Stupid simple spring reverb (help?)

[MVHCmaniac]

I'm gonna start this post by saying I just joined this forum about two minutes ago, so if this is in the wrong section or if I made any other mistake please let me know so I don't make the same mistake again.

Anyways. I've had an old cheap 15 W combo amp lying around in my basement for a while. It had a spring reverb tank in it and I figured, what the hell? Why not make use of that old thing and make a stompbox to drive it? I did some basic research, learned about the three stages of a reverb unit (driver, tank, recovery) and the rest I kinda know from common sense, physics, and some rather basic electrical knowledge. I crossed off the recovery stage, since this is gonna go in-line with my other effects pedals and I don't need the output to be amplified at all.

My plan is to make a new pedalboard, mount the tank and the driver electronics on the underside of the board near the back, and make a little wooden box to go somewhere in the middle of the board to house the controls. The pedalboard is another project of itself that I'm really looking forward to; woodwork is more my thing than electronics, mostly because I'm usually too lazy to mess with complex component design.

Anyhow, I'm trying to make this as simple as possible due to inexperience and lack of time and money. (I'm a college student home for vacation; I have until Sunday to finish this, and I'm dead broke.) So, I dumbed it down to a simple driver. I went to RadioShack and picked up some parts: Two LM386 op-amps, variety pack of resistors, power jack, input/output jacks, control pots and knobs, and a copper-clad PCB for etching. As for everything else I'll need, i have boxes and boxes of broken electronics in my basement I scavenge. I started wet lab work this morning, wiring up an op-amp in the simplest configuration possible. Direct inputs for everything. It wasn't working, and I wasn't sure why. For power, I was using a 1Spot 9v power adapter (because I hate changing batteries). Turns out the power adapter totally torched the chip. Whoops. I popped in the other one and powered it with a 9V battery, and it worked fine. Now I tested my theory about not needing a recovery stage; I hooked the tank input to the amp output, and the tank output directly into my amp. It worked; obviously this was a 100% reverb output so it sounded almost cello-like, but that's what I was expecting. Now, as stupid as I am, I tried plugging it back in to my power adapter and the chip straight up popped.

I have an NE5532 chip from the old amp I took the tank from, so all is not lost, but I obviously don't want to fry any more chips. Before I continue, I need this question answered: why is this happening?

If you guys could help me out I'd really appreciate it.

[PRR]

> I crossed off the recovery stage

You need that. Tank output is lower than typical guitar level. And you will NEED a mixer, so it isn't 100% wet, and mixers have losses.

> I have until Sunday to finish this

That's usually when things go wrong: too-too-short schedule.

> why is this happening?

I don't know. The One-Spot is a fine supply. Are you getting the POLARITY backward? Beyond that, you have given nearly no clues. Plans, schematic, pictures, voltage readings......... How is your humidity? The dry air in the cold winter here, I would not touch chips until I boiled a pot of pasta and lost all my silk and nylon undershorts.

[MVHCmaniac]

I'm out at the moment so I can't fill you in on most of the details or check the power polarity yet, but I have a question about the recovery stage in the meantime. When I tested it, the tank output seemed about on par with the guitar output, but I'll believe you if you tell me I'm wrong. If I amplify the tank output, then, how do I bring it down to the level of the guitar output? It can't be as simple as throwing a resistor in there, can it. 

Like I said, I'm totally inexperienced with this stuff so I'm gonna assume anything you tell me is right until I get some projects of my own under my belt.