This little adventure goes back 15 months to October 2017... so it’s been a long adventure, mostly waiting. It was supposed to be a Xmas gift from me to me.
Now before I get too involved let me add, I was not alone in this adventure. I had roped in my brother, as he is in the electrical trade and is better skilled in soldering, etc. That was his Xmas gift to me, and as I was going to go see him for the December holidays, everything was shipped to him, far, far away.
Now my first introduction to the Ruby amp was the Jam-Jar. I became intrigued with the idea of a small portable practice amp, and down the Rabbit Hole I fell until we found the Ruby Amp. A small low powered 9v 1W Guitar Amp. Perfect for a bedroom and not much else.
So, first step was to find a Schematic
Then I drew up a shopping list, found the correct items, etc.
(Most items where Obtained from RS-Online.com unless otherwise specified)
Qty Description (RS Stock No)
Resistors (1/4 watt Rating)
1-off 10 ohm (707-7509)
1-off 3K9 (3.9k) (707-7713)
1-off 1M5 (1.5M) (386-896)
Transistors
1-off MPF102 (669-6468)
ICs
1-off LM386 (534-2911)
Capacitors (Min 16v+)
2-off 0.047uF Film/Ceramic (108-2362)
1-off 0.1uF Film/Ceramic (622-4943)
1-off 100uF Alu (519-4059)
1-off 220uF Alu 220uF Cap
**Other*
1-off Stereo 1/4 Jack Input (204-9108)
1-off 9v battery snaps (489-021)
1-0ff board PrefBoards
1-off led (703-1149)
1-off 1k Resistor (707-7666)
1-off speaker Speaker
1-off Switch Switch
Pots (1/4 Watt +)
1-off 1k Linear (or Trimmer) 1k Linear
1-off 10K Linear 10k Linear
Once finalized, I placed my orders, due to some items been min qty. It worked out to be about 5 sets of amps as I ordered everything to be for 5 amp kits, and this is where the issues started.
From the Pishop.co.za, the switch I ordered didn’t correspond to what I received, but nothing to really complain about, a switch is a switch.
From Robotics.org, received 2 of the 5 speakers with no correspondence to let me know why only 2…eventually I phoned only to be told, “oh, sorry no stock. Urgh... They eventually did send the balance, but they got misplaced and lost….
And now for the fun and games... RS-Components.
They would send what they have and bill me for what was sent... so multiple billings, multiple parcels and a nightmare to track what’s what… and not receiving everything myself I couldn’t just check...
I arrived at my holiday adventure and something was missing. The transistor. I checked with RS an they were still getting in stock from the UK... ETA January 2018.
January comes and school fees, books, clothes, etc, drain my account. And RS Billing bounces, the year proceeds and I forget about it, until September. I decided to place a new order. And wait... and wait and wait, look on their website… and I don’t see my order, but I have an email confirming my order with reference no etc... so we phone. It’s now mid November.
“Um sorry Sir, they lady that was supposed to process your order didn’t, I’ll do it now quickly, but as its coming from the UK will take a while”
A few hours later, some good news
“hi sir, sorry for that, your order has been placed and due to our mistake, your order is free”
Finally, did receive 3 of the 10 transistors a few days before we travelled, and as I type, I have a delivery note saying the balance is on the way.
So, the soldering went well, once we discover we need to mirror the wiring diagram from the big pictured diagram.
My biggest issue is the 2 pots we did get are scratchy, sensitive and unusable
Once we tested and were happy, We quickly stuffed it into a wooden box and the rest is history.
