Sparky 5 Watt Amplifier Stripboard Veroboard Layout

I thought it was about time to tackle something that's been on my todo list for a while and that is to make a follow up to the infamous Ruby amp (made by Runoffgroove.com) which is a popular circuit among the DIY community.

So I thought the best idea was to use an amplifier IC in the same family as the Ruby's amp IC which after an extensive 5 minute search on Texas Instruments website lead me to the LM384 (DATASHEET) which is a 5 watt mono audio amplifier.
it needs a minimum of 12 volts to run though I would run it at 15 volts

All the way up it goes into crazy distortion but before that it is a really nice sounding amp, you get a nice clean and then the louder it goes the more it clips - but nicely - I must do some sound clips!

it powers a 1 x 12" cab very nicely - I've not tried it with a 2 x 12" cab yet but I think it will be fine.

so I introduce to you the SPARKY Amplifier - why did I call it the "SPARKY"? fuck knows, I think it was cause I was watching that cartoon where the piano comes to life.

Yamaha NE-1 Bass Parametric EQ Preamp ( Nathan East ) Stripboard Veroboard Layout

I'm not feeling too well so I won't drone on about this + I'm going to watch Michael Mosley documentaries for a bit.
My friend has been asking me to do a layout for the Nathan East Bass Preamp since his got stolen at a gig some years ago so I finally got around to doing it - I had to reverse engineer from pictures on the internet and it has been somewhat a pain in the ass however it now works and sounds how it should.

I didn't have the required TL062 op-amp to hand so I used the TL082 (DATASHEET) in this application there will be little to no difference to the sound - the sound is altered in the components around the amplifier.

one thing I should mention is that some people mod it by changing C4 from 47p to 220p ( I think so they can use it with their guitars. Anyway - enjoy.

EDIT: I bought another one of these preamps and C4 was 100pf in that one - so it seems that they either changed it at some point or just use something other than the normal 1% tolerance capacitors you'd usually get in this type of thing 

Self Powered 9 Volt Bar LED Battery Tester LM3914 Stripboard Veroboard Layout

another cool little voltage monitor but I had some requirements - I wanted it to be self powered and have an onboard load so I could check any 9 volt battery with it.
this is for a active pickup system so the self powered part of the design wasn't hard to factor in as usable voltage is around 5 ish volts in the EMG's I have.

and Last of all I wanted to use the LM3914 (DATASHEET) cause I've got loads of them from another project I never got around to doing.

I used a 82 ohm resistor (switched in by pressing the push to make switch) this will allow you to test the battery under a normal load which will give you a better indication of the batterys chargethe 82ohm resistor draws almost 110mA

I have done a circuit like this before which was a 0 - 10v voltage monitor (HERE) but the difference between that one and this is that this one is powered by the battery you're testing and the other one though more accurate needs a second power supply.

Amplifier Speaker Load Box 16 ohm For Direct Recording

I wanted to use my Bugera 6262 cranked up a bit so I thought I need to design a quick load box so I can unplug the speakers and put the line out into my recording interface and use software based cabinets.

There isn't a layout per se but I've provided a schematic and pictures - it is a very simple design so you should be able to follow it easily enough.
you will also notice that it uses 2 100watt 33 ohm resistors in parallel which will allow you to use amps upto 100watts or in my case (130watt) an amp not turned all the way up

you need twice the power rating on the resistors as indicated on your amp - ie if your amp is 50 watts you need 100watt resistors.