First project done, have question (LM386 amp)

[swordfish]

OK, I made this yesterday

www.generalguitargadgets.com/diagrams/headphone_ez.jpg

 (my Orange squeezer PCB has not yet arrived, that's why.)  and while it works, it clips very very easily unless the guitars volume pot is rolled back, which then of course drops the 'phones level too much to be inspirational.  The distortion switched circuit is horrible too, useless really, but waddya want from something this simple.
  So..any suggestions on how to clean the sound up in the clean mode?  It clips (more like a "snit" like when a level exceeds 0dB in my DAW) no matter what guitar/pickup combo I tried, on  a Les, a Strat, and an Ibanez jazzbox.
 Or is there a better headphone amp out there I could build?  Although liking a challenge, I'd really like to try and optimize the one I have.  

    Thanks!
        Geoff

[TheBigMan]

Try either the Ruby or the Little Gem at runoffgroove.com There's a mod in the FAQ there for adding in a headphone jack.

[vanhansen]

Did you use all the exact parts as the schematic?  I built this a few weeks ago and it's very clean when pins 1 and 8 are not connected.  Keep in mind, it won't get 100% totally acoustic-like clean.  That's just how the LM386 is.

[smoguzbenjamin]

The LM386 is more like a dirty solution, it is by no means elegant

[swordfish]

Yes, I used the correct parts.  I looked at the Ruby today, and that looks like an improvement, so I'll probably change it to that spec.  I'm going to try a pot instead of the switch to try a variable distortion.  
 The more I learn about this stuff, the more I think that the LM386 is a bit too simple to base a high end headphone amp on.  Mind you, my only experience with a headphone amp was the Rockman when it debuted all those years ago and it blew us away with its sound.  This 386 circuit I built is no where near that level of performance.  Maybe it can be made to work though!  Ignorance is bliss and that's me!!

[Transmogrifox]

Yes, it is a nice simple little build.  There is something that is not shown on the schematic that is important, though:

The electrolytic capacitors (which happen to be all the caps used in this circuit) are polarized.  The input capacitor is a kind of a lost cause, there's no plarity that will make it better than the next.  The circuit will still have a fair frequency response if you replace it with a .47uF poylyester film capacitor.

As for the rest:

It just so happens that you want them all oriented so that the lead on the  "+" side on the capacitor is connected to one of the IC pins, and the "-" side goes to the correct part of the circuit shown on the other side of the cap in the circuit diagram.

The 10uF from the IC to the switch, should go like this:  IC Pin 8-->>Capacitor + ---> Capacitor - --->>Switch pin "1" --->Switch pin  "2" ---->>IC Pin 1

If Electrolytic capacitors are reverse biased, they generate a very noteable amount of distortion--I have seen it on an oscilloscope and it ain't pretty.  Your most likely suspect is the output capacitor (470 uF).  If that guy's in backward, your amp will for sure sound bad.

[vanhansen]

Something I forgot to add to my last post.  Put a 25 ohm rheostat pot between the output of the circuit and the output jack to control the volume.  I found it to be too loud without it and the guitar volume all the way open.

[swordfish]

Yes, it is a nice simple little build.  There is something that is not shown on the schematic that is important, though:

It just so happens that you want them all oriented so that the lead on the  "+" side on the capacitor is connected to one of the IC pins, and the "-" side goes to the correct part of the circuit shown on the other side of the cap in the circuit diagram.

The 10uF from the IC to the switch, should go like this:  IC Pin 8-->>Capacitor + ---> Capacitor - --->>Switch pin "1" --->Switch pin  "2" ---->>IC Pin 1

If Electrolytic capacitors are reverse biased, they generate a very noteable amount of distortion--I have seen it on an oscilloscope and it ain't pretty.  Your most likely suspect is the output capacitor (470 uF).  If that guy's in backward, your amp will for sure sound bad.

  I've got all the caps oriented correctly.  The black "arrow" with the negative sign in it on the caps themselves means the end the arrow points to is the neg., yes?  If not, them they are backwards in my build.  
 The schematic drawing I used (see my first post for URL) shows:
IC pin1 -->> switch-->>switch to 10uf cap positive-->>cap neg-->> IC
pin8
   This seems backwards from how you describe it.  Is your version correct, or a mod you preffered?

  Thanks to everybody for the help so far too!