I found a loose 741 op amp...What should I build?

[zachomega]

Last time this happened I built an Orange Squeezer...Any other suggestions?  I don't normally work with ICs. 

Unique is good.

Also, I don't need a DOD Overdrive 250...I have one from 78 and one of those YJM308 models. 

-Zach Omega

[Meanderthal]

 Well, then I guess a Distortion+ is out of the question...

[oldrocker]

I used one in a Rat once.

[zachomega]

I suppose the Distortion + is an option although I'd kind of like to do something a bit more interesting.  I don't know how interesting you can get with a single 741, but who knows. 

-Zach Omega

[zachomega]

Also, I just found a TL082 Dual Op Amp...Now let the ideas really flow! 

-Zach Omega

[sfr]

"I just found an op-amp, what can I build" sounds a little wierd to me, because almost everything I build has op-amps in it.  I have more opamps than I know what to do with kicking around.  Opamps are cheap, you can always get more if you need more.  If you're building a circuit that requires multiple opamps, it's easy often easy to adapt it to singles or duals if that's all you have.  (Even quads, although that can require more work routing traces around)  It's not the same as finding a single BBD and wondering what circuit to build around it when you only have one of an out-of-production chip.

That said, if your not rocking on the idea one of the single-op-amp distortions, I have to say the MXR microamp is one of my favorite boosts, and very easy to perf together. 

Since so many of the more complicated circuits often require more than one opamp, but many stages are similar, I often use singles to make simple modules on perf, like buffers, gain stages, lowpass filters, etc., the envelope detector from the Dr. Q, so  that I can easily jumper them onto the breadboard to avoid having to make the same modules again and again.  Often using sockets so you can swap the important caps around.   That's my favorite use for single op-amps.

[zachomega]

Nearly everything I build uses transistors or tubes.  Op Amps are very easy to use...and I appreciate that about them...but they do all kinds of things to batteries (current draw - and I always use batteries).  Additionally, they eat up a lot of space on a breadboard.  Lastly, I'm not always so impressed with their noise performance.  I recognize they are very easy to use which makes them quite appealing...but for me, they are a rare kind of exception.

-Zach Omega

"I just found an op-amp, what can I build" sounds a little wierd to me, because almost everything I build has op-amps in it.  I have more opamps than I know what to do with kicking around.  Opamps are cheap, you can always get more if you need more.  If you're building a circuit that requires multiple opamps, it's easy often easy to adapt it to singles or duals if that's all you have.  (Even quads, although that can require more work routing traces around)  It's not the same as finding a single BBD and wondering what circuit to build around it when you only have one of an out-of-production chip.

That said, if your not rocking on the idea one of the single-op-amp distortions, I have to say the MXR microamp is one of my favorite boosts, and very easy to perf together. 

Since so many of the more complicated circuits often require more than one opamp, but many stages are similar, I often use singles to make simple modules on perf, like buffers, gain stages, lowpass filters, etc., the envelope detector from the Dr. Q, so  that I can easily jumper them onto the breadboard to avoid having to make the same modules again and again.  Often using sockets so you can swap the important caps around.   That's my favorite use for single op-amps.