I've been building my Noisy Cricket amp for a while now and have received some real good feedback from folks regarding the tone. It is based on runoffgroove.com's Ruby and adds a tone control and a grit mod. I built about 30 of these for folks and they have been pretty happy with the sound. I have also retired from building for a while :) (too many projects, too little time).
In order to help folks who want a NC, I've posted a new section on my site that is essentially the "Build Your Own Noisy Cricket" amp. If you have built a Ruby and are looking for some mods, you may get some ideas. If you haven't built a 386-based amp yet, the NC should be a fun project.
Anyway, hope some of you fine folks find it useful:
http://beavisaudio.com/Projects/NoisyCricket/DIY/ (http://beavisaudio.com/Projects/NoisyCricket/DIY/)
Best,
-dano
Cool! Thanks.
Sorry to hear you won't be building for a while. Your stuff always looks so good!
The time you put into making that build-project clear is really impressive. I've heard nothing but good things about the cricket (and the logo on your website is great too).
I should build one sometime. I guess I always chickened out because I don't know where to find the 386 chip.
all right, i'm convinced. Will probably try to build the pico. But as I look at the schem I don't see where the pot goes. In the photos of the underside of the pico I don't see the pot coming through the case either. Or is it too early in the morning to be looking at such things? xP
also, dumb question perhaps, but what's the speaker impedance?
The Pico Cricket is essentially the same circuit as the Noisy Cricket but with fewer parts. It is based on the Smokey amp which has no controls. I added a gain control which is essentially a 1K linear pot connected across pins 1 and 8 of the LM386. I'll give the schemos a quick check and see if I can make it clearer.
<Edit: yep, I didn't have the schematic that showed how to wire the gain pot. Whoops :) Take a look at the http://www.beavisaudio.com/Projects/NoisyCricket/index.htm (http://www.beavisaudio.com/Projects/NoisyCricket/index.htm) page now and check out the Smokey Tone Gain Amp schematic. >
Holler if you have any questions! :tu:
-dano
www.beavisaudio.com
How's that tube cricket coming along, dan-o? I'm curious to see what you put together... and how it sounds!
Quote from: Stompin_Tom on October 04, 2006, 09:35:48 AM
How's that tube cricket coming along, dan-o? I'm curious to see what you put together... and how it sounds!
I think it is going to kill me :) I've been working on it for weeks and the tube preamp section is giving me fits. I figure I'm close though--when I can get it stable it sounds really nice.
thanks Dano. Will check out the new schematic. :tu:
this is my pcb layout (not yet verified) with pcb mounted pots to semplify wiring. what do you think?
I'm thinking about makeing a better preamp for the noisy cricket and make a preamp out. It will become a bedroom head or a portable preamp in the same enclosure :)
in this version j1 and j2 are a jumper. if anyone is interested in testing the layout i can post the pnp image.
(http://img1.putfile.com/thumb/10/27616173481.jpg) (http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=3583325)
(http://img1.putfile.com/thumb/10/27618321436.jpg) (http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=3584188)
Looks really good Trevize. I need to study it some more. For some reason, I'm not seeing what the jumpers do... xP
I'm sure it's me, not your schematic!
the jumper is just cause i wasn't able make all the pcb "single face" so i used a jumper to connect the gain pot ;)
ok, makes sense now. Thanks :tu:
Wow, that is really nice. Good work--I don't see any issues from a quick scan. I notice that you are using a 47nf cap on the other side of the tone pot--that should give you a bit more tone range than my stock version.
Let me know when you get it built!
-dano
Quote from: trevize on October 05, 2006, 06:11:06 AM
this is my pcb layout (not yet verified) with pcb mounted pots to semplify wiring. what do you think?
I'm thinking about makeing a better preamp for the noisy cricket and make a preamp out. It will become a bedroom head or a portable preamp in the same enclosure :)
in this version j1 and j2 are a jumper. if anyone is interested in testing the layout i can post the pnp image.
(http://img1.putfile.com/thumb/10/27616173481.jpg) (http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=3583325)
(http://img1.putfile.com/thumb/10/27618321436.jpg) (http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=3584188)
This is really great guys, I'd love to see some build reports of this version. And excellent layout trevize!
Thank you guys, I'll build it as soon as i can.
Does anyone had good result in using the whole circuit as a preamp?
Isn't its output too big? maybe a switchable lpad (a la thd hotplate) could be implemented.
Or maybe a lowpass filter in the end could be used if overdriving the 386 could result in too much high...
I will post a pdf with the layout and pcb as soon as it's verified. ;)
ps: the lm386 should be able to have an output of 6v in 8ohm.
Would it be too much for a lm3886 amp?
Quote from: trevize on October 06, 2006, 02:07:24 PM
ps: the lm386 should be able to have an output of 6v in 8ohm.
Would it be too much for a lm3886 amp?
http://www.ssguitar.com/index.php?topic=325
Thanks Joe! I will try it in my fender m-80 power amp in!