EMF Ghost Detector Stripboard Veroboard Layout

I'm not a big believer in ghosts and all those paranormal reality shows only ever seem to film ghosts with no other aspiration than to knock on stuff however EMF is something I find interesting because we're surrounded by electro magnetic radiation (whether or not you believe it's paranormal is up to you) and I wanted to build a EMF detector - so I did and here it is.

there is an audio output so you can hear/record the actual EMF being displayed on the meter.
it's quite important that you have the pickup inductor mounted away from the device (as you can see in the picture) because you don't want to pickup the EMF of the device (not that there's much of it!)

so if you go out ghost hunting with this - make sure you send me the pictures of the places you're hunting cause I love abandoned places.
and if you record anything weird send me a link!

LM1036 Hifi Preamp And Tone Control Stripboard

I've done a few stripboard layouts for hifi low wattage power amps on this site including the most recent 2 watt one;
http://www.paulinthelab.com/2014/04/tpa6021a4-2-watt-stereo-amplifier.html

or this 110mW one;
http://www.paulinthelab.com/2013/12/mp3-headphone-amplifier-tda2822m.html

Or even this 6 Watt beast from 2012;
http://www.paulinthelab.com/2012/08/6-watt-desktop-headphone-amplifier.html

So I thought it was about time a did a sort of stereo HiFi front end for these power amps and I remembered that I had some LM1036 ICs which are a really cool all-in-one basic EQ/Balance/preamp and Volume control

All the pots are 47K Linear
The voltage range is between 9 - 16volts
the official Datasheet can be found HERE

TPA6021A4N 2 Watt Stereo Amplifier Stripboard Veroboard Layout

This is one of the best amplifier ICs I've used -
there is no noise (well barely any)
it has a built in digital volume control so you can just use a single gang pot to control the volume (or a microcontroller if you want)
it has an on/off switch that fades the audio in and out so you don't damage your speakers/headphones with pops and it is also very low voltage 3volts - 6volts
the only downside is the max rating is 6 volts so you can't just whack a 9v battery in it -
but 2 - 3 AAs and you're laughing.

I built this to use with my iPod but I strongly advise that you don't turn it on with your headphones on because this goes VERY loud. easily loud enough to damage your hearing instantly!

NB: there is now a hifi preamp with bass/treble/balance controls that works well with this project LM1036-hifi-preamp-and-tone-control

Loud Beeper LM386 Stripboard Veroboard Layout

My gran is ill and is staying with me so I wanted to make a little but loud alert beeper in case she's not well in the night and needs to get my attention.
I just roughly followed the schematic from the LM386 datasheet HERE for the squarewave oscillator

I used a little laptop speaker and it works very well. remember - the bigger the speaker - the louder it will be.

Electro Harmonix LPB-1 stripboard veroboard Layout

a quick cheat layout - as Jimi pointed out the LPB-1 is exactly the same as the screaming bird save for 2 components so here I will post the layout with the components altered.

Electro Harmonix Screaming Bird Treble Booster Stripboard Veroboard Layout

Another low gain treble booster for treble boost April.

Guitar Lead Muting Studio Aid

I've had this little box stuck to the side of my bench for quite a while to plug various leads into while they are out of use but still plugged into amplifiers/fx or other studio stuff to basically stop the equipment buzzing at me. My friend said it might be useful for other people so I'm sharing it here.

What is it?
a little box which is essentially a jack plug socket with a 47ohm resistor across it.

Its uses:
a lot of my guitars have active pickups so you can't just leave the lead plugged into them and leaving the lead on the floor buzzing away while you're messing with with a song is a big annoyance

I also have a few different FX chains that need to be isolated from each other so this comes in handy then as well.

The little box is at arms reach so I can just grab the lead easily and not have to twist my back reaching for the bugger.

Vox Treble Booster Stripboard Veroboard Layout

3rd layout for Treble Booster April - it's also my 100th layout - I was going to make one of my own designs for the 100th but I haven't got a couple of the parts so this has to be the 100th.

This treble booster is a low gain one - definitely a nice sound though.

Dallas Rangemaster Treble Booster Stripboard Veroboard Layout

the 2nd Offering in "Treble Booster April" - the Rangemaster. I used the AC128 transistor in mine primarily because I didn't have any OC44s left I also added a 1N4001 diode to protect the circuit against reverse polarity - no, it doesn't change how it sounds and yes, you can leave it out if you don't believe me.

I know the 5nF transistor can be difficult to find so in the actual layout I put 4.7nF capacitor but given the nature of capacitor tolerances a 5nF rated capacitor would probably measure that far out anyway.
anyway - this is a lovely treble booster and I even used it in the song posted below so you can hear it in action.
 

Brian May Treble Booster Stripboard Veroboard Layout

This is one I built years ago - lost - then decided to build again cause I loved it.
this is supposedly the treble booster Brian Mays dad built for Brian when his original Rangemaster got stolen.