headphone amp thing built, but not exactly working...

[Connoisseur of Distortion]

i built apheard's 47 (well, two of them) and i am hitting both of them with the signal direct from my guitar. unfortunately, i hear nothing. all of my voltages look pretty good, and i already cleaned out my awkward solderings and such (it was getting pretty cramped, as it is sharing a ratshack board with a vulcan by Joe D. and a Little Gem).

i guess my question is "can i even use this amplifier?" I realizen now that this amp might have been intended for something else, and thus not beneficial to a guitar.

any feedback, replies, or advice greatly appreciated.

[Connoisseur of Distortion]

well, i tried out the powered out (little gem) section and it works fine. My gripe with it is that it is incredibly murky... sounds like i'm outside my house listening.

the headphone out still doesn't do its job... and i realize now that i failed to post a link!

http://headwize.com/projects/showfile.php?file=apheared_prj.htm

[erix]

Nice to see someone using that circuit. I've always felt it to be the best sounding cheap hi-fi project around. I've built 4 or five of them: http://www.hbci.com/~erix/htmls/amps/metal47.html & http://www.hbci.com/~erix/htmls/amps/forehead.html

As it is designed to take the input signal from a line level audio source, it doesn't have the gain you need to use the guitar as an input. Have a look at Cafe Walter's HA-1 http://www.cafewalter.com/ha1/graphics/ha-1a_schematic.pdf for a preamp section to go in front of the A47 output section.

ok,
erix

[Connoisseur of Distortion]

thanks for the response!

the schematic is troubling, as it is running off of a +/- source, while my project is powered by a 9v battery... much as i would like to retain fidelity, this project is going to sound a bit dirty! 

could i simply modify the 47 to raise its current gain to an acceptable level? i hate to completely sidetrack, but this project is quite crude. it's basically a turn on/off vulcan in front of the inputs to a headphone out and a little gem, just in case i want to plug it in to share. this whole mess is going to fit inside a 125B, so space is at a premium.

my project (i know) is insulting to hifi stuff, but for a little carry-around headphone practice amp, it doesn't need to sound incredible... so could i raise the gain of the 47 to make it work?? 

thanks for your time.

[Connoisseur of Distortion]

update:

well, an increase in gain has yielded some results. the circuit now puts sound in my ear!

now, for my problem...

it's fuzzy. not a nice, smooth kinda fuzz... this thing is gated and ugleh. it also isn't very stable... as in it cuts out after a couple seconds of note. if anyone has advice about cleaning it up, i am all ears.