Hey forum
I'm building a guitar amplifier from an op amp (Or perhaps multiple op-amps in series to give me more gain if I need). The op amp/opamps will then feed a class ab push pull complementary pair bank of high power transistors mounted on a common heat sink (with insulation pads and thermal paste)
I've had a problem where I just can't get enough volume from my guitar. If I turn the gain up on the op amp I get terrible distortion before it gets loud enough for me to get my groove on so to speak. I do not own an oscilloscope and only guessing what is happening with the wave form. I first believed that I am not forming enough current gain and so I put a common collector buffer stage in between two common emitter stages with minimal improvement which made me think perhaps the amplifier is constricted by the voltage rail figure and current handling capacity of my transformer which just happens to be 37 volts rail to rail with a 50w capacity. The transistors are small 5 watt tip 41c and tip42c complementary pair which do get hot but not hot enough to warrant a heat sink even which makes me think that perhaps they are not being driven 100 %. Either it is this, or is it a case of my op amp which is a n5532. Since these things only have a current handling capacity of 53mw I thought maybe I'm not getting enough current gain there so I swapped it out for one that can handle 500mw (havn't go the chip number off hand but can supply it if needed) Other than that I'm going to check to see that the cheap Chinese guitar cord I got off ebay is not causing a signal loss due to it's skimpiness on the width of copper cable inside the insulation.
I'm just a beginner so these are all questions more than statements or perhaps just like theories I have with my limited knowledge. Please don't hesitate to correct any of my statements as I am a fan of constructive critisism. ;-)
Regards -
Knifey
I'm building a guitar amplifier from an op amp (Or perhaps multiple op-amps in series to give me more gain if I need). The op amp/opamps will then feed a class ab push pull complementary pair bank of high power transistors mounted on a common heat sink (with insulation pads and thermal paste)
I've had a problem where I just can't get enough volume from my guitar. If I turn the gain up on the op amp I get terrible distortion before it gets loud enough for me to get my groove on so to speak. I do not own an oscilloscope and only guessing what is happening with the wave form. I first believed that I am not forming enough current gain and so I put a common collector buffer stage in between two common emitter stages with minimal improvement which made me think perhaps the amplifier is constricted by the voltage rail figure and current handling capacity of my transformer which just happens to be 37 volts rail to rail with a 50w capacity. The transistors are small 5 watt tip 41c and tip42c complementary pair which do get hot but not hot enough to warrant a heat sink even which makes me think that perhaps they are not being driven 100 %. Either it is this, or is it a case of my op amp which is a n5532. Since these things only have a current handling capacity of 53mw I thought maybe I'm not getting enough current gain there so I swapped it out for one that can handle 500mw (havn't go the chip number off hand but can supply it if needed) Other than that I'm going to check to see that the cheap Chinese guitar cord I got off ebay is not causing a signal loss due to it's skimpiness on the width of copper cable inside the insulation.
I'm just a beginner so these are all questions more than statements or perhaps just like theories I have with my limited knowledge. Please don't hesitate to correct any of my statements as I am a fan of constructive critisism. ;-)
Regards -
Knifey