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Hoffman Amps Forum image Author Topic: Battery powered germanuim transistor travel amp  (Read 408 times)

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Offline Banjan73

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Battery powered germanuim transistor travel amp
« on: January 21, 2026, 07:51:50 pm »
Hi.
Here`s one more project I had the last years. This is not a tube amp, so please delete this if it`s not relevant/aloud here ;-)
The background on this amp was that I bought myself a travel guitar. So again, when traveling with my motorcycle, I needed a small amp powered by batteries.
I once built a clone of the "beano boost" with a Germanium transistor and I love the sound of this one.So therefore, this time I decided just to use the amplifier of a old radio. I ended up buying an old Norwegian "Radionette kurer transi" from 1958 which uses OC74/OC75 transistors, and slaughtered it (with a little tears in my eyes, off course). 
I found the schematics on the internett, and it`s attached. The amplifier part is circled. Looks almost similar to a tube amp?
Anyway, the connections where pretty easy. The loudspeaker is the one from the radio. So I built a cabinet to this thing. The input jack works as an on/off button just like an effects pedal.
Sound? Pretty cool. With a tube screamer in front, thisone screams pretty good! Nice practice amp.

Offline Banjan73

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Re: Battery powered germanuim transistor travel amp
« Reply #1 on: January 21, 2026, 07:56:35 pm »
Heres my collection of home built (minus the "two channel class A" thing) so far:
Threads are:
-This one
-Champ-ish "pocket" amp
-High gain two channel EL84 guitar amp

Offline Banjan73

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Re: Battery powered germanuim transistor travel amp
« Reply #2 on: January 21, 2026, 08:02:36 pm »
Oh!
I found a picture of the internal of the amp:

Offline roarshock

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Re: Battery powered germanuim transistor travel amp
« Reply #3 on: January 21, 2026, 10:58:40 pm »
That's cool! There's an Italian cat that posts to reddit every once in a while that makes amps out of old transistor radios. I like small amps, so keep them coming!

 


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