Bluetooth mini guitar amp

[JKent]

A couple of months ago my niece was telling me about a cool BlueTooth speaker her friend has (first picture, below). Knowing I'm a "speker guy" she asked if I could build one for her. Of course I couldn't refuse. This would be my first venture into BlueTooth territory.

Virtually all of the parts came from Parts Express. I used the Dayton Audio KAB-100Mv2 1 x 100W Class D Audio Amplifier Board with aptX HD Bluetooth 5.0. Probably overkill but it seemed to be the only mono board. As it turned out, it's really stereo with the speaker wires soldered together. I probably should have called first and asked for advice but this is fine.   Also bought the Battery Extension Board, Function Cables Package and Red/Green/Blue LED Package.

For the cabinet, my bro-in-law put together a simple 4-sided pine box, routed the edges, cut Masonite panels for the front and back, and an aluminum panel for the controls. All scrap pieces from his shop.

For the drivers and crossover I used the tweeter and xo from a Polk RMDS-1 that had a bad woofer. The woofer I used is a Bravox WFR-03MX01 3.5" Poly Cone Woofer. PE had these as Buyouts in 2010 (!) for about 6 bucks each. This was my last one. Wish I'd bought more.

For the covering, I originally planned to use some pebble-grain "leather patch" from Amazon that comes in a roll. Then I realized forming it over the rounded off corners could be tricky. Maybe the spray-on truck bed liner I've used before? That turned out to be a mistake. Another PE order: Acry-Tech DuraTex Black 1 Quart Roller Grade Cabinet Texture Coating Kit with Textured 3" Roller. Worked great. I was looking for something that would resemble Tolex and this filled the bill. It's water-based so cleanup was a snap. To add to the guitar amp look I added small corner protectors from Amazon. Grille is a vinyl basket-weave placemat. I stuffed the box with polyfill.

The power supply is also from PE. Socket was from my local electronics store. The battery pack recharges on anything from 12 to 24 VDC so I had hoped to use one of the many wall warts I have on hand but PE advised me those were inadequate so I ordered their 19.5V DC 3.33A power supply.

99% finished. I plan to add a thin brass strip on the bottom of the grille, like on the Marshall amp in the first picture.

I had to call PE's tech support a couple of times and found them to be very helpful. I also found a mistake on the instruction sheet that I hope they've fixed by now. I have another BlueTooth speaker (different style) in the works and will post pictures when it's finished.