Mini Guitar Amplifier

I made this little amplifier out of parts I pulled off of dead electronics so a more appropriate name would be a JunkAmp.

Here's a schematic I put together for people to reference. Download it by Right-Clicking then "Save as..." or "Save Link as...".

The image gets cutoff but just Right-click and "View Image" to see it all.



Here are the parts you will need.

LM386 Amplifier chip (8 pins)

10 ohm Resistor

10 microFarad (uF) Polarized Capacitor

220 microFarad (uF) Polarized Capacitor

0.047 microFarad (uF) Non-Polarized Capacitor

One Speaker: 8 ohm, 0.5 Watt speaker (I used a 8 ohm, 2 watt speaker in the video).

One 1/4 inch audio plug jack.

One 9 volt Battery.

One 9 volt Battery connector.

PCB Board

Wire. It's easier to use stranded wire, since it is more flexible.

Notes:

Polarized means there is a Positive and Negative end of the component. For the Capacitors, there is a white stripe on the side of the cylinder that leads from one of the leads (pin). That stripe indicates which side is Negative.

Since we are using a 9 volt battery for this project the Working Voltage of the Polarized Capacitors have to be higher than 9 volts, or else you will damage the Capacitor. The Working Voltage is usually written next to the White Stripe that I mentioned above and is just written as "9v" or greater.

The non-Polarized Capacitor does not have a polarity (+ -)so it doesn't matter which way it is positioned. Since the non-polarized capacitor is so small, the numbers on it will be written as "473" to indicate it's a 0.047 uF capacitor.

Edit: Jan. 17 2011

 I've gotten a few questions about adding additional features and so I drew up a second schematic that shows how to add an LED for an indicator light, Power switch and a volume pot.

To add a little distortion, remove the 10 uF capacitor and replace it with a simple wire connecting Pin 1 and 8. The capacitor stabilizes the sound wave, but removing it will cause some distortion. Keep pin 1 and 8 connected though, this keeps the gain as high as possible.

If you have any questions, just email me at aDimWit@hotmail.com

Mini Guitar Amplifier by Justin Bread is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Both images embedded on this post are Attribution-NonCommercial Creative Commons licensed.

Sound effects

I posted this as kind of a reference for other people who need sound effects. These are a few sites that people recommended and I use them occasionally too. To download stuff from the Planethalflife, you need a Gamespy account but it is all free.

http://editor321.planethalflife.gamespy.com/sounds.htm

http://www.findsounds.com/

http://flashkit.com/soundfx/

http://www.soundsnap.com/

http://sound-effects.com/

I hope these links help. If you have a suggestion, email me at aDimWit@hotmail.com and I'll add it to this post.

Weapon Review

I was hoping this video would answer a lot of questions about where I get the weapons and stuff like that. When I made this I thought a lot of these weapons were still available or easy to find on the net (the vast wasteland of information). But I, and a few other people, have had a lot of trouble finding some of these sets. I think the company that makes these guns releases a few sets a year, and releases them in limited numbers, so a lot of the guns I showed here might no longer be available. Luckily, there are still a few cool sets a available.

http://www.21stcenturytoys.com/

http://www.21stcenturytoys.com/buy.html

http://www.monkeydepot.com/

http://www.monkeydepot.com/product_p/usf0011-dd088.htm

http://www.monkeydepot.com/21st_Century_Toys_Modern_Modern_Russian_RPG_Set_p/usf0012-dd098.htm

http://www.monkeydepot.com/21st_Century_Toys_Police_Shotgun_Set_p/usf0008-dd080.htm

http://www.monkeydepot.com/21st_Century_Toys_US_WWII_30_Cal_Air_Cooled_p/usf0014-dd131.htm

http://www.monkeydepot.com/21st_Century_Toys_US_WWII_30_Cal_Water_Cooled_p/usf0013-dd129.htm

Note: Some of these links will probably go dead in a few months so tell me if they don't work for you.


Weapon Review by Justin Bread is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Stopmotion Flight Tutorial

Uploaded October 24, 2008.



This tutorial is basically about how I get things to fly around (in a stopmotion video). My next video will be about the weapons I use in these movies.


Stopmotion Flight Tutorial by Justin Bread is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Revengeance

A Green clay guy seeks revenge...with a vengeance.



I finished filming (photos) this movie back in July. Between then and early August, I couldn't really do anything because my hard drive that had all my sound effects broke. I finally decided to ask on a bulletin on YouTube if anyone knew of any sound sites and I got a lot of replies. So I dedicated most of the credits to recognizing those people who helped me out. I also gave credit to KnokNokk (a.k.a. ToffProductions) who designed the productions logo in the beginning.

So what's next for me?

I'll work on a couple of tutorials that people have requested and keep answering messages for people that need help.


Revengeance by Justin Bread is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Soooon

I'll be posting a new movie soon. I'm just about done filming it, but now I have to edit it and make it look cool. There were a few comments about how the Blue/Green guys always lose to the Red/Yellow guys so this movie will be about one lone Green guy who seeks revenge.

FYI

You might be asking yourself, "What the hell is this?"

I made this little blogspot site because I was getting a ton of questions about my clay movies on YouTube and it's really way too much than I can really handle. So I made this site so maybe eventually I can use this to answer a lot of the basic questions that I keep receiving. I haven't done much yet.

I also get a lot of people who ask me to watch their movies, rate and comment and it's too much. So I'm kind of hoping that this will eventually evolve into a place where you (and them) can promote your videos. I made a little forum to kind of start that. Look to the right.

I'm not expecting a whole lot to happen but who knows. This miserable place could become a semi-Knoxskorner (just more user oriented).

How to Make a Clay Guy

At the request of a lot of people, I made a guide on how to make my style of clay guys. I don't care if you copy them or not. Just make some cool movies.

I do use armature wire in the arms but I didn't include that in the video because there are a ton of great guides on YouTube already.




How to Make a Clay Guy by Justin Bread is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Massacre and Melancholy

War is hell, but clay war is "hella cool"




Massacre and Melancholy by Justin Bread is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

A Blue to Kill

For no apparent reason, here's more killing.



A Blue To Kill by Justin Bread is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

The Clay War

It's not my first claymation, but it is the first I uploaded to YouTube.



The Clay War by Justin Bread is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.