Wednesday 18 April 2012

Noisy Cricket MkII

Runoffgroove and Beavis Audio have been great resources for the DIY audio community for a long time now, offering projects and guidance which has helped many people over the years, me included.  This is Dano's take on a ROG project, a nifty little 0.5W amp that has a lot of fans out there, but with an added Bass switch for additional tone control.

Info from Beavis about the amp:
Here’s a fun Beavis Audio project that lots of people love: the noisy cricket guitar amp. I started with the runoffgroove.com ruby amp, and then added a tone control and a ‘grit’ mod. This is a great project that will give you a very sweet sounding practice amp based on the 386 lower power amp chip.

More information can be found on the Beavis Audio site here.








Added optional headphone output daughterboard.  Don't forget to use a stereo socket for the headphone output and it will need to be a plastic body type socket, so the sleeve can be isolated from ground through the box:


And a switched headphone option.  An easier way of doing this would be to feed a switched headphone socket from the daughterboard, and the signal also going through the normally closed contact to the speaker output.  Then when a plug is in the headphone socket, the speaker will be diconnected automatically.



172 comments:

  1. No way, that tone didn't come out of that little amp did it? Fuck, I gotta build me this thing now!

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    1. Yes it sounds pretty spectacular for such a little circuit doesn't it. Gotta be worth it, I know I'm going to build one. I want a test amp for my workshop and I can't think anything more ideal. Now just got to find a little 6" or 8" cab or something.

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  2. Yeah it sounds as sweet as. I bought a horn driver on ebay about a week ago to make a talk box, this will do just nicely for it I should imagine. Just ordered some MPF102's off ebay, build this bad boy tomorrow night & it'll be Jambi solo all the way, 'appy days!

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  3. This is an awesome little amp! I built mine from the plans posted on beavis audio a while back and included a little headphone out jack as well so I can use it without bothering anyone in the evenings. I love it! Next up, tube cricket...

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  4. What if I want to add a tone pot instead?

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    1. It already has a tone pot :o)

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    2. I'm sorry I didn't realize it

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    3. can I use linear pots instead of log pots?

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    4. Yes you can, the sweep may not be quite as good but it'll certainly work. The fully clockwise positions will sound identical with both.

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. verified! with and without the headphone board. fired right up, no issues at all! sounds real nice for what it is. i played it a bit through a 10" speaker and i was impressed. loud enough that my wife yelled downstairs for me to turn it down! exactly what i was looking for! thanks again man, you rock!!

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  7. Thanx....Tube Cricket....Please Please ....Keep on Rocking
    Greetings from Copenhagen Denmark

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    1. Have you got the schematic?

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    2. No Sir.... I Don´t have the schematic

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    3. http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=66623.0
      +m

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  8. Is this what the Marshall MS4 & all other little micro amps are based on?

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    1. No idea mate, I'll see if I can find a schematic for it.

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  9. This seems pretty cool for a little practice amp.. I have a celection G-75 knocking about that I could make a mini cab for this.

    I wouldn't to worry about Ohms would I?

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    1. Yeah I've got a couple of G75's still in their boxes somewhere too. I was planning on building a 2x12 cab with them at some point for my Engl, but I really fancy something compact for this for ultimate portability. Watford Valves has an 8" Jensen for £25 which looks promising.

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    2. £25!? bargain! My woodwork skills however are a lot to be desired! I'll probably buy an old speaker off the bay and gut it. Could even wire this circuit into the speaker itself so it's like a mini combo!

      Or would I face grounding issues as it's wood?

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    3. No but you'd have to connect the sleeves (except headphone out) up with wire connections because obviously they won't be able to ground themselves through the case. The box also helps reduce noise so you may find you need to add other anti-noise measures like copper foil, shielded wire etc.

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  10. Says on the Beavis website that you don't mate, I had similar queries too.

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  11. Fair do's, for a little amp this thing can really, really crank. I'm actually quite taken aback! Cool as cake man!

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  12. quick question for you- i didn't notice it yesterday, but when i plug in the headphones, volume still comes from the speaker. is this how its supposed to be, or did i make a mistake somewhere? i guess it doesn't matter if you are going to use a speaker out jack and you could unplug it, but if you hardwire the speaker shouldn't it cut out the volume when the headphones are plugged in?

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    1. Yes because the headphone output is just fed from the speaker output. It could be switched so that the speaker output was bypassed when a plug is inserted in the headphone socket, or even better it would be easy enough to add an extra switch so that you can choose one or the other, or both. A cab sim would be a really nice addition to this as well to get a better quality headphone output, and it could then go straight to a mixer so you could use this for a gig with the local speaker acting as a monitor. I'll add some options tomorrow.

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    2. Oh and by the way, yes I realise how daft it now seems that the headphone output didn't disconnect the speaker output. That's what comes through thinking about the circuits too much and the actual application less! :o)

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  13. no worries man, i'd rather you spend the time thinking about the circuits, because every one i've built has fired right up. no issues at all!! besides, you can never have too many options or switches! the only reason i thought of that was because i found a nice set of little old bookshelf speakers at the local thrift store, and was thinking of building this into one as a little combo amp.

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  14. Man I can't get over how fuckin' awesome this little teeny tiny amp is, I'm totally blown away by it. Top marks Mark!

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  15. I have indeed buddy, the little guy is in crèche this morning, so I just finished it off. Man it's cool, real loud too!

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  16. Cool. Did you use the horn driver, which one?

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  17. I did mate! Sounds good, but I think I've bought the wrong diameter tubing (12mm Outside like a tit) Bought a Monacor Ku-316 from loco sound sales, check it!

    http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MONACOR-HORN-DRIVER-/261005812554?pt=UK_Consumer_Professional_RL&hash=item3cc528a34a

    You thinking of getting involved mate?

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    1. Not sure whether to do something like this or a small guitar speaker. Or even a full range speaker with cab sim. Decisions decisions! :o)

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  18. Could you do both? Wire the speaker & driver via a DPDT maybe? Best of both worlds then!

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  19. Would something like the SabreII preamp work in this to give it a bit of extra drook in the gain dept, or will it be too much for the 386 to handle?

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    1. I don't see why it would cause a problem, it could make the ultimate mini amp with both of those in a box

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    2. Could I add a charge pump into the circuit to run at 18v for more headroom? I'm going to through a rog condor cab sim before the NC at 9v as well. Should be a pretty sweet little amp

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    3. I wouldn't use more than 12V, and the differences won't be huge I suspect. There is an LM380 IC though that is rated at 2.5W and would really need 18V, so it could potentially be used to make a Noisier Cricket. I'm not too sure whether the same circuit could be used or whether it would need to be adapted though, but if you leave it with me for a bit I'll have a look into it and get some of the ICs to play with.

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    4. Could I add a charge pump into the circuit to run at 18v for more headroom? I'm going to through a rog condor cab sim before the NC at 9v as well. Should be a pretty sweet little amp

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  20. Sorry idk why that reposted. Acts weird on my phone. Sounds good though. I would just like some more clean volume out of it if that were possible. Although the drive does sound amazing from what ive heard.

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  21. Hey I just built it and it's cool and very loud. One thing, in the second video he has a LOT of drive so I'm guessing he's using a pedal because the amp is quite clean and when I crank the gain, it gets quite noisy. I ran a few pedals through it and it handles them quite well!

    I just want to make sure that I did it right because the amp isn't really producing any drive tones.

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  22. By the way, this is a silly request but could you add a power switch option to the layout? Thanks!

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    1. I though about this, and easiest way to get power switch would be to use SPST (or SPDT) switch. Take the ground from the board to lug 1 of the switch, take another wire from dc jack ground to lug 2 (and leave third empty). This way the circuit breaks up quite neatly when hitting the switch.

      Aw. I have so many ideas rolling around my head :) Let's just see what i can come up with :)
      +m

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    2. Hi, i built this amp and it's awesome except i would love to add an on/off switch as well. Will your suggestion above drain the battery if it's left attached but the switch is turned to Off?
      Also, my headphone out level was way too loud as well but i switched the 10R resistor for a 47 Ohm one and it is now perfect!

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  23. Just built this up with a rog condor hard wired before it on a true bypass switch. But I'm not getting any signal through. The headphone switch seems to be doing what it's suppose to because when I switch it to speaker out I get very subtle white noise to the speaker cab (a Mesa 212 with c90s at 8ohms) I probed and there's is connection from guitar input tip to speaker output tip. No idea what the deal is. Are there any voltages?

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    1. Have you tested both circuits independently to see where the problem lies?

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  24. Yeah it's gotta be something on the cricket. I probed from the gate of the jfet to ground and there's nothing. On the jfet side of the 1m resistor I get the beep but on the ground side of it I get nothing. Bad resistor?

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  25. I have around 5v at the speaker out jack and the headphone jack. (not at the same time obviously.). Ground everywhere is 9v. So I'm very confused.

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  26. Replies
    1. Sorry, I see what you're saying now, I thought you meant you had 9V on the ground line. With your bypass setup can you use the two independently? It would just be much easier if you could totally omit the condor from it while you try to find out what's wrong with the Cricket. What voltages are you getting on the Cricket IC?

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  27. I have been looking at the Cricket several times...I really want to build one but problem is i will have to build a cab too :-).So much good stuff here it´s hard to keep up ;-D

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    1. Same here mate! I found these before:

      http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/140729853827

      It may ideally need a cab sim, but I think a little 4 x 2.25 would be awesome. Especially if you made it look like a Marshall half stack! :o)

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  28. Yeah the cricket is isolated now. P1: 7.86 P2: 8.19 P3: 9.07 P4: 9.07 P5: .45 P6: 0 P7: 4.44 P8: 7.8

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    1. Well you've got 9V on the ground pin, and 0V on the supply pin?! Have you got the +ve and -ve muddled from the supply?

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  29. I don't think so. I have the positive from the dc jack going to a spst switch lug 1. From lug 2 I go to a track that goes to the light, the condor 9v in and the cricket 9v in.

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    1. Something has gone wrong somewhere mate if you've got 9V on the ground pin and 0V on the supply pin. We know the layout works so you shouldn't be getting those voltages.

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  30. do the other voltages sound off? did i check voltages wrong? i had my poitive probe on the 9v power and the negative to test each pin.

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    1. Positive to each pin, negative to a point of ground.

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  31. dammit, i dont know how i forgot that. ill come back to it and let you know my voltages later. sorry man.

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  32. P1: 1.23. P2: 0. P3: 0. P4: 0. P5: 8.53. P6: 9.07. P8: 1.26

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    1. You missed pin 7, but at first glance the voltages don't actually look too bad (although pin 5 may be high). Post a front and back pic mate and I'll have a look.

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  33. I'm honestly starting to think the chip is bad. There is a connection from the input of the board to the input of the speaker out jack. But no signal makes it through. So confused. No solder bridges. No broken tracks. Components in the right place Correct values. Unless somehow super glue is conductive. I took the daughter board and glued it to the end of the cricket board and jumpered the output and the ground. But I'm almost 100 percent sure superglue is non conductive.

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  34. Just an update, it was indeed the chip. Picked up an lm486n-1 from rat shack and replaced the lm386n-3 that was in there. Works great now. I knew I wasn't crazy haha thank again for all the help man

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    1. That's why I never buy 1 of something, so I can always swap to check! Glad you got it sorted

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  35. Ha yeah I'm slowly learning that. Here's how it came out. Http://instagr.am/p/KlOJ9wg42V/

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  36. Thanks man. I might open her back up to add a volume control for the headphones. Can't get any gain unless you crank it and well it gets pretty damn loud through headphones haha. Really does sound good though. Surprised how well it takes pedals.

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  37. I was asking above about this amp and I didn't get any replies.

    I find the amp quite noisy and the clipping not very pleasant. Am I the only one? The audio clips don't show properly how it sounds.

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  38. mine is very nice. you will need to push the volume and gain together to get nice saturation out of it. are you playing through a cab or headphones?

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  39. Stupid question, but should one use 0,5W resistors?
    +m

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  40. Nice little project. Well. I had to build it. My Madamp G2 kit is on the way, but not here yet. I came home from work with my practically new ZT Lunchbox Cab, so i had no choice :)

    Didn't have MPF102s at hand, so i tried on all my jfets with the same pinout. Cleanest of these was J201.

    It's not bad. Tone doesn't affect it as much as i hoped, and let's face it, the gain and grit do not sound that good. It's loud enough for home use, but i'd sacrifice some of that loudness for cleaner sound in a second. I sticked V8 BMP at max in front of it and it's nearly ear bleeding loud in 10m2 room :) Wonder if anyone has any ideas how to make it cleaner?
    +m

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  41. sounds pretty frickin good...fits nicely in a 1590A too :)

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  42. This was the first iteration of the MKII I built that actually worked! Excellent layout, man. Thanks.

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  43. Thank you for this layout! It works :D

    I have couple of problems with it though, the tone knob works but only about the first 0-20% of the knob actuallt does change the sound. The rest of the turn seems "fully open" all the way.

    Also, I can't get the Grit switch to do anything. I've used an on/off switch for the switch and i''ve checked that i'm getting a connection with the switch on (and no connection when off), but I don't hear any differance. The sound is fairly distorted so it seems that the grit mode is always active.

    Anyway, just a few minor issues. Thanks again for the layout :)

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  44. Is a 2n5457 Ok to sub the Mpf 102
    Also have no 1k gain pot
    Can i emit it or use a 10 k ( Smallest I have )
    Thanks in advance
    Wt

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  45. Sh*t! I have no 10ohms resitors now..... would 33r ones do the trick?

    BR

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    1. Try it out. I think that'll work just fine.
      +m

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    2. Thanks Miro,

      Yes, it works :P Just tried it, but with headphones, tomorrow i'll try with the cab.

      Besides the headphones board, I've added a SHO too, and it's becoming a wiring mess :P Four switches, three pots, two leds and three jacks, not bad for a 125B.

      Tomorrow I'll try to drill the box. Don't expect a high quality amp, but I think it would be a great practise / portable amp, with a nice boost / overdrive including the SHO.

      BR

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    3. Well, I had this project in a box, too messy one with so many pots, switches, leds and pots :P I finally took it out today and wired the 3PDT, Super Hard On, and so on.

      Well, the sound is nothing to write home about, but as a portable / practise / debug amp is not bad. Tried a J201 and a 2N5457. The 2N by far sounds better, both clean and distorted, as the J201 tends to distort even with gain at 0.

      When the SHO is switched, master volume of the amp has to be very low, if not, the amp is pure noise.

      Funny project, but not very useful in my opinion. I've tried it with my Marshall 1912 cab, maybe's too much for this tiny amp, will try with a smaller speaker.

      BR

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  46. Hi what is the capacitor on the headphone board for? I'm trying to figure out how to use one jack as both headphone and speaker out, probably with the use of a switch.

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  47. What does the offboard look like? Where do I wire the power switch?

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    1. If you want one, use SPST or SPDT and wire the 9V so that the switch cuts off the supply. DC jack + to switch lug 1, lug 2 to board.
      +m

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  48. This is my first vero project evar!!!! I chose the noisy cricket for testing pedals because,although it's convenient,my ipod touch with my irig is just too many cables and adapters. This was quite the learning experience for me,had a few solder bridges to sort out surprisingly,apparently it's easier to create the than I though on vero. The only mod I did was a switch for bass or guitar, pretty straight forward this one.The housing is just a project box from Radioshack,didn;t want to waste a good metal box on this one,I just grounded both jacks and we're good to go.The soldering is smooth and easy though,looking forward to a few more vero projects.


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    1. Nice one Jimmy, glad you had good results with it.

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  49. So suddenly I started getting white noise and static and my distortion no longer works properly. I replaced the IC and the tranny,and ideas as to what happened? I did put a power on / off toggle on it but that's it.

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  50. If I wanted to add a reverb circuit, where would be the best place to insert it into this design?

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    1. I'd place one before the input.
      +m

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    2. On a typical amp you'd have the send to reverb after a preamp stage; but this amp doesn't really have a preamp stage as such, right?

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    3. No it doesn't. The MPF102 is used as a buffer.
      +m

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  51. Only after populating the board with all ceramic multilayer caps did I read that generally film caps are preferred for audio signals. What do you think the difference would be for this circuit? Should I go back and replace them all?

    Incidentally, what do you folks do to extend the little legs of the polybox caps so they fit on stripboard layouts?

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    1. No problem using ceramic multlayers instead of film caps in this or any other circuit.

      Far for being true that film caps "sound" better, I prefer to use monolithic multilayers: more compact, very accurate and really stable. If you have to fit several 1uf or 680nf caps on the same board, you'll love the multilayers even more :)

      You can always do an easy test: build two Fuzz face layouts (just 7 components). In the first one, use the most expensive and high quality film and electrolithic caps you can get. In the other one, just use cheap monolithic ceramics and cheap electrolithics.

      Try both and see if you can find any difference in sound. I bet you won't :)

      BR

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    2. Really? What gave you the idea that multilayer caps are not good enough?
      If you read through
      http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/p/components.html
      you'll see that Miro says:
      "Multilayer/Monolithic ceramic: +Small. +Relatively Cheap (100 for $3 is very decent deal). -None that i can think of."

      That's good enough for me. :)

      As for polybox caps (my favorite, BTW), some caps that I got from Tayda already have long(ish) legs. If I absolutely want/need to use them for longer spans, I extend the legs with leftover resistor leads. Otherwise I just use greenies.

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    3. I might be overstating but this is how I feel about it and I'm sure lots of others agree. Capacitors and resistors don't have "a sound". Somewhere in the forum, Mark was explaining this. These little components don't have a different character. They have a specific role in the circuit and the value determines how they play their part and if they have a low tolerance, that means that you'll have more consistency because the value will be close to what it's supposed to be. Using high tolerance components could give you the "mojo" for it to sound better. How? Because the values aren't always exactly the same and you might land on a nice value (because it's slightly off) which makes the circuit sound really good.

      Get it?

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    4. Makes sense, thanks guys!

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  52. Can I add a grit indicator light by using a DPDT for the grit switch and running an LED from the 9v to ground (with resistor) via the second throw?

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    Replies
    1. If you mean the second pole, sure. Wire the same side (throw) for both poles and you're in business.

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    2. Yeah, that's what I meant - thanks!

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  53. i have a question bout the noisy cricket... will the input buffer handle a valve caster preamp or will it clip like a mofo

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  54. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. Who had a negative grounding problem !! :) ...great site ...cant say it enough !!

      TOP bloke

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  55. I've got some photos of my build here:

    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/86034193/2013-05-25%2008.21.00.jpg
    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/86034193/2013-05-25%2008.21.53.jpg
    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/86034193/2013-05-25%2008.21.13.jpg

    It sounds great powered off my lab power supply but I am having a problem finding a suitable 9v adaptor. I've tried two now which produce nasty hum or high pitch noise. One of the supplies was supposedly regulated but only 600 mA. Can anyone suggest a wall wart for UK power which works with this circuit?

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  56. So I'm looking to make this the greatest, all-encompassing, all-purpose mighty mini practice amp, and was wondering how I'd go about making an Aux In that would bypass the tone & gain section entirely, and possibly have it's own volume. Not so important for the Vol control on the Aux In as I'm thinking anything I use would have a volume control itself anyway. Oh yeah, once again, kudos and thanks for the site.

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  57. Could I use a BF244 instead of the MPF102 i this project ? Thanks Jim

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    Replies
    1. Those are very similar, but the printouts on the mpf102 go DSG while the bf244 printouts go DGS. I have encountered this problem plenty, and its a simple fix if you put little U bends in the pins and twist them around each other. The U bend is to keep them from touching.

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  58. Say... Why is the gain pot's pins one and two on pin eight of the 386? Isn't that backwards? Still functional, but funny all the same. Also, you know with a ten uF cap between the pot and pin eight will give you ten times the gain? Just make sure the cathode faces pin eight.

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  59. Hello I can not get anywhere near the gain as the clips. I am not sure wh though. Everthing looks right. It does have a nice clean tone and athe grit switch adds a nice tiny bit of grit but not anywhere near the clips. Any ideas would be help ful.

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    Replies
    1. try putting a 10Mf cap btwn pin 8 and the gain pot.

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    2. try putting a 10Mf cap btwn pin 8 and the gain pot.

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    3. I did that and no change also I dont think I am getting the proper volume out of it. I have heard people say they are surprised how loud it is. Mine is not loud at all. It can get decent gain and volume if I push it with a tube screamer

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  60. Where does Volume 3 go to? Is the Vol 2 on the board meant to be volume 3?

    Thanks
    Steve

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  61. This is my second Noisy Cricket build, first one with the bass switch. I love these little amps!

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  62. Hi all I am having issues wiring this up. How would you wire this thing up and how do you connect the led since the + side comes from the board? Thanks much?

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  63. Hi
    I have a problem, the sound in output is very low. I just wire the jack in and jack out, for tests without knobs and without switch. I don't understand. Sorry my english is bad.

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    Replies
    1. Same problem here. Very low output
      Everything is all right. Does my 9v battery the reason behind it. Should i use a.c adapter.

      Delete
  64. question: can you see anything wrong with my setup here?

    https://www.dropbox.com/s/2z78eapjid5w830/noisy%20cricket%20full.png

    Changes I tried to make:
    -LED indicators for grit and bass.
    -no 9v wallwart jack
    -headphone jack switch

    let me know if my grounding is decent.

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  65. Hi. This one is giving me a headache. Built it with no changes but the JFET: used a BF245c and also tried a 2N5457 (are these ok?). The result was everything working as it should (volume, tone and gain pots, and grit and bass switches), but the volume through a 8ohm 2watt speaker is very low (like in headphones), and the LM386 heats up like crazy in a few seconds. Tried with 9v battery and also wall wart. Since I used a socket, a tried a few IC, all with same result, and all are ok because I tested them in a smokey amp before and after “cooking them in the cricket”. Every thing else looked ok, but nevertheless I built the whole thing again from scratch (only using the same 220uf caps), and got the same exact result. My only clue is the caps are defective, but I don’t have any tools to test them. Is this plausible? I’m getting really frustrated. Thanks for any help.

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    Replies
    1. Measure the 386 pin voltages then we can see how they compare.

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    2. Thanks, I'll do that latter this evening.

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  66. Ok, I measured this:
    PIN1: 1.23
    PIN2: 0.01
    PIN3: 0.00
    PIN4: 0.00
    PIN5: 3.40
    PIN6: 8.88
    PIN7: 4.43
    PIN8: 0.00
    At the Drain of 2N5457 I get also 8.88.

    One other thing I noiticed is that the IC only heats up if both input and output jacks are being used. If feed power to the amp but without a guitar and a speaker connected, the IC does not heat up.

    Does this give you any ideas? Thanks.

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  67. Anyone? Sorry for being too pushy but I ran out of ideas on what I may be doing wrong, and I really want to get this thing to work.

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  68. Ok, I suspect I shouldn't be getting 0 in pin8... Am I getting warm?

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  69. Hey, I'm just a little confused about the wiring. Does volume 1 and volume 2 connect to volume three of the bass switch?

    If you're using a 2 position SPST switch with 3 legs is the middle one ground?

    What does tone 2 & 3 connect to?

    What is the wiring for the pots

    Sorry I'm new to this and trying to build it

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  70. first of all read the offboard, build guide, components and layout guide.

    then you'll find out that the pots lags have numbers "1-2-3" (those 3 legs), and you'll learn a lot of usefull staff too.
    you connect to these lags whatever the layout says.

    for this one the vol1 wire from the board goes to volume pot number 1 lag
    the vol2 from board goes to number 2 lag. and vol3 from switch goes to number 3 of the volume pot. they are not connected together cause layout doesn't says so... and cause it wouldn't have any sence by the way...
    the wire from the board that's tone 2&3 goes to the tone pot on lag 2 or 3 (it doesn't matter where BUT you have to connect somehow the two lags. the best way to do this is to take a resistor leg and solder it so that they'll be connected)
    there is no ground at the switch on this layout
    if you google all these you'll find some pictures, more helpfull from my english!! read first, solder next!and don't quit!

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  71. need layout on wirings,.pls complete this layout with wirings,.thnks a lot

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  72. This is a week of head-scratchers for me. I built this and had no output. I troubleshot the problem down to the DPDT bass switch. If I connect the Vol 3 and Bass SW wires directly, bypassing the switch altogether, the amp works perfectly. I tried a brand new DPDT, with two new caps, and still nada. In either DPDT position. I'd be very appreciative if anyone has any ideas.

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    1. Well the switch has to be faulty, or the soldering of one of the wires has to be dodgy. It's probably not the soldering on the caps if you get the same results in all positions of the switch. This type of switching which puts one cap or the other in circuit is about as simple as it gets and there definitely isn't anything wrong with it in theory, so I'd suggest reflowing every wire first and seeing if that makes any difference. If not then you have to look at the switch

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    2. Thanks Mark. I went ahead and tried a 3rd switch, new caps, new Vol pot. Re-soldered Vol 1 and 2 to the board, re-soldered Tone 2-3 to the Board. I razored every track. All joints look nice and shiny, with plenty of solder. Same problem. The one thing I've noticed is: if I place my thumb across the lugs of the DPDT switch, the guitar signal passes through. I have no idea what that means, but it's true. I don't know if my body is grounding something out, or providing a bridge for the current. Still have audio if I jumper Vol 3 directly to SW 1, and still no audio when I put the switch in the circuit. So strange.

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    3. And if I do place my thumb across the lugs and get audio, it is at a lower volume than if I jumper Vol 3 to Bass SW directly.

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    4. Well, I got fed up and just rebuilt it on a new board. Works great. And sounds great. I knew the problem wasn't the layout but I just couldn't figure it out. As always, thanks a million Mark.

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  73. Hi, just wondering if this will work on bass (with an appropriate cab of course)?
    And to anybody who is better than me at tight housing (that's probably everybody really), can the switched H/P version possibly fit in a 1590A?
    Thank you very much in advance.

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  74. Hello. I am building this and want to install a small mylar speaker that is bypassed when something is plugged into the output jack. What do I connect the speaker to? Also, will an 8 ohm, .5 watt speaker work for this?

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  75. can i replacement mpf102 with j201? what's the effects?

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  76. I'm a newbie at this. Could someone show a pic of the pot wiring please?

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  78. hi there, i boughta kit of the noisy cricket from the awesome fuzzdog a few years back (hear it here ..see from about 4.40 too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPxfTCF6-R4)

    anyway i want to build a tag board version with sockets to try a few trannies and ICs in, just been looking at you version and noticed the 47nf cap from the centre leg of the fet is ommitted on your design... any reason? just curious

    cheers for a wicked library of builds man =]

    ps. any chance of a klon buffered ABY layout? =P

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  79. Man I can't get over how fuckin' awesome this little teeny tiny amp is, I'm totally ... mguitaramp.blogspot.com

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  81. I'm sorry but what for there is a GRIT? i cant understand what is it. I have listened on youtube demo's but still dont feel the diference

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    1. It works as a boots to the gain. When it is on you can it raises the output level and distortion as well. I will make some videos of my noisy cricket soon and will try to show the grit in Action.

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    2. It works as a boots to the gain. When it is on you can it raises the output level and distortion as well. I will make some videos of my noisy cricket soon and will try to show the grit in Action.

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  82. I´ve followed the instructions found here and can tell you. This Layout really works and Sound Fine.
    Some observations: - The tone control feels more like a high midi enhancer, and can Raise the level of the distortion when turned clockwise.
    - In My guitar the bass Switch didn´t sound very good. Soon I will try it with a Bass to see if this switch make some sense.

    But I would apreciate some help (this was my very first built amplifier) and I beleive it will be an easy issue for more experienced Fellows: When i release the guitar strings I can a very low stactic sound that diminnishes when i mute the strings. Believe it may be a grounding problem. Could you give ma hand on it??

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  83. This is link to a video I recorded playing the Noisy Cricket. It Sounded so good that i thought that i should show it to you. Teke this as a token of gratitude to Dano From BeavesAudio and to every fellow that posted questions or solutions here at this forum.

    https://youtu.be/Zkvgi0gYIEk

    Hope you enjoy.

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  85. Hello folks...this amp is in my ''to do'' list but I have a question...
    I'd like to use it as a dedicated amp for my mp3 player so I can play
    along with my regular gear...
    I want hook up the mp3 player into the cricket and a 8ohm/maybe 8 or 10inch
    speaker from an old broken practice amp... Is it loud and clean enough for
    ''bedroom player sound levels''?
    Can this circuit handle the signal from the mp3 player?
    Does it worth building this just for this purpose or it is supposed to work well only with guitar/bass etc?

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    1. The input is fed directly to the gate in this layout. This is fine for instrument level but line level will need attenuated. Try putting a 100k in series with the input (before the gate) and a 100k to ground between the series 100k and the gate. This will lower the line level to something that shouldn't clip the input. You can adjust the resistor to ground to suit.

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    2. Thanx mate! I think I'll give it a try with this mod... I just don't want to end up (again!) with a fully functional pedal/circuit that does not fit my needs...and i have build plenty of those... so I'm looking for it...

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  86. I know this thread is old but, anyone try the LM 380 IC build?
    any info helps!

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  87. Can J113 be used instead of MPF102/J201/2n5457?

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  88. Or rather what are the other JFET's that can be tried?

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  89. Hi, Cana none help me with this build. I have built it as per the diagram at the top of this thread but I can not get,any guitar output. I have the following readings at the ic pins with the power switch on.
    1. 0.8, 2. 0.31, 3. 0, 4. 0, 5. 2.33, 6. 9.3, 7. 4.55, 8. 0.83 and the following readings on the legs of the FET, drain. 9.33, source. 9.33, gate. 3.92. These are with the bass switch on the highest cap value but the gate drops slightly when the lower value cap is switched on. Both LED's are working so I assume that the switches are ok but I only get low volume white noise that changes in frequency when any of the pots are moved. I have also tried another lim 386n but the results were the same. All tracks are clear and have checked all grounding. Any help would be greatly appreciated by this old newbie.

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  90. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSos9jMDPOU&t=61s

    with Pre marvel drive Ramble FX V2 and Wampler black 65
    Sounds Amazing!!

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  91. Hi! First I'd like to thank you for all the amazing projects you have, this is a great site!
    I've built this amp because I'm looking for a decent headphone practice amp, and the MXR is not loud enough...
    This build works, but when I strum the guitar hard, or the volume or tone are not low I hear some distortion on the headphones. Any suggestion on how to fix this?
    Thanks!

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  93. Hi! Can i run this circuit before a cabsim? Just built a Simple CabSim Rev 2.0 (By Lart), sounds pretty good, but i feel like it needs something before it in order to handle pedals a bit better.

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  94. A word to the wise, ALWAYS check the capacity on your battery if you're using a test rig to power your boards before boxing them. I spent 7 hours today slamming my head against the wall trying to figure out why I couldn't get it to work, ten I realized the 9v battery I was using for my setup was only at 2.5 volts, and could not suffieciently power the IC. CHECK YOUR BATTERIES.

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  95. Dumb question, but why does the sleave of the headphone jack need to be isolated from the chasis?

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  96. If I'm not using the headphone jack do I still need a plastic output jack?

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  97. Built this and my only real complaints are the gain and tone controls only have about 10% usage, the rest is just empty and the grit switch only produces a very faint amount of fizz that sits slightly below the clean sound, even with the volume and gain maxed.

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    1. Gain behaves the same to me. the tone doesen't work at all. checking.,,

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