I've made a couple of these. I found the original schematic online then modified it because I did not have one of the parts the original plan calls for. My design allows the use of much more common parts. Although it uses more parts and is a bit more complicated.
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Looking at a schematic is always how I decide of I want to build a circuit or not so I will present it first. I found the one I based my design off of here:
http://www.redcircuits.com/Page1.htm
Although mine isn't exactly like that one it is essentially the same topography. It sure looks simple enough doesn't it? That is why I choose to build it myself. I made my schematic because I did not have a TLE2141C Op-Amp. If you do then you can build the original and it should be easier than building mine.
IC1 and IC2 on my schematic are 15 volt regulators I used 12 volt ones. SL4 from the power supply section should power the lower voltage dual op-amp of course.
http://www.redcircuits.com/Page1.htm
Although mine isn't exactly like that one it is essentially the same topography. It sure looks simple enough doesn't it? That is why I choose to build it myself. I made my schematic because I did not have a TLE2141C Op-Amp. If you do then you can build the original and it should be easier than building mine.
IC1 and IC2 on my schematic are 15 volt regulators I used 12 volt ones. SL4 from the power supply section should power the lower voltage dual op-amp of course.
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still glad that i got a reply
Get some of your geeky buddies together and toss a shipping container into the harbor or something! If you can manage to round up that many geeky friends then just start a company with them. Shipping containers are heavy, and the best you could hope for pulling off a stunt like that is getting all wet from the splash.
If there is any meaning to life it is making your dreams real. In order to do that it involves a lot of effort in your waking hours though.
I've learned to strip stuff that is similar to stuff I want to build, in this case old home stereos or radios come to mind. Though TVs and car stereos may have useful components as well.
As to where its found, well it is found in the corners of people's basements, maybe the bottom of their closet. Ask folks. It seems today everyone has some old electronic thing they don't want and would love to get rid of.
For experimenting the vintage stuff has more easily used parts too. So the older the better. I have no use for new SMT stuff myself, but there is always an LED or maybe a switch or something I can use so I take it as well.
The real good stuff to get is obsolete commercial stuff. That stuff has so much better parts in it than the consumer electronics. But somehow some people manage to latch onto that then decide it may be better if they got rid of it.
So ask around and keep your eyes open.
Sorry, last question i promise- if i had to buy all of the parts for this project, how much would it cost roughly? Would it still be cheap?
Thanks mdog93
One of the very first electronics projects I can remember doing was when I took a cassette player and somehow managed to find the input for the amplifier section in it. I think I took a resistor from the positive and poked it around until I heard it make a loud noise or something crude like that. Then I hooked a microphone directly up to that spot and put that microphone onto a piece of scrap plywood, stretched some fishing line over it, and had me a guitar!
That was a long time ago now, and I did a lot of projects in between then and the amplifier in this article. It was when I got that to work that I figured maybe I have a knack for this sort of thing and the rest is as they say history.
Today I know I've no special talent, just a little luck and a lot of persistence.
One thing I have done for laughs is use a regular home stereo as a guitar amplifier. I think they sound a bit flat, could use some more aggressive biasing, or something, but it does work. Just working is an advantage though. With my circuit I cannot extend any real guarantees to others.
With hobby electronics it is often more about the process than the end results. That being said your process can yield impressive results sometimes.
If you like things black and white digital logic may be what you're after. There it is either on or off. Analog is a whole other animal. I suppose there are theoretical ideals which are never attained, but there is a lot of fun to be had in between too!
One thing I regret omitting in my article was outlining the subsections of the circuit. I think being able to grasp this is important to understanding a circuit. Then those circuit snippets can be handled in an intelligent fashion. What that also means is entire circuits do not, and often should not be built all at once. So I'll do that now and it may help you in reading my schematic, others too.
I'm probably not 100% correct with this but hopefully you'll get the idea and look at circuits as sums of their parts. Better than looking at schematics as big confusing mazes. Though they are that too.
Making the sub section block leap was a big step for me comprehending electronics. Everything is digestible if I break it down into manageable bite sized chunks. Put another way big jobs are more easily accomplished when broken down into lots of little tasks.
Qa
http://www.instructables.com/id/GM-Arts-Overdrive-Pedal-Build/step13/Rock-On/
I should have linked to that article in the amplifier one. That pedal is unbelievable.
Your best bet is to breadboard this, or any analog circuit before you commit to final parts choices. What is "right" with analog audio circuits is subjective. Although your final soldered board may and probably will sound different.
I think I used 12V regulators because that is what I had. It should even work with 15 volt ones. But 15V is the absolute maximum for the op-amp those regulators drive. This amp is pretty loud with 12V You may be a push the limit sort in which case use 15s
The op amp may be substituted as well for any dual with the same pin out.
All of this may be why I am more into analog circuit building today than digital. I have a problem with right and wrong. I've built a few of these amplifiers now, and no two are alike. The one I blew up is definitely wrong though!