[rickcr42]

thanks a bunch Jude,braver and of course apheared ,you know I just had to have it

how we be doin'

 

[jude]

Ummm....hey....Neruda, what was this thread about again? Hahahaha.....oh, man....we kill me.

 

[rickcr42]

anyways ,now that is settled

we can get back to

NERUDAS AMP , yaaaay !

OK dude ,so don't sweat the casing either

truth is , a larger case is way easier to work with and you can go smaller once you hone your skills

in fact , damn near every amp I have made is in the Radio Shack 5X5X1 (approx)

it allows enough space for a 1/4 inch jack , a nice big knob and all the switching I need

of course I have also finally done a "tin amp" , just could not resist

and some have gone micro amp (not for me)

so what I am saying is , don't sweat the details

just do it !

*****EDIT*****

BTW folks-Radio Shack in thier infinate wisdom has been gradually discontinuing thier line of project boxes , get 'em before they are gone ,I am stocking up myself

 

[Neruda]

that's about what I've got right now rick (5x5x1), so maybe I will go ahead and use it. It would certainly allow for plenty of batteries!

 

[rickcr42]

not only is it good for batteies , but the aluminum radio shack knob just looks too cool with that cabinet (bone,black front and rear panels)

another quick tip I learned over time

if you are right handed , put the output jack at the extreme left hand side of the cabinet and the volume control at the extreme right , otherwise you will find that evrything just gets in the way when changing volume levels

and as I said before , put the on/off switch close to the output jack for protection against accidentally hitting it and if you should choose to use a crossfeed , place that switch next to the volume pot for the same reason

add a center LED and it will look too cool , really

Rick

(so that was such a nice post I think an angel smiley is in order...........just kiddin'

)

 

[Neruda]

is it aluminum or is it just silver colored? if it's aluminum then I'll go for it.

Does anyone know if an AKG 401 can take +/- 12V? Do I even need 16 AA's? Is there a certain limit to the amount of power I can run through a Hansen PCB?

 

[rickcr42]

the knob in question is an aluminum jacket over a plastic knob.The aluminum is thick enough to add some weight to the knob

once mounted it looks like solid aluminum,and matches up nicely with the "evil" toggles and phone jack

would i lie to you ?

rickster

 

[rickcr42]

and the amount of power you can run through the habsen pcb is ENTIRELY op-amp dependant (well up to a point , probably could melt the sucker at 50 amps and 10,000 volts hehehe)

as for batteries,the 16 AA pack is meant to obtain -/+ 12 volts,the opa2134 can operate down to +/- 2.5 volts,the reason Chu chose it to begin with

also remember the voltage will drop as the batteries drain so shoot for an op amp that will operate at low voltages , not all do

 

[Neruda]

hmm...interesting. Well, I'll be getting most of the stuff I don't have at radioshack, despite the fact that some of it is not all that great compared to other stuff. might as well build something and get you people off my back!

 

[rickcr42]

Gotta tell ya neruda , you really don't know what is "not all that great" until you have a point of reference

and by that I mean swapping in a SINGLE part in a device you have used extensively and KNOW the sound of in your bones

the difference between a two dollar capacitor and a ten dollar capacitor is not an "in your face" thing ,rather subtle,something most would never even notice unless they listened for it

my very first "stock" pocket amp used all rat shack parts except for the op amp , and that was an OP-275 butler amp

The results ?

SPECTACULAR , at least when compared to what went before

see what I mean ?

first you need to know what you have before you know what you need

Rick

 

[Neruda]

alright, fair enough. All this audio stuff is greatly overrated...

 

[Apheared]

Yes, it is. Wait till you start. Seeing '40s designs still being used today. Transistors used it the most simple ways they've ever be used.

BTW, yea he would lie to you! rick is lyin bigtime. That knob? it's plastic. It's light, coated plastic. The aluminum is about as thick as tin foil. If you want a weighted knob, don't even bother. Then again, it's right there at RS, no ordering no waiting. I threw a whole pack of them away once I got a boxfull of the solid machined knobs.... shoulda kept them (shoulda kept that whole amp, but as they say TIME MARCHES ON... that amp was garbage 2 months after building it)

 

[rickcr42]

Actually neruda , solid metasl knobs are nice but overkill for a "light" portable amp

and apheared's amp above looks damn close to mine with exceptions

1-I use a 1/4 " jack

2-toggles flank the LED

but otherwise pretty damn close

and it is not ugly man

 

[Neruda]

okay, I'll get that knob. Since I'm going to use 16 AA's (I might not be able to fit them, I wasn't able to using the same battery holders apheared used in the amp pictured above, but I'm going to try some different holders that I think will work better), I'm going to put this in the big box (approx. 5x5x1) that I got a while ago. Might as well, and I'll have plenty of room for the hansen pcb.

 

[Neruda]

went out today and got all the caps at ratshack. only problem was that they didn't carry .2uF caps so I got .22 instead. Is that okay?

I also got the different battery holders, and sadly they didn't work. Looks like I'll be using 8 AA's instead of 16. no biggie...