Problems with a project..

[bullhead]

Hey, im new here..
I've was surfing online one day and i saw all this stuff about making your own stompboxes, and i caught the bug..
A couple of weeks ago i tried making a Linear power booster (http://smallbox.zeonhost.com/projects/lpb1/index.html) Its a beginners project.. I didnt buy all the parts online like they suggested, instead i went to my local radio shack and bought the parts, my only problem was that i couldnt find the exact same values for the parts, so i had to use parts that were close to it..

Well anyways, i've made this thing twice, the first time i got a whole bunch of hum and static.. (Using ceramic Disc Capacitors)

The second time my signals was better than the first (I could actually here some guitar) but there was still loads and loads of static..

Do you think the problem is the values arent the same? Example: They say use a 830 k resistor, i used a 1meg resistor. (i couldnt find a 830k resistor..)
It was kind of my understanding that it would work just maybe not sound exactly the same as it should in the schematic..

Also, does anyone know of a beginners project i could do, that i could get all the parts from radio shack?

Thanks...
Matt

[KerryF]

Did you use the same transistor?  Did you connect the pinouts in the right places?  Its easier just to order the right parts from the internet.

[disantlor]

read these two links on resistors in series and parallel:

http://www.physics.uoguelph.ca/tutorials/ohm/Q.ohm.intro.series.html
http://www.physics.uoguelph.ca/tutorials/ohm/Q.ohm.intro.parallel.html

In the future you can come up with values you dont have using the values you do have if you're stuck.