one point. The last two filament wires were particularly tight to solder. I would also like to suggest that you make sure the self tappers for the bottom plate actually screw in before you start mounting anything. Overall I give this 5 stars. For the money this is a great amplifier that you really can't get anywhere else. This is a great idea and design for anybody wanting to learn how to build amps or electronics in general. There are a few things that could be improved on like placement of a few components where it would be easier to get to to solder. It was also easier for me to place the Phillip's head of the bolts on the inside of the enclosure. Stripping the wires was a bit of an issue because there is a fabric coating that is hard to cut through, but the wire itself is great quality. I didn't use the cheap labels either. None of the cons are bad enough to drop my rating down. Take your time, make sure you read carefully, and you will have a very nice sounding tube amp.

First off not an easy build by any means. Point to point wiring is not for a beginner. However the instructions are really well done and concise.Mine is exceptionally quiet as far as noise goes. I believe this was because while I was troubleshooting my initial lack of any sound (loose solder joint I found later) I made very sure all the connection points to the chassis were well filed and grounded.Tone-wise it sounds fantastic through a 12” speaker can, good volume for 5watts and us great tone, especially around 3/4 volume on my Strat,.I also had a blast laser-cutting a custom enclosure for mine. I teach STEM for a living nx will probably buy another to build with my students.

The sound clips do not do this amp justice.A very basic build (I've built pedals) and had no problems. Even fired up on first attempt. Although it was a scary 10 seconds or so waiting for the tubes to heat.Primary use of the amp is at home and possibly recording studios. Lower clean-ish volumes. This amp sounds as good or better than these I've had/have at low clean volumes. Fender Deluxe, Blues Jr, Jet City, Vox, Ibanez 20 head. It can get overdriven if that's your thing.Noise level at idle is super quite. No issues whatsoever.I currently have the amp connected to an old Korean made Vox pathfinder 15 8" bulldog speaker. (Pulled the guts out) I never knew the 8" was capable of such awesome tone. Although voiced a little dark.Gonna do the 102+ next.

For the cost of this kit you shouldn't need to scrape paint off to ensure adequate grounding. Mask the paint. Or, actually be better (and more 'vintage') for the price with a bare steel chassis which would take solder. The sequence of assembly is not optimal at all - several areas are much easier to solder if done in reverse. Most importantly The circuit has residual 120Hz hum. If not for the hum this would be 3 stars. Maybe 4.If you have the skills to fabricate a chassis by drilling and/or punching then suggest building from scratch using the tube amp circuits widely available.Note that a drill down through internet search hits of this kit all apparently resolve to only a single build.

This was my first amp kit build so I don't have any past experience to compare to, but I had a good time with the MOD 102. The kit is complete, uses high quality components, has very good instructions, and it works! The build wasn't exactly easy, but in the end everything functions well. It took me about 3 days to get it together.Sound-wise, it's a nice, toneful, 5 watt guitar amp. It's not my favorite low-power amp (that would be my Marshall Class 5), but it's not 1/2 bad either. It gets pretty loud, but not as loud as the Marshall. The tone is Fendery on the clean side, and then gets up into a crunchy EL84 distortion sound as you crank it up. The tone controls offer an impressively wide range of good sounds with the overall tendency toward bright-- though I'm sure this varies widely with speaker & cab choice. Overall, it's a good sounding amp, and it sounds really great with an OD pedal.My complaints are minor: my MOD 102 makes more noise than I would like, but I suspect this has more to do with my mediocre building skills than the kit quality or design. Also, I don't care much for the knobs & I didn't use the stickers/labels at all. But don't let these minor quibbles stop you, the MOD 102 is fun & a good value.I'm hoping MOD comes out with an 18 watt marshall clone kit soon. . .