12
THE DIRT-CHEAP AMP
As you begin exploring the sonic possibilities of homemade pickups mounted on didgeridoos (Project 11) and drums (Projects 9 and 10) and winding your own guitar pickups (Project 13), you might be a little hesitant to plug these monstrosities into your fully restored, vintage Vox tube amp. You could buy a cheap battery-powered amp (the RadioShack Mini Audio Amplifier, part #277-1008, is pretty homely but a good value at $15), but building your own is even cheaper—less than $2 if you scrounge up speakers and switches—and gives you good practice working with somewhat delicate components (like integrated circuits). The following circuit is a classic mini-amp built around the ultra-common, very affordable LM386 integrated circuit ...
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