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Problems with using car stereo amp in a house.

Guitar Fogie

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Dec 27, 2025
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I have a pair of low power sub amps and a car stereo amp that I would like to use to make a practice amp for guitar/bass for a student musician. Anybody have any thoughts how I should proceed? (If at all?)
 
You'll need a hefty 12v power supply for a start.

Quite frankly, There's a glut of cheap Class D amps to choose from, many of which will happily run from a discarded laptop power supply, and produce more than enough power.

Personally, I wouldn't bother messing with car audio.
 
You’ll need a power supply to run these.

Generally I would think that that is about as expensive as one of those small class D amps.

So in many cases, it’s probably not worth the effort.
 
I have a pair of low power sub amps and a car stereo amp that I would like to use to make a practice amp for guitar/bass for a student musician. Anybody have any thoughts how I should proceed? (If at all?)
Mains powered all in one ICEpower board would be my choice for a musical instrument amp—Fender uses them pretty extensively (Rumble 200, 500, 800HD). I’ve owned several of their (ICEpower) integrated PS/Amp products over the years, and used them in everything from my own FrankenRumble Bass amps, to hi-fi stuff (including subwoofers)and they’ve never failed me yet. They sound good to me, are reliable, use quality components, and are very reasonably priced for what you get. Partsexpress sells them in America.
 
You want to combine three amps into one?
 
I second the above opinions of voodooless, and audio_tony. By the time you buy a decent 20 amp 12v power supply, and the mess of wiring/connectors, etc, you’ll be out of pocket more than for an excellently engineered, fit for purpose solution. I have an ICEpower 200AS2 (integrated PS and TPA3255 power amp I.C), it’s 150 Wpc, uses very nice components, and can be had for $140 or so. It’s very compact, especially given the integrated power supply. It’s really nice not having an external power brick and messy wires to deal with like you get with the similarly priced stuff from China. Plus it meets all the appropriate safety certifications.
Only downside is you have to figure out an enclosure to put it in. Fender mounts em right above the bass drivers on a simple bent sheet metal bracket, done!
 
As others have said getting a power supply and making it cost effective might be tricky, but other than that I'd look on DIYaudio.com or elsewhere for completed builds of guitar amps to replicate. Otherwise you'll have a lot of design work in terms of driver + cabinet and any filters.
 
I have a pair of low power sub amps and a car stereo amp that I would like to use to make a practice amp for guitar/bass for a student musician. Anybody have any thoughts how I should proceed? (If at all?)
In general it can be done. You need to take in account that a guitar and bass pickup need a high resistance amplifier input, so around 1 Meg Ohm. Otherweise the sound may not be good. If a foot stomp box will be used between guitar and amlifier, then it should work OK.
 
You can use a PC power supply, they provide a lot of current at 12V.
Good point. And even really old PCs sold secondhand for small $ will have 300w+ 12v PSU. I'm not at all sure if they actually work for audio but I like the idea haha.
 
Thankyou to all. I was considering building 3 kits and powering them from some Game Boy/etc power supplies that I have on hand. My biggest concern was with a possible overload on any other item that may be on the same circuit. Not worth the grief that would come from my better half. Time to scrap the old gear and try to recycle anything useful. This should close out this thread. Thanks again to all.
 
That doesn’t sound nearly beefy enough. What are they?
A game boy power brick would maybe be 12v 2A at best but probably less than that. So, an iffy proposition.

@Guitar Fogie the concern is not overloading the house circuit or the power strip, but the power supply for the amp. The amp might shut down, the power supply might overheat, or something even more interesting...
 
Sorry I was referring generically to any of the Microsoft, Sony, etc gaming systems. They offer 12v at over 10 amps (according to the labels on the bricks). Haven't tried them so not sure if it would work. Not using them and do not see when I ever will so I think that I will recycle them.
 
Does something like these work? They aren't cheap, though.
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Find a wheel chair battery, they used to be made like car batteries, same size and shape. I used to use one in a river tubing stereo that used an old (this was back in 2000) Rockford Fosgste 75wpc x2 amp and it would play from the time we left until we returned 10 hours later and it was blasted the entire time. Never ran out of juice.
It will be limited to its power output rating so you need to figure out what will work, basically it will be the buffer between your charger and amp like a capacitor would be. I ran that amp with 4 x 4Ω mids , 2 x piezo tweeters and mono 4Ω 12" sub running the amp in tri mode with analog crossover parts. It probably was drawing 300W or more plus it powered all inflators that aired up 4 or more huge fun island floating rafts and 2 man boats for coolers.
Pictures of said tubing tunes.
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I paid around $100 for the battery. If I was you I'd just pick up a cheap Chinese amp that has 100wpc x2 and has Bluetooth and AUX inputs, some are just for subs. Make sure you get a power supply that will unleash the most from the amp. Amp cost $4 for a 50wpch x2 + 100w mono sub output has controls for sub volume and boost center, bass and treble controls and an overall volume control. $10 for a 24vDC 20A power supply.. I bought 2 amps and 2 PSUs, im surprised they work as well as they do but I wouldn't rely on them as subwoofer amps, they do make some that are just dedicated sub amps and they make mono amps but you need to check voltage and amps required to run them..

I just looked at prices and those I picked up are priced 2 to 3 times more than 2 years ago but even the highest 300wpc x2 amps are under $30. The problem is finding PSU's that will power them. Some can work with just 5vDC but need high Amp output with lower watts to speakers. They are limited to a min and max input voltage anywhere from 5 to 80 volts and amperage ratings can be from 5 to 60 amps. Make sure to check what PSU will work to get max output and prices can vary. A total watt output of 800W can be reached by PSU's with 80V 10A or 12V 70A and anything between (if allowed by amp), both of those PSU 's are hard to find and cost $! Those I have are 24vDC max and at least 20A to make spec, but can run with lower volts and less amps, you have to check required input and available PSU's to run them.

I also checked out all caps in the cheap power supplies and found the 2 biggest caps (small 400v totalling 130uf) were way low and I replaced them both with 1 big 400v 150uf Ruby cap. The other caps tested right on spec same manufacturer for all caps on the board? This is the cheapest way to get some usable wattage with decent clarity I know of. Ditch the car amps since you need a battery as a buffer and a charger constantly running, anything but a wheel chair battery or a big lipo battery will end up killing the battery quickly, my wheelchair battery was bought used. I'll bet they're less now that people are switching them for new LiOn batteries.
 
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