breadboard/"beavis board" for nephew

[thetragichero]

nephew's birthday is this month and we were scratching our heads trying to think what to get a bright 18 year old musician until we had a conversation about his trip to the moog museum and his dream of working in that sort of field but his lack of experience when it comes to musical electronics. he's a multi-instrumentalist (percussion and bass) and quite bright so i figured some sort of breadboard setup along with maybe a thumb drive of reference materials (the excellent NEETS electronics course pdfs, maybe copies of some articles like technology of the fuzz face, keen's laws, parasit studio cmos workshop, etc. maybe some links to online tools) would be a great introduction and something fun to learn with
so i am curious as to what i should include... my thoughts:

"beavis board"-type setup with input/output jacks, power jack, holes to attach pots
9vdc power supply to hook to the board
breadboard
wires of various lengths
resistor pack
assortment of film/mylar and electro caps
an assortment of transistors (probably want to keep this fairly simple: 5087/5088 complementary pair, maybe a darlington, germanium?, a couple jfet and mosfet)
an assortment of op amps (mainly dual op amps but a 741 and lm308 for the iconic pedals based on them)
cmos chips (inverter, various logic chips that can be used for octaves etc)
si and ge diodes (1n914 and some sort of germanium), leds
pots with leads attached (how many/what values?)
maybe a pt2399 and voltage regulator to play around with simple delays
a decent multimeter would be useful (nothing expensive; my $30 radio shack meter has served me very well)

is there anything i'm missing? is this potentially too ambitious of a gift as it would require a lot of time on his part?
also no clue what quantities would be good

basically looking for suggestions/a reality check. i personally think this could be a really cool gift but i may be a little nutty

thanks in advance!

[antonis]

9vdc power supply to hook to the board

A +/- 9V (maybe variable up to +/-15V) should be more convenient..

[iainpunk]

i would have loved such a gift when i started out.
i would definitely give 9v and 15v bipolar supplies, especially considering his interest in synthesizer stuff. a simple LM386 amp and a small speaker in a separate box, so he can actually test his stuff at low volume before going to a big system.
also relating to synth stuff, both 1/4th in and 1/8th in audio jack in and outs on the ''beavis box''

cheers

[thetragichero]

lm386 amp is a dang good idea, probably preferred by his parents as well
he doesn't currently have any synth stuff, but i hadn't thought about 1/8" jacks
wrt to more complicated power supply: i think eventually yes this is important, but just getting something up and running i feel like simple may be best. although i could do what i use for my pedalboard power supplies: repurposed wall warts/laptop supplies with linear regulators and jacks for various voltages (usually just 9v and 12v) housed inside a 1590a enclosure. i have a bigger project box that maybe could handle power and the lm386 amp with mini speaker
this is exactly why i wanted ya'lls input, as i never would've thought about this (i do initial passing signal testing on my scope as it saves me ears)

[Phend]

I basically started not long ago, I use this stuff often, not promoting anything

Digital multimeter With continuity Beep (about 20 dollars) DMM
And

And
https://www.amazon.com/Mega328-Digital-Transistor-Resistance-Capacitance/dp/B07WT9VVZB/ref=sr_1_13?dchild=1&keywords=Transistor+tester&qid=1618951831&sr=8-13
(This is cool, but for a few dollars more get one that is assembled )

[iainpunk]

put it atop a cigar box, so the speaker has enough air volume to move, and you have all the space in the world to mount a power supply.

just throw in 15v and 9v linear regulators fed by a laptop charger, that would be enough to get started.

and if he's still interested in a year, for his next birthday you gibe him a proper 6 output bipolar power supply, high current. + and -, 15v and 9 v and two low current, variable voltage out's for reference/bias voltages.

cheers, Iain

[GibsonGM]

You could put Phend's cap chart along with a few other things on 1 big printout to hang on the wall in front of the 'work station'.  I have a graphic I made from years ago that showed E above I R*, pinouts for common opamps, 386 and common transistors, mosfets & jfets, and a few often-used formulae.  I still use it once in a while.

This kind of thing:  https://www.startpage.com/av/proxy-image?piurl=https%3A%2F%2Fslideplayer.com%2Fslide%2F2512393%2F9%2Fimages%2F5%2FElectrical%2BReview%2BE%2BI%2BR%2BOhm%25E2%2580%2599s%2BLaw%2BE%2B%253D%2BI%2Bx%2BR%2BI%2B%253D%2BE%2B%252F%2BR%2BR%2B%253D%2BE%2B%252F%2BI%2BVolts.jpg&sp=1618954068Tf7612ca89bd47b1f87f0f30176c34a797dde26b1c072327bcd38c9bd9cb119b0

[antonis]

I have a graphic I made from years ago that showed E above I R*

I always suggest someone to remeber by heart only the more "plain" equation form of a formula (e.g V=IxR is the only one without denominator part or P=VxI is the only one without square parts)
Then, the other ones come by proper substitution.. (I=V/R, R=V/I or P=I²xR=V²/R)

[davent]

My mnemonic for remembering ohms law has always been the word VIRgin, i never forget.

dave