I just looked at the schematic and the transistor is installed correctly on the Radio Shack build pdf.
http://www.beavisaudio.com/Projects/NoisyCricket/MarkII/NoisyCricketMarkII_RadioShack_Rev2.pdf

My suggestion is to try a different speaker. If you have a guitar speaker around, it will make a huge difference. Others are hit or miss, mostly miss.

Thanks for the input. We build a lot of these small amps and I'd like to find a source of speakers I could buy. Even something like the speakers used in the cheapest giutar amps. I see Fenders, Rogues, etc for $50 or less new. Their speakers sound great with a little 386 amp, but does anyone know where to get them or some like them?

If a commercial amp sells for 50 bucks, they must get the speakers for $5 or so, maybe less.

thanks!

I'm looking for the cheapest possible speakers for small LM386 and TDA2003 based amps. 4 inch or so for the 386 and 6 or 8 inch for the 2003. I found some great deals at http://www.electronix.com/catalog/default.php/cPath/362_363
but they don't have sensitivity specs. Anyone know of cheap, good sounding speakers for low power amps?

thanks!