STGA's -the very first to have these Features

Sore-Throat guitar amps.......the very 1^ST to ….

1. Sore Throat Amps were the first to run on 18 volts, two 9 volt batteries!

-reduces components, takes full advantage of the IC's power.

2. Sore Throat Amps were the first to use Standard 1/4 inch Jacks, for both Guitar input, and TRS Headphone output. (and, drive a stereo amp with one cable)

3. Sore Throat Amps were the first to eliminate tone controls and sound filters- now you can really hear your pickups, fingers on the strings, and every distorted note you play!

4. Sore-Throat headphone amps were the first distortion pedals you could use to listen to your other pedals- with close to 200 milliwatts of audio power!

5. From the very first batch of amps, RCA jacks were installed for other Effects inputs, or, tap into each stage for special amp use. (mad-scientists!)

6. Every Sore-Throat Amp has a USA made, Double-Pole power rocker switch. Two connections are available for external 18 volt power. (kick-on!)

7. The Guitar -in Jack has an impedance –matching, L- network... now improved with a "620 Quad Carbon Audio Resistors" board!

8. The very first engineering to remove capacitors from the IC circuit board- and hand wire them, for easy replacement.

9. The IC board has reverse- voltage protection-(anti-Jumper cables).

10 .  Does anyone else use vintage cloth wire from the 1950’s? Look for the blue stripes.

If you can’t find one at your local Pawn shop… ha-ha…. Try the following sites:

www.patreon.com/sorethroatguitaramplifiers   www.etsy.com/SoreThroatGuitarAmps

STGA Patreon site, new electron tube class. "Amplifiers for Instruments"

Greetings, everyone, 2017 was a  not -so -good year for us. Lots of things when wrong, the weather was freezing, a hoped-for product didnt get launched, money ran short-- you know how it goes...

The good news is , the little headphone amps are always there, they continue getting built, improved, redesigned. Each one of them finds its way into someones heart, or at least into the tool-box.

MORE good news- Our new Patreon site "sorethroatguitaramplifiers" is doing well, and offering a online class on vacuum/electron tubes. Just for beginners, and anyone who wants to get involved in tube amps. For a pledge of $15.00 , you get a lot of information. it is a 5-6 week course, with downloads, paper lists, schematics, photos, and videos.  you read fun info, and fill out fun quizzes.

IF you finish/graduate the Amplifiers for Instruments Level 1 course-- you qualify to to take the level 2 course, where we will be building our own tube type guitar amps!       

So go to  www.patreon.com/sorethroatguitaramplifiers. It's fun and easy.

Talk you on Patreon, or on the next blog.

Prof.-Edward

Posting from Email

Very excited to introduce the new Sore-Throat Guitar Amps in the new longer box model, coming this month, but we have old-box-stock available,too. See the custom units on Etsy, the old logo units, and if you need something special for your pedal board, just ask. 

SoreThroatGuitarAmps have a loud headphone driver. Use it to hear those other pedals- and your fingers on the fretboard!

The AceMeister

HEy , if you want a headphone amp this year before December time, tell me NOW, I gotta start building extras for the season.

Also, putting TWO AMPS with TWO headphones and ONE buddy cable in a package KIT, so friends can play together. PLAY guitar with your girlfriend, keep yer hands on the fret board!

thanx- see the new PATREON page.  AND I added Russia on Etsy, $25.00 post. Kinda steep, but available. 

the ACE MEISTER

The last month 43 people from Russia/ USSR read this blog page- Thank you, dakarube to all, But I dont know if i can MAIL any amps to Russia.??? I 'll check into it. I don't know if maybe some amps from the UK migrated all the way up there. If any body Russia has one of my amps, let me know, please. and also the serial number. It would be fun to have that info.

                                                                         THIS YEAR Holidays

HEy , if you want a headphone amp this year before December time, tell me NOW, I gotta start building extras for the season.

Also, putting TWO AMPS with TWO headphones and ONE buddy cable in a package KIT, so friends can play together. PLAY guitar with your girlfriend, keep yer hands on the fret board!

thanx- see the new PATREON page

the ACE MEISTER

See our NEW Patreon Page! ...cool way to get stuff

HURRAY


We are now on PATREON.com , under sorethroatguitaramplifiers  .....I know, how surprising!

Thank you to all who check out this blog once in a while. We are still building amplifiers, designing new styles, and getting new surplus parts pressed into GUITAR SERVICE.

Always be assured, you can write to the POBOX 5436, Salem, Oregon 97304 any time, if you dont like using the net to send money, or you want an amp repaired FOR FREE ! or ask for the latest coloring contest. your kids will like them. !

This is a short blog, visit PATREON, I hope we got the photos fixed and videos up when you get there. we had some problems.

the Ace Meister

The NEW Coffin-Style Sore -Throat Amplifier -coming soon! metal boxes on-hold...

               The NEW Coffin- Style Sore-Throat Guitar Amplifiers !

WE put aside the ‘ol metal cans ( Altoid Mint Cans) and came up with something new.

The Coffin –Style cases are handier, in some ways. You just press a nine volt battery into the rectangle slot on each side, and kick –on the power rocker.

The terminal strip on the back is for people who want to hook-up two, 9-volt spot power plugs, wiring one negative. The Rocker switch goes to battery power on the right, kick it left and it’s on the terminal strip power. 

The long toggle is a “Toe-Kick” switch, move it to the right and you got true-bypass. Toggle it left, and the output is dialed-in distortion to your pedal board or straight to an amp!

Don’t worry that the Coffin-Cases look like a morbid “Pine-Box”!

The cases are made of a wood-product composite material, and we included noise shielding and special wiring! It’s really strong, and has a removable lid, so you can see the parts and wiring. The new manual will tell you more about how to access and modify the electronics, if you want.

Wood-look logos and perimeter “coffin nails” add a nice touch.

Sore-Throat Amps are always built by hand, and we use surplus electronic parts, recycled bits, old 1950’s cloth wire, hand-calibrated parts and TWO batteries to make it simple and LOUD. These things keep the costs down, so we still sell them for $ 38.95 and low postage.

If you support us, we might make it back to Portland Saturday Market, where lots of amps were sold in the past!

This rig is one of the only distortion pedals on the market that is loud enough to drive a pair of 8-ohm headphones. You can use it to hear everything on your pedal board, without a large combo amp.

Contact us at www.Etsy.com/SoreThroatguitaramps     

Or     sorethroatguitaramplifiers.blogspot.com         twitter @sorethroatamps.

Another OLD STGA headphone amp found!- Hurray ( and if you find , please let us know)

Hoo RAY ,  we found another old SOre Throat Guitar amp ( headphone amp) , it is actually owned by a relative- sort of - As the story goes, he was a little kid, not quite a teen, he came ove to my house one day, and I gave him an amp.

Long story short, he grew up, played the amp as a teen, but couldn't use it much. He could never afford a decent electric guitar.
Now in his late 20's, he has a great IBiNEZ 6 string rocker type AXE, and remembered he had the headphone amp in storage somewhere.
really needed it, 'cause he was traveling by car, working odd jobs etc. couldn't always use a big combo amp. Also, he worked in the woods where there was no electricity.

so, all i need now is the 'ol serial number, and the recovery is complete.

So glad the ol thing still works, but they usually are just waitin' for people, and a fresh set of   9 volts!

the Professor

The inside scoop- opening up a can'o worms-the good kind

Here is an inside look of a Sore Throat Guitar Amp- good photo, very straight forward. you can almost build yer own just using the photo! I encourage you to do so.

Like usual, the mechanical parts and capzapitors are all out in the open, easy to service. ( the only time I've needed to is : 1. amp was run over by a car tire. 2. caps exposed to freezing  weather. )
Only IC's (sockets)  , diodes, and resistors are mounted on a PC board, occasionally a discrete transistor. and the ribbon cable. nothing else. ever.

metal film resistors are only used in a power suply line,
NEVER in an audio path.
its not just being a purest. MFR's are close to being as chemically reactive as capacitors.
 time and atmosphere will take em out.
also heat and fluctuations from supply power.
Thanx for being a reader- Learn how to solder- you'll enjoy it.

professor E

NEW -The Ace Lewis Official Coloring Contests are online--- here's a sample.

Sore Throat Guitar Amplifiers coloring contests available

Get your copies from Etsy.com, digital download. Its fun !!

There's more than just headphone amps..theres history, too.

Here is a sample page, the colored pencil lead doesn't show up well on scanner. you can get a black and white page to color, all your own. Then post them on the Facebook page, if you want to show them off. -group- Sore Throat Guitar amplifiers. Thanx for looking

The down loads come with Student Questions about the Poem- 

see if you can answer the questions!  

Workbench photo- Where the Sore-Throat Amps are built!

Here is a photo of the small orange workbench, where all Sore-Throat amps are built. 

This is the real deal, a small section of the original orange workbench, inserted into a yellow/ black costco plastic tote! Everybody in Oregon buys these totes, uses include house hold and storage.
I found a way to install everything i need inside the tote, and close the lid when I want.

See if you can pick out details

Sore-Throat Guitar Amplifiers Brochure Two: instruction Manual Pages (newest edition) and Coloring Pages Kindle Edition

by Edward Lewis (Author), Nanja Barnes-Lewis (Editor)

will be posting a new Kindle edition soon, had some tech problems with old files. sorry

NEW stuff on Amazon for KINDLE..... instruction pages, stories,coloring pages -in Kindle format

• 
  
• 
  

• Sore-Throat Guitar Amps: Introduction/ Instruction Manual/Coloring Pages Kindle Edition

  by Nanja Barnes-Lewis (Editor
• File Size: 2433 KB
• Print Length: 20 pages
• Publisher: Edward A. Lewis; One edition (September 4, 2015)
• Publication Date: September 4, 2015
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B014YYBTTS

So this is what it looks like on Amazon, KDP is amazing stuff. Write what you know, or reformat what you wrote long time ago, then publish it for Kindle readers and others. 

make a few bucks. 

The main purpose of this blog, is to point out the popularity of "Adult coloring pages" , the newest fad to hit the publishing world. 

I would like to point out that the Sore-Throat guitar biz has been generating coloring pages since 1987- and we never discriminated between the kids doing them , or the adults doing them. so the way i see it, stga folks were way ahead of our time!

Just never thought about "monetizing" it, other than the kids influencing their parents to buy them a headphone amp.

so now , I always wanted to make the STGA instruction manual accessible on KINDLE, so I started with a partial manual, some background info for the newbies, and two coloring pages. 

Our coloring pages tell the on-going saga of "Ace Lewis" and his guitar adventures. 

I am thinking of putting out the manual in three editions, with 2-3 coloring pages in each one. 

Then, some day we will have a contest for aspiring writers to put all the pages together, and write a short story about "Ace Lewis". see how close it turns out to real life, but I m not looking for an accurate bio- the best written, best  sounding story will be the thing. I wont tell anybody what Im really hoping to find in the story... 

so give me some feedback, folks- tell me what you think!

Standard Sore-Throat Guitar Amp, pedal board cables and kick on power switch

Here is the standard Sore-Throat Guitar amp, with pedal board cables plugged-in. Red is guitar input, blue is main output. Change the blue with a large 1/4 inch headphone plug, and its a portable distortion amp only you can hear. Red knob is gain, wood knob is volume/ output. You can turn the power on/off with the white rocker switch, mounted in front so you can hit it with your toe if you're using it as a pedal.
Now, you can add one of these to your collection, and if it ever breaks, just send it back in the shipping box, give me a tracking number, and I'll send you a fresh one right away! You wont be without a distortion box any longer than the postman takes to deliver. It's only $4.00 across the CONUS, and HI,AK,PR, and international is $14.00 to UK, Germany, Japan. People in those places are already Jammin' on STGA's, so how about you?

Dont get PEDAL BORED #3 - Bass Limiter mounted on P board

SO I finally got the the new Behringer Bass Limiter pedal mounted on the big Pedal board!
I needed it a little higher than the front row, so i mounted some 1/2 inch wood dimensional lengths to the aluminum rails, then took the back plate off the Behringer ( Which is just a steel weight )
and drilled some holes, put in small wood screws. See photo

I know most of you mount pedals with Velcro hook and loop material, BUT I like some of my pedals to be permanent. Also put wood slat under the chrome booster pedal, and a double wood mount under the BOSS rhythm machine.

You can get "matching" color cables from Musician's  Friend online, I put blue and purple on my Digitec stereo chorus, red and orange on my VOX cry-baby pedals. I keep the brightest color for
all "inputs" and darker for "outs".
The DC plug cables can also be obtained in colors, you can see the BLE 100 has a green one to match. Colors make it easier to trace cables under the hinged board if trouble arises.

ENJOY your guitar pedal acquisitions, and NEVER get PEDAL BORED!

The Lost Headphone Amps.. we recovered some more information from the past. sept99-sept2000

I am happy to share some more recovered information on Sore-Throat Guitar Amps serial numbers and names from the past.

We found an old ledger book of EBAY sales, recorded from september 1999, through september 2000.
Buyer                 Serial #            Date

Rick    S. ...........................................................09/13/99
some appliance company ? ...............................11/99
Charles D..........................PC # 11.....................12/99
David McE.  .....................PC # 13.....................12/99
Tye    P. .............................PC    ?  .....................02/2000
Jon    S. ...............................................................05/2000
D. H. ...................................................................06/2000
Jim   G. ...............................................................09/2000
Darrell  H. ........................PC#  28.....................09/2000


Thanx to those of you who have shared your serial numbers, so many years later,
and also to the people who tell us their "war-stories" about their Sore-Throat Amps.
Its a nice tribute to the design, quality, and longevity of the little headphone amps.

Dont Get Pedal Bored #2. hinge up, lights on

Here is a shot of my pedal board project, the red fiberglass base is on a table top, the rail frame is lifted up on its back hinge. The 2 banks of LED lights are turned on. I can re-wire it on a dark stage if I have to! Notice the spring reverb can mounted in the left corner. It is shock-mounted, but it still picks-up all the foot -switching noise of the board, if you leave it "ON" in the audio chain! 

the papers are check-off lists of all the stuff I need to add to the board. The fun never stops! Hope you have a pedal board too-just put one together with what ever you have on hand. 
You can add a Sore-Throat Guitar amp for only $38.95. 

Dont get PEDAL- BORED! keep working on it !

AS WE ALL KNOW

Pedal boards are a lot of fun, but they can also eat up much of your time and energy.
The only way to keep it fresh , is to add new stuff and features when you can.
Here is my main board that I'm working on.

Two wah pedals, a LION and a cry-baby. and a GASS( volume)

The "bones" under the pedals make a strong aluminum frame, and there's a hinge in back.

So the whole thing lifts up for adding/ servicing.

Under the top of the three, there is a 3- spring reverb can, inside a Tolex cloth bag.

My next PEDAL will be a SORE-THROAT-GUITAR AMPLIFIER ! I can hook up the two RCA's

from the reverb can to the STGA amp, and use it a driver. I can go straight to a combo amp, or cable it to my pre-amp mixer at the top left of photo. 

I have a lot more to write about this board, so come back often. 

See the sore-throat amps on ETSY dot com. 

Thanx- the Professor

Some new information on serial numbers. #d prefix

SORE THROAT GUITAR AMPLIFIERS copyright 2015

Here is some new information on amplifiers built with #d prefix. The last serial number page stopped at #d50. New information has been found relating to numbers up to d79.

Many of the " d "  series were pre- build models where the hardware was assembled and units stored. The amp electronics was added later', just  before units were offered for sale.
That wasthe case with # d79 . The case and hardware were manufactured in 1996, then the unit was finished and modified in 1998.

The unit is also listed as being 82 percent recycled materials. I wonder how I figured that out ?
It was packaged with a headphone adapter, and RCA jumper cables.
Its not in the records, but the unit may have had two owners. ( returned and re-sold)
Now, the new challenge is to find more records to link serial numbers from d50 to d79.

If you have seen the little amps out there somewhere, let us know the style and serial numbers so we can fill -in the blanks.
Stories of the headphone amps are also always welcome.

Here is the NEW BASELINE settings copies, copy-paste and cut! read next page explanation

Sore-Throat Guitar Amplifiers copyright 2014 EAL

STGA

                                                    (You can down load this page, put in WORD, change to 3- columns

                                                         paste the columns, and print. cut out each square. add to set-up schematic                                                                  diagram. )  ERASE this sentance! 

BaseLine      Settings____     

Mounting: FA  PB  GS  SB

Input Main:  NC  EG  PB  EXT

Instrument Vol: . 25 .50 .75 +

RCA 1: NC, In , Out, Monitor

Output TRS: HP,GC ,Ring,ST

Gain Cont: zero,#___,7+ ___

Volume Cont:1,#___, (+) ___

Power:Batt,EXT,OFF

EXT.Device: ____________

ADD:JC  R.iso  AMP  SR

Music : rk.cu.ry.sl.bu.cl.NA

STGA

BaseLine      Settings____     

Mounting: FA  PB  GS  SB

Input Main:  NC  EG  PB  EXT

Instrument Vol: . 25 .50 .75 +

RCA 1: NC, In , Out, Monitor

Output TRS: HP,GC ,Ring,ST

Gain Cont: zero,#___,7+ ___

Volume Cont:1,#___, (+) ___

Power:Batt,EXT,OFF

EXT.Device: ____________

ADD:JC  R.iso  AMP  SR

Music : rk.cu.ry.sl.bu.cl.NA

STGA

BaseLine      Settings____     

Mounting: FA  PB  GS  SB

Input Main:  NC  EG  PB  EXT

Instrument Vol: . 25 .50 .75 +

RCA 1: NC, In , Out, Monitor

Output TRS: HP,GC ,Ring,ST

Gain Cont: zero,#___,7+ ___

Volume Cont:1,#___, (+) ___

Power:Batt,EXT,OFF

EXT.Device: ____________

ADD:JC  R.iso  AMP  SR

Music : rk.cu.ry.sl.bu.cl.NA

STGA

BaseLine      Settings____     

Mounting: FA  PB  GS  SB

Input Main:  NC  EG  PB  EXT

Instrument Vol: . 25 .50 .75 +

RCA 1: NC, In , Out, Monitor

Output TRS: HP,GC ,Ring,ST

Gain Cont: zero,#___,7+ ___

Volume Cont:1,#___, (+) ___

Power:Batt,EXT,OFF

EXT.Device: ____________

ADD:JC  R.iso  AMP  SR

Music : rk.cu.ry.sl.bu.cl.NA