$5 Cracker Box Amp

KHELSTROM · Post by **KHELSTROM** » 05 Mar 2008, 21:58

Has anyone built this? It was in a DIY magazine.

http://cachefly.oreilly.com/make/09/cracker_box_amp.pdf

Supafuzz · Post by **Supafuzz** » 05 Mar 2008, 22:06

Now, this project has me cracking up

instant vintage fuzz when the card box starts rattling. Worth a try, why not.
Nice 3D drawings.

MoreCowbell · Post by **MoreCowbell** » 05 Mar 2008, 23:02

They should have credited http://www.Runoffgroove.com , seeing that they just "copy and pasted" the schematic from the Little Gem...

I love how they mention that its "Pete's design"...yeah, right...

Theres no "Pete" at ROG ...unless its a pseudonym...

db72 · Post by **db72** » 17 Mar 2008, 19:29

Hmm...looks kinda like a 'Noisey Cricket' amp i saw on beavisaudio.com

B Tremblay · Post by **B Tremblay** » 18 Mar 2008, 23:19

The original article does include a link to runoffgroove.com: http://makezine.com/09/crackerboxamp/

I received an email asking for help with the project and in the correspondence that followed, the builder explained the credit given:

As for Make magazine, the article is credited to Ed Vogel with a follow up by Blind Lightnin' Pete. Ed had done an article on his take on the cigar box guitar, and Pete had emailed him to show him some of the versions he made, and later showed Ed his "cracker box" amp, the "little gem" built in an actual cracker box.. maybe 5" x 8" and 2"deep.

The article I read came from Ed reworking the design slightly, by specing everything from the radio shack bins. The only mention of runoff in the first section, is a mention of the schematic on your site. Only in the second section, by Pete, does he clearly mention the origin of his design.

But in their defense, the first section is a step by step how to, and Pete's section is about the origin of the cracker box amp, that it is based on designs for amps with the LM386, mentioning the "smoking amp" and several designs at runoffgroove.com.

Regarding the pedigree of popular 386 amps: the Smokey begat the Little Gem, which begat Ruby, which begat the Noisy Cricket. The Cracker Box amp is the same as the Little Gem.

Post by **modman** » 19 Mar 2008, 08:56

B Tremblay wrote:Regarding the pedigree of popular 386 amps: the Smokey begat the Little Gem, which begat Ruby, which begat the Noisy Cricket. The Cracker Box amp is the same as the Little Gem.

Amen to that

There are some who believe that the Electro God donated The Original Circuit to engineer A in the Eden laboratory and that his wife put 220V on it. This blew up the circuit completely -- burning the schematic in the process...

The Electro G expelled them from the Eden lab, and ever since they and their children and forced to live on a electronics junk yard -- forever trying to clone The Original Circuit.

Electro G said "If you work hard, there will be reward. If you don't get rewarded, you're not working hard enough."
Now he made some terrific circuits and everybody (including Electro G) were crazy about them, but Engin A and his children were never happy... because they were only talking about what they could make if they just had access to the original schematic and Eden Lab once more...

minor7th · Post by **minor7th** » 20 Mar 2008, 09:47

modman wrote:
B Tremblay wrote:Regarding the pedigree of popular 386 amps: the Smokey begat the Little Gem, which begat Ruby, which begat the Noisy Cricket. The Cracker Box amp is the same as the Little Gem.

Amen to that
There are some who believe that the Electro God donated The Original Circuit to engineer A in the Eden laboratory and that his wife put 220V on it. This blew up the circuit completely -- burning the schematic in the process... The Electro G expelled them from the Eden lab, and ever since they and their children and forced to live on a electronics junk yard -- forever trying to clone The Original Circuit.

Electro G said "If you work hard, there will be reward. If you don't get rewarded, you're not working hard enough."
Now he made some terrific circuits and everybody (including Electro G) were crazy about them, but Engin A and his children were never happy... because they were only talking about what they could make if they just had access to the original schematic and Eden Lab once more...

Yea verily, and they didst no longer haveth unto them access unto the holiest of Mojo, or have unto themselves Newe Olde Stocke, nor Germanium transistores especially NKT 275s, nor carbone compositione resistors, nor magic wire, and there was much wailing and gnashing of teethe.

And there were those who didst worship before many false prophets, whos didst make unto themselves rebadged of Tube Screemers, and Fuzz Faces, and didst substitute Silicone for Germanium, and Negative Grounde for Positive, and proclaim SRV in a box, and didst lead astray those who were not knowledgeable in the way of asymmetrice clipping, or filters, or gaine pots, and didst make unto themselves money from the unholiest of goope.

And in this time of times, he

didst look down upon them, shook his head in pity, set fire to another strat like he did at Woodestocke, and said "Hey, Stevie Ray- come and check these dudes out! Man, don't they know ANYTHING???? It's how you PLAY it that matters!!!"

It is indeed sadde, sadly said the angels Lennon, Holly, and Redding, sittinge at his righte hande....

patafix · Post by **patafix** » 20 Mar 2008, 12:34

Nice post...

But anyway I don't think there are thousands of ways to build a single 386 designed amp... The easiest way to get sure of it is reading the appnote...

Some use a variable input level with fixed gain, some only use fixed input level and variable output etc...