First amp build, using the Noisy Cricket circuit. I'd like to try some others, especially a 1 watt design if you know any good ones. Looking for more clean volume, though this is not bad for a 1/2W and a 4 inch speaker.
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It was a while ago so I cannot recall how long the battery lasted. The one I did was more of a bare bones version like the dual power king here http://www.beavisaudio.com/library/LM386/LM386.htm I also have made some of the minimalist smokey amp design and they give a nice growl - a bit more signal breakup at higher volumes compared to the ruby but that is part of their charm.
The GEMII was to my ears a better sound and with more volume.
Do you have a prototyping breadboard? They are real cheap off ebay and it would be the easiest way to compare a few different circuits and still be able to reuse the components.
David, are you running the Gem MKII on a 9v battery? How many hours do you think you get? And have you compared it to the standard Gem, i.e. not bridged?
Thanks David. That makes me think I need to use 2 386's and bridge them. Having said that, I was playing last night and thought, ooh that might be a bit loud for the neighbours.
The little GEM mark II on run of the groove is good http://runoffgroove.com/littlegem.html (lower diagram). It is a while since I made it up on a bread board. I didn't have a 1M5 resistor at the time so omitted the bit before the inputs into the LM386 ICs and just ran the live direct to both.
I've been playing the The Bootlegger thru its matching amp and it's a total hoot! The P90 pickup really suits it. Piezo with the Twin T filter switched on also good, but of course the magnetic pickup is a better source for this kind of amp. The piezo sounds amazing on cleaner acoustic setups, which of course this little amp doesn't do well. But for down home grit, it's the bomb!
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Hi Glenn,
It was a while ago so I cannot recall how long the battery lasted. The one I did was more of a bare bones version like the dual power king here http://www.beavisaudio.com/library/LM386/LM386.htm I also have made some of the minimalist smokey amp design and they give a nice growl - a bit more signal breakup at higher volumes compared to the ruby but that is part of their charm.
The GEMII was to my ears a better sound and with more volume.
Do you have a prototyping breadboard? They are real cheap off ebay and it would be the easiest way to compare a few different circuits and still be able to reuse the components.
David, are you running the Gem MKII on a 9v battery? How many hours do you think you get? And have you compared it to the standard Gem, i.e. not bridged?
Thanks David. That makes me think I need to use 2 386's and bridge them. Having said that, I was playing last night and thought, ooh that might be a bit loud for the neighbours.
Hi Glen,
The little GEM mark II on run of the groove is good http://runoffgroove.com/littlegem.html (lower diagram). It is a while since I made it up on a bread board. I didn't have a 1M5 resistor at the time so omitted the bit before the inputs into the LM386 ICs and just ran the live direct to both.
I've been playing the The Bootlegger thru its matching amp and it's a total hoot! The P90 pickup really suits it. Piezo with the Twin T filter switched on also good, but of course the magnetic pickup is a better source for this kind of amp. The piezo sounds amazing on cleaner acoustic setups, which of course this little amp doesn't do well. But for down home grit, it's the bomb!
Y-Y-Y-E-E-E-S-S-S-!-!-!