386 amps are a lot of fun. One change I would suggest would be to add a 10uF cap in series with the gain pot with the + side connecting to pin 8. That cap will preserve the DC balance on the input stage for sweeter distortion.
You can also rig a volume control using a 500 ohm pot. Just place it in series with the speaker. A 1K pot in parallel with a 470 ohm resistor will also do the trick.
For the sweetest distortion, the high voltage versions seem to give the best results. These would be the LM386-4 and the JRC386BD.
Here's the LM386 datasheet:
http://cache.national.com/ds/LM/LM386.pdf
You can also rig a volume control using a 500 ohm pot. Just place it in series with the speaker. A 1K pot in parallel with a 470 ohm resistor will also do the trick.
For the sweetest distortion, the high voltage versions seem to give the best results. These would be the LM386-4 and the JRC386BD.
Here's the LM386 datasheet:
http://cache.national.com/ds/LM/LM386.pdf