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DIY amp directions

Started by Lauren, August 25, 2014, 07:10:38 PM

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Lauren

Hello again!! My components arrived a while ago, and I am finally ready to refocus attention on this project. Need to know if this is the right component, though, as what I received looks significantly smaller than what galaxiex has in his pics.

This is the 2N5457 transistor. Will it work??

Hope you are all doing well! Also hope I get this finished this year. Lol.

Thanks, as always!!

Roly

Welcome back - we missed you.

Yeah, that FET should do fine.   :dbtu:



{and now I know how big an American one cent coin is  :lmao: }
If you say theory and practice don't agree you haven't applied enough theory.

spud

Not sure what happened to this project/thread and not to try to derail it or confuse it but I have the following observation:

I thought the orientation you chose for the project board and components rather odd.  Wouldn't it have been easier/more intuitive to orient the board turned 90 degrees so that the bus lines were going up/down and in-between the legs of the IC/chip?  I know it's only 8 pins but I find these Rat shack prototype boards more useful if they are rotated 90d like this: 

(See IC_VERT_template_2.jpg I attached. BTW, how do you embed the jpg into the post?)

Here's another one based on the another RS product I like to call the "BUG" - this one is really small too. 

(See BUG_Template.jpg)

I'm not saying you should change it or anything at this time - it would probably be too confusing and derail things but I'm just pointing out what I'd call the "conventional" approach to using those kind of boards - at least from my perspective. 

Oh, and here are 2 projects I did using the first and another using the second type of board with a vertical orientation (see attachments).

Jim




Roly

Thanks for those.   :dbtu:

Not dead, just puttering along a bit slowly.

There are lebenty-leben way to skin a cat.

So you mean something like this?

http://www.ssguitar.com/index.php?topic=3561.msg27150#msg27150
:lmao:


While this is nominally Lauren's Ruby build thread it has been a very wide-ranging discussion around that central point, lots of related detail about components, and construction technique (which isn't on the circuit).  Ideally it would be great if this thread grew into a "go to" resource for any intending Ruby (or similar) builders.


If you feel like doing a layout for the Ruby like you suggest, rails up the middle, I don't think it would be confusing for you to post it here, and it would illustrate that there are many ways to get the same result.  The more the merrier.

Lauren has already expressed interest in building a fuzz box (or something) as her next project and your "Double_Dist" is worth a look, but we need to keep in mind that she is a total beginner and something a bit simpler might be a good idea first.


{I'm finding this thread interesting because I've been doing this stuff for over fifty years now and as I try and teach it is useful to be reminded how much I have internalised over the years, and that is anything but obvious to somebody doing their very first build.}
If you say theory and practice don't agree you haven't applied enough theory.

J M Fahey

STILL HERE ? ? ? :o

And still no working amp?  xP

What's wrong with the very first answer (August 25  ::)  ) 



or the second one ... August 26 ?   :o



By September 6 it was already getting long on the tooth so I suggested as a simplifier/timesaver move to straight buy an inexpensive, readily available PCB and be done with it:



Almost 5000 views and 3 months later and still no :




Roly

Low Z-in

She bought an IC-specific board, not dabboard or stripboard

Chill bro, it's the journey (the FET had to come via Mongolia  :lmao: )
If you say theory and practice don't agree you haven't applied enough theory.

joecool85

Quote from: J M Fahey on December 01, 2014, 07:44:15 AM
STILL HERE ? ? ? :o

And still no working amp?  xP

I get the impression that life has gotten in the way...of which I understand all to well (hence why you folks don't see me on here much).

That said, I applaud her for holding on to this project and continuing on.
Life is what you make it.
Still rockin' the Dean Markley K-20X
thatraymond.com

DrGonz78

Still plenty of time to get er' done by the end of the year...  :dbtu:
"A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new." -Albert Einstein

spud

Roly,

I'll try to put that together but Dano did the "Noisy Cricket" ages ago and that was on the "bug" type board.  (It's generic to any IC type chip up to 16 pins.) But the Noisy Cricket is essentially the same as this with a few mods - not many. 

I'll try my hand at the Ruby on the IC board - should be pretty simple.  I have to find DIY Layout as I don't think it's installed anymore on this PC, I'll dig around for it.  I still use the old version (1.0) and haven't migrated to the new one as I have a bunch of stuff like templates and what not that I don't want to have to re-create.  I'm not sure if he ever got that feature working - it's been a while since I've worked with his SW.  Btw, it's a great program and free - I think he's still building/updating it, and supports it (as freeware/opensource).  Here's a link for folks that don't know about this great tool: 

http://diy-fever.com/software/diylc/

Bancika, the guy that built it, is a fantastic DIY builder and has done all kinds of really cool projects to include pedals, amps and guitars.  I think he's a DIY genius - all of his efforts are very well thought out and well executed.  To be sure, they may not lend themselves to manufacturing or production but as one-offs they are fantastic.  His site has all his projects on it.

Jim

spud

Here's the Noisy Cricket (Mk II) on "bug board" by Beavis Audio (Dano) -

http://www.beavisaudio.com/Projects/NoisyCricket/MarkII/NoisyCricketMarkII_RadioShack_Rev2.pdf

His main site is here: 

He's another DIY Guru/Meister: 

http://www.beavisaudio.com/

Jim

spud

Found this poking around Dano/Beavis Audio's site:

http://www.beavisaudio.com/projects/ruby/

Cool stuff!

Jim

Roly

Quote from: spudI'll try my hand at the Ruby on the IC board - should be pretty simple.

It will be interesting to see how it compares with my "Quadrophina" layout;   8|
http://www.ssguitar.com/index.php?topic=3561.msg27150#msg27150


Quote from: spud{DIY layour creator)'s a great program

I guess that depends on what you are used to.  From where I sit it's a handy Esperanto, useful for beginners, but slow, with some pretty serious limitations, and the odd bug.  I'm not trying to put it/him down, or say that it isn't useful, but to keep a sense of proportion; to a professional it is clearly a programme developed by an amateur, for amateurs.
If you say theory and practice don't agree you haven't applied enough theory.

spud

Your absolutely right, I'm a hobbiest and don't have the resources or the experience to say otherwise.  I found it excellent within it's understood limitations - speed can be addressed with better hardware - it's runs pretty well on my Intel multicore laptop or my AMD multicore desktop both with 4 gb of memory, so I've not seen the performance issues.  Bugs, well even Microsoft has bugs...

My experience is limited to his first version, which I'm still using.  I'll have to try out his new version. 

Jim

J M Fahey

I like it very much, and recfommend it to lots of people.

Thanks Bancika!!!  :)

That said:

1)  it's clearly geared to amateurs, which is FINE   <3)

Problem with most Pro packages is the steep "learning curve" , way too much for somebody who wants to build a couple IC or half dozen transistor pedals.

While with DIY Creator it's a breeze   :dbtu:

No, I would not use it to draw, say, a 2 channel/reverb/overdrive/switching preamp.

Maybe you can but most of the drawing would always be outside the screen.

But for a pedal/psu/chipamp/active guitar/FM bug/simple PIC stuff, etc. (whatever you can fit in, say, a 2"x2"or 3"x3"board) is very good and straight to the point.

For larger designs, there's many to choose.

2) use the original, Windows only version. Period.

Something was lost in the "Universal" , Java based version.

spud

Quote from: Roly on December 05, 2014, 12:52:24 PM
Quote from: spudI'll try my hand at the Ruby on the IC board - should be pretty simple.

It will be interesting to see how it compares with my "Quadrophina" layout;   8|
http://www.ssguitar.com/index.php?topic=3561.msg27150#msg27150


I don't think I'm going to do a quad config of it - although I guess a dual config wouldn't be bad.  I'll see if I can work that out.  Although I think someone may have tried it already - I'm thinking it was on ROG or DIY Stompboxes.  I'll snoop around for a schematic for a dual 386 chip build but don't hold your breath.  Oh, I'll probably cut the board down somewhat as more than one will fit on that giant sized IC PCB board.  In fact, I might redo the DD (Double Distortion) to get it smaller and allow cutting the board down.  As it is now it's kind of spread out for easier soldering - I have kind of fat fingers and working in tight spaces is a problem.  I guess that's the trade off - having components more spaced out is easier to solder/wire up but it takes up more space.  I suppose the "art" is in making it relatively easy to build but minimizing the space taken.

Jim