Project Outcomes

Clear outcomes are a necessity for any project. While I'm sure some of the following will be adapted over the summer, I feel this list defines the scope of this project.

1. Build a working guitar amplifier circuit with some or all of the following effects:

     Low pass filter

     Mid frequency notch filter

     High pass filter

     Distortion (these circuits seem fairly simple, an op amp and a couple of resistors right?)

2. Control sections of the guitar amplifier circuit with an arduino. (http://www.arduino.cc/) Below are some ideas I have for the arduino:

     Tremolo effect (program the arduino to vary the output magnitude of the circuit)
     Phasor effect (program the arduino to vary the filter stages)

These all are theoretically simple, the biggest hurdle now is to actually get a physical circuit to do these things.

3. Write a formal report on my research and outcomes. I just took Technical Writing, gotta keep my skills up!

It should be noted this project is not completely "practical." Given my limited electronics knowledge, I doubt this circuit is going to sound that great. The ultimate purpose of this is to understand amplifier design and modify what I can (i.e. using the arduino).

Cheers for now!
-Mark

Welcome

Heya folks, 

Welcome to The Ampharos Project. As described in the project info module, I plan to build a guitar amplifier by the end of summer. Let me share a little background on this project:

I study electrical engineering at the University of Memphis. I currently am a junior and will be taking my EECE (Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering) electives within the next three semesters. EECE students can fulfill these credits through typical semester classes or research projects with professors. My advisor and I share a love of guitars so we decided building a guitar amplifier would be a great summer project. And here we are!

I named the project after one of my favorite childhood characters, the (fittingly) electric-type Pokemon, Ampharos. He's basically a bipedal-electric-Pharoh-lighthouse-sheep.

Epic.

I will be posting my thoughts, analysis, diagrams, pictures, and circuits to document my first major electronics project. I have little to no experience in electronics so I imagine the road will be bumpy. That being said, if you have input or suggestions, please comment and share your thoughts.

Thanks for reading!
-Mark

Picture credit goes to Ho-Roudon from Seribii.net:
http://www.serebiiforums.com/showthread.php?452046-My-Pok%E9mon-Drawings