LittleGem - Patial Finished today

[Oliver]

Hi Out there,

today i received a delivery of electrical goods i ordered a week ago.
The Parts i ordered to build the Little Gem and other nessesaries.

The Little Gem was build on Perfboard in just 30 Minutes.
And the Sound is great!! I run it trough a no name HiFi BassSpeaker  
Looking forward to connect it to my 2x12 Cab.
It's already enough to use it to nerve your Family :lol:

I left the Pot away, so there is nothing between the two cables of the Gaincontrol. The volume is a bit lower, as if you would solder a Resistor between there, but you can Boost it up from really tubish clean to a nice Bluesy crunch.

There is another Thing i did not as in the StockSchematic.
I forgot to order a 0.01uF Cap, so i soldered a 0.047uF instead the Stock one. The Sound is good, maybe that the 0.01uF will bringhten up the Sound. Actual it sounds a bit like an old TweedChamp (really)

And its interesting to drive this little Thing on 18Volt (i put two 9VBatterys in Series) and the Sound comes out much louder more clear.
With 9V it sounds smooth and warm.
Oh man, i like that little thing !!!

Im going to put it in a metal Box like the Hammond Alu Boxes.
And i will drive it with 12 or 14Volt.  And look for an 1x12  or 2x10 Cab with good Speakers.

Here are some Pictures from my Scanner i made just today:
The Perfboard is cuted away around the Circuit, not such as big, as
on the picture (thats made just after i build it)

http://mitglied.lycos.de/surftone/littlegem/bilder/gem_teile.jpg
The Visual PartList

http://mitglied.lycos.de/surftone/littlegem/bilder/gem_roh.jpg
The White Wires are that ones that goes to the GainPot

http://mitglied.lycos.de/surftone/littlegem/bilder/gem_obennah.jpg
closeUp on Top
http://mitglied.lycos.de/surftone/littlegem/bilder/gem_drahtung.jpg
and the Soldering

Next moves will be an On/Off Switch with LED, perhaps a ToneControl
and Boxing it!!

bye,

Oliver

[petemoore]

That 386 chip really makes it easy to get the practice amp going...quite an amazing thing really!!!

[Oliver]

That 386 chip really makes it easy to get the practice amp going...quite an amazing thing really!!!

HI,

and Thanx !

one question came up while playing around with the GainControl.
I read the Datasheet from the LM386 and between Pin 1 and 8 is a fixed
Resistor (1.35K) inside. If i connect a Pot from around 5 or 10 K, there
is just only a little response, until it is turned up (going under 1 or 2 K with its resitance) so that there is a lower resistor in my pot as inside the fixed one for the Gain.
The GainControl only works at the End of the Way.
Is there a way to solve this? perhaps by using the Bypass Pin (7) but im afraid to do some damage if i make the wrong experimental connection.

On the Other Side, when you leave Pin1 and 8 open, it is nice to Boost or Overdrive the little IC by a Pedal feeding it.
I defenetly will remove the Pot and use a Switchable fixed Resistor for an OverdriveSound.
The Sound in higher Gain, when clipping is very nice (like Tubescreamer).

And i think how to realize a tonecontrol (is it better at the End, perhaps the 220uF changing by Pot to a 47uF) or better the Front (0.01uF with Blendpot from a smaller to a higher one)??

ok
looking forward for some suggestions

bye
Oliver