MXR Hot Tubes Stripboard Veroboard Layout - Craig Anderton Tube Sound Fuzz Variant

I couldn't find any information on this circuit - I found the original schematic on the free info society website but literately 5 minutes ceaseless searching on google brought up nothing about the MXR version. Anyway I redrew the schematic because the original was terrible, then laid it out and built it.
it sounds pretty cool. unfortunately I ran out of space to upload a sound sample to "soundcloud" but I imagine it sounds similar to the Craig Anderton version.

anyway enjoy.

Onboard Guitar Preamp Drive Stripboard Veroboard Layout

This is a little preamp to go inside your guitar rather than as an external pedal which is why it has no controls - feel free to add your own of course!
in the sound sample I recorded the same thing a few times - 1st with the guitars volume at quarter way 2nd halfway and 3rd full way up.

last of all - this is the 88th stripboard layout which is a special number to me cause I'm a big back to the future fan !

PCB Silkscreen Designators

this isn't a stripboard post for a change (though one is coming soon). however it is useful to know what I'm about to write if you salvage parts or want to fix electronic items.

on PCBs (and other electrical installations) you will often be confronted with silkscreen designators like shown below (the white writing on the board)

here is a list of what each abbreviation stands for.

A - Separable assembly or sub-assembly (e.g. printed circuit assembly)
AE: Aerial, antenna
AT - Attenuator or isolator
BR - Bridge rectifier
BT - Battery
C - Capacitor
CR: Diode (see D)
CRT: Cathode ray tube
CN - Capacitor network
D - Diode (including Zeners, thyristors and LEDs)
DL - Delay line
DS - Display
DSP: Digital signal processor
F - Fuse
FB or FEB - Ferrite bead
FD - Fiducial
FL - Filter
G - Generator or Oscillator
GN - General Network
GDT: Gas discharge tube
H - Hardware
HIC - Hybrid Integrated Circuit
HY - Circulator or Directional coupler
IC: Integrated circuit (see U for link)
J - Jack (least-movable connector of a connector pair) | Jack connector (connector may have "male" pin contacts and/or "female" socket contacts)
JP - Link (Jumper)
K - Relay or contactor
L - Inductor or coil or ferrite bead
LA: Lightning arrester
LS - Loudspeaker or buzzer
LCD: Liquid crystal display
LDR: Light-dependent resistor
LED: Light-emitting diode
M - Motor
MCB: Miniature circuit breaker
MK - Microphone
Mic: Microphone
MOV: Metal oxide varistor (See RV for Link)
MP - Mechanical part (including screws and fasteners)
Ne: Neon lamp
P - Plug (most-movable connector of a connector pair) | Plug connector (connector may have "male" pin contacts and/or "female" socket contacts)
PS - Power supply
PLC: Programmable logic controller
PZ - Piezo Buzzer
Q - Transistor (all types)
      FET: Field-effect transistor
      JFET: Junction gate field-effect transistor
      MOSFET: Metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor
      BJT - Bipolar Junction Transistor NPN PNP HBT
      

R - Resistor
RL - Relay
RN - Resistor network
RT - Thermistor
RV - Varistor
S - Switch (all types, including push-buttons)
SCR - Thyristor
T - Transformer
TC - Thermocouple
TH - Thermistor
 - types of thermistors are..
   PTC - Positive temperature coefficient - the resistance rises with increased heat
   NTC - Negative temperature coefficient - the resistance decreases with increased heat

TUN - Tuner
TP - Test point
U - Inseparable assembly (e.g., integrated circuit)
V - Vacuum tube - Or VALVE!
VR - Variable resistor (potentiometer or rheostat)
X - Crystal
Y - Crystal or oscillator
Z (or ZD) - Zener diode
    
IEC Mains connectors (image from unknown - if you know let me know so I can cite)

MP3 / iPod Headphone Amplifier TDA2822M Stripboard Veroboard Layout

The TDA2822M IC is a stereo power amplifier that I often come across in old walkmans/radios so I thought I would make a stripboard project for you people. Because I'm sure if you're an avid junk collector like me you will probably have one of these however if you don't; no worries you can buy them really cheaply from the grey market (or probably on digikey or something) below is a link to a grey market china shop I use often and so have had no trouble with. you could buy 50 of them for £3.56 ! so if you have 50 friends who have iPods that can't power headphones properly because they have piss weak amplifiers in them - since that idiot sued them - you can make 50 headphone amplifiers and sell them to your mates or whatever. Grey Market ICS

Anyway using this kind of IC is much better than using that well known CMOY amp design that is essentially more of a line buffer (which is useful in itself) but doesn't give you any extra power - where as this does!

The other cool thing about this IC is that you can run it from as low as 1.8 volts.

I know I will get questions asking me about its performance using different headphones so I am going to preemptively post the typical output power from the datasheet.

if you're new to reading datasheets this may look abit like gibberish but I'll give you a quick description of what you're looking at.
this is the part of the datasheet that deals with "Po" or power output and this is measured in watts (or in this case miliwatts
and they get these results from using a 1 KHz sinewave which is a typical test condition for testing a lot of electronic components (as listed under the Parameter section)
They then list the "Test Conditions" which in this case uses Rᴸ (Resistive Load - which in this case is a pair of headphones)
the other number "Vs" - is "Voltage Supply" (which I'm sure you know is whatever voltage you're powering it with)

Then we get to the Min./Max section - this is basically the Power Output of the IC (in miliwatts) using some basic test conditions.

So.. using this table I can get an idea of the Power Output with the headphones I own.
for example I have a pair of headphones on the desk here (for abuse)
using my meter on the resistance range I know that their impedance is about 4Ω and I am powering the stripboard (below) using 2 AA batteries which should be 3 volts.
using the table above I know that the Power Output will be about 110mW - which is very dam loud when we're talking headphones. (there will obviously be some discrepancy because music isn't just a 1KHz sinewave but it's good enough to gauge how much Power we're going to get out of this thing.

Hopefully that is clear enough to understand (I know I'm not the best at grammar etc. - my brain is often all over the place)
but I urge you to take a look through the whole datasheet because it's very interesting (most datasheets are) HERE

Anyway - when you turn this on don't have your headphones on/in your ears in case you've made a mistake or your MP3 player is playing too loud. Use this amplifier at your own risk

Adjustable Load Stripboard Veroboard Layout

I've done a similar adjustable load before but I've tweaked this one a little so it performs better and so on.
PSU UT = power supply under test
the one I made can sink over 2 Amps. you just need to make sure you have a big heatsink.!

it's also a good idea to mount the big resistors offboard cause they get hot.

Dark Activated LED Flasher Striboard Veroboard Layout

Around here we get the odd brown out because the local transformer station is inadequate and hasn't been updated since the 50's so obviously it can't handle the fact that houses have more than one electrical appliance. anyway I made this low power device to be put with my torch so I can find it when all the lights go off.

after you build it - you adjust VR1 so that the LED blinks when it's dark and it should last quite a while with 2 1.5v batteries powering it.
try and get the lowest power LED you can find - remember, it will also blink all night.

Rez Overdrive Stripboard Veroboard Layout

I've been working on a lot of projects recently which I couldn't really post on here due to complexity etc.
but today I thought I would try and design something for my blog using one of the cool parts I got from Linear Technology
and thus born was the Rez Overdrive which you can use on guitar (demo at bottom) or synths etc.
the Whole circuit only draws 2.45543mA (yes, I got a 6.5 digit meter recently - it's a Keithley 2015 THD - check it out if you like multimeter porn)) so in theory it will last a hell of a long time if you use batteries.

Also I added D1 as an afterthought to protect the circuit from reverse polarity accidents - so it isn't on the schematic.

Logic Pulse Generator - Logic Pulser Stripboard Veroboard Layout

Often with projects that uses Logic devices such as previous projects like the devils drone sequencer or the Sound Activated Dancing LEDs you need to create a clock signal to make the logic transition from one state to the other. you don't want to have to deal with the clock (or oscillator) part of the circuit in the experimentation stage so you need something that is capable of creating a clock signal. This is just that piece of test gear.

it also uses the same power supply you're using to power the Logic ICs in question.

here is an example of a commercial version http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/needle-point-probes/5375163/?origin=PSF_437277|alt

aswell as the layout and schematic - I have included some oscilloscope pictures of what it actually does.

Sorry if my explanation is a little off today in the making sense department - I am suffering from cluster migraines and one of the symptoms is Aphasia. the important thing is that the actual layout and circuit are correct - which as you can see - is the case!

As you can see I have soldered a nail to the pulse output - I've found this is the ideal probe

Adjustable Pocket Power Supply Stripboard Veroboard Layout

This is something I've been meaning to make for quite a while.

Basically the idea was that should you go around charity shops, car boot sales, yard sales, thrift stores and other such places it would be nice to have a power supply capable of giving you various voltages to check if things you are potentially going to buy actually work. the resistors are selected for 3 volts, 5 volts, 9 volts and 12 volts and you may notice that the resistor values (R2, R3, R4 and R5) are very specific and in some cases not available - these values are due to not being able to alter R1 when you switch the voltage.  

there are 2 ways to get around this

1.add resistors in series or parallel eg. for R5 I put 2K and a 68r resistor in series and that was near enough to get me my 12 volt output

OR..

2. use 5K/4.7K trimpots and calibrate with your DMM - using that method you can of course easily set it for voltages you think you will need the most.

Sound Activated Dancing LEDs Stripboard Veroboard Layout ( for the holiday seasons )

With all the various holidays coming up I thought I would do a nice decorative project. This makes LEDs light up with any kind of sound - it might make a cool halloween effect that makes LEDs flicker as people walk past your house or you could have it on your TV or something at christmas or of course anything else you could think of (if you have any ideas let me know)

as usual it is built and tested - it works beautifully and is quite sensitve however if you want to control the sensitivity change R4 to something like a 2K potentiometer or trim pot and adjust to suit.

for the microphone I used one I salvaged from and old phone similar to ( Mouser number 665-POM5238PR ) but I'm sure any kind of microphone will work.