Non-electric 'amps'

Spyke · 2008-09-09T08:44:39+00:00

I want to find out from any of you guys here, especially the web hounds, if there are any 'amps' for electric guitars that doesn't use batteries or mains? I...

Non-electric 'amps'

LMinnie

Und I zink herr Dr.Spyke haz dizcovered ze myztery of ze univerzse!

Anti Matter powered guitar amplifiers!!! ?

Haff you been uzink ze Hadron Collider again herr Dr.?

Spyke

Nein, zat vood rezult in my skilz surpazing zose of ze late gggreat Jimmy Heindriks... zat vood be ze abomination to ends all!

Nein, zis iz far more complex zen ze Haldron... zat iz mere childz playz.

LMinnie

We do really make very bad (only slighty evil) scientists! ?

Manfred-Klose

What if you attach something to the electric guitar body, amplifies the acoustic sound, but add something to twist the sound it produces......distortion, it might work, but wont sound anything near to dime's guitar.

AlanRatcliffe

Ok. I'll play.

If you want distortion, that's gain, gain means that power is needed. You didn't say no power - you said no batteries or mains. So you're probably looking at something like the little hand cranked dynamo efforts that power the wind up radios so beloved of rural radio aficionados.

Am I on the right track?

Manfred-Klose

???

FenderBender

Simple solution. Do like me and get a Fender stratacoustic or acoustasonic.

Curmic

I leaned the headstock of an unplugged electric guitar on a wooden desk in my room. When I played, it made the guitar at least twice as loud as the desk vibrated and produced a sound. Lower notes were loud.

A bit of an uncomfortable position though, having the neck tilted down. But it depends on your desk and chair setup.

Maybe try what I did, then use a microphone to record it! That could be fun.
Curmic

Spyke

Curmic wrote: I leaned the headstock of an unplugged electric guitar on a wooden desk in my room. When I played, it made the guitar at least twice as loud as the desk vibrated and produced a sound. Lower notes were loud.

A bit of an uncomfortable position though, having the neck tilted down. But it depends on your desk and chair setup.

Maybe try what I did, then use a microphone to record it! That could be fun.
Curmic

+1 Karma... ?

LMinnie

It looks like the cat is outta the bag Spykey!!

Looks like it had nothing to do with cold fusion and the Haldron collider !! ?

Renesongs

OK that's really lame, ? type of stuff we used to do as kids when we didn't have amps pressing the headstock against an empty cupboard or a plywood door to get a little more volume or playing in the bathroom to get good reverb. I thought you were on to something revolutionary like feeding a line from your pickups to the neurons in your brain - ooh lookie here, I have a cunning and devious plan - Tie a piece of string to your guitar bite the other end between your teeth, remember to pull tight and strum hard - sounds just like Metalica don't it - did I mention the bit about threading tracing paper between your strings to get that lovely fuzz sound Mr Blackadder ?

CornFlakes

Renesongs wrote: Tie a piece of string to your guitar bite the other end between your teeth, remember to pull tight and strum hard - sounds just like Metalica don't it

HAHA!

AlanRatcliffe

Renesongs wrote: OK that's really lame, ? type of stuff we used to do as kids when we didn't have amps pressing the headstock against an empty cupboard or a plywood door to get a little more volume or playing in the bathroom to get good reverb. I thought you were on to something revolutionary like feeding a line from your pickups to the neurons in your brain - ooh lookie here, I have a cunning and devious plan - Tie a piece of string to your guitar bite the other end between your teeth, remember to pull tight and strum hard - sounds just like Metalica don't it - did I mention the bit about threading tracing paper between your strings to get that lovely fuzz sound Mr Blackadder ?

LMAOFAO! All true... every word. Brilliant Rene! Karma'd!

...although you did forget the split matchsticks or crocodile clips on the strings .

Wessel

Even if you had an external power source like say a furnace big enough to heat up partikels enough so that they fuse and you capture the energie given off by the reaction(cold fusion), you would still need a battery of some kind to store the energie in ? Same with solar power or wind power.

Maybe you should build something attached to the bridge of the guitar that vibrates when you strum. The movement of this device could create enough power to power a small amp with built in adjustable distortian. Almost like one of those shake torches that gets powered by the thingy moving inside. But then you would still maybe need a battery.

Renesongs

Maybe you should build something attached to the bridge of the guitar that vibrates when you strum. The movement of this device could create enough power to power a small amp

Ah very clever squire, you mean like one of those pickup thingies they have on them electric guitars. I've heard that the vibration of the strings across the magnetic poles cause small amounts of electricity to flow through the coils of the pickup. So if you were to strum the strings for an hour or so you would have enough electricity to lightly sauté a small hamster. You could then sell the sautéed hamster as a rare eastern delicacy to a rich block for a large sum of money and then buy an amplifier, Another cunning and devious plan indeed sir. ?

LMinnie

You guy's crack me up ?

I see Spykey's dreams of fame and fortune going up in flames....

"It vos ze dizcoverie of ze zenturrie!"

But alas we cannot break the laws of physics.. ?

AlanRatcliffe

Wessel wrote: Maybe you should build something attached to the bridge of the guitar that vibrates when you strum.

That bit's been done - It's called an acoustic guitar top. A very interesting mechanical amplifier.

You could do something like the Marimba players in CT do for distortion - they use rubber bands to attach plastic shopping bags to the air ports then rip holes in them. The air moving through makes the notes all fuzzy... very cool.

Otherwise look into John Cage's experiments in "Prepared Piano".

Spyke

Ok, so the idea isn't 100% viable...

Don't think I'm going to sink my life saving into developing a gizmo to do this - instead I'll make a humorous photo project of it and post it here - to really drag down our credibility! ?

Malkav

Well you could always carve out an acoustic chamber like the Mattias Eklundh Applehorn Caparison has, however that wouldn't get you distortion so my recomendation is Kinetic energy. hook a dynamo on to a home fitness bike and pedal to produce the current needed to power an amp directly, this way you get a work out and a practice session...or if your missus has been packing on the pounds lately convince her to do it using some form of lame I'm tired excuse but you really need to practice then you end up a better player with a fitter woman ? +2 points to your lifestyle right there ?