The "oh so great" Ruby amp.

[Hupla]

Oh. I see. I guess i shouldnt have said anything about my experiences at all. After all i was just lying the whole time right?

I just really hate those 386 people. I was trying to get back at them.


Wow the ruby is amazing. It fits in the palm of my hand and is almost as loud as my voice! It works GREAT for church music and surf stuff. Anything where the guitar is the only instrument playing. Wow. Just be careful not to have anyone else play along or all the sudden the ruby sounds dark and muddy compared to the other instruments.

Im thinking about throwing away all my practice amps and just using the ruby. I am SO impressed by it. It sounds great! Musical and clear and sparkly!

I am a millionaire. I own the McDonalds corporation. I can also fly by waving my arms up and down. 

That's the spirit

It's grand if you don't like them, it just doesn't mean other people won't. Thanks for the input though.

[jacobyjd]

For the record, I'm not too crazy about the Ruby I built--however, mine is poorly shielded and is just my bench tester to check for that initial "does it work?" stage. After that, it sees one of my live-rig amps for tweaking. However, I have a feeling that if I put some time into it, I could make a very nice recording amp out of one--it just hasn't been a priority so far.

Oh. I see. I guess i shouldnt have said anything about my experiences at all. After all i was just lying the whole time right?

I just really hate those 386 people. I was trying to get back at them.


Wow the ruby is amazing. It fits in the palm of my hand and is almost as loud as my voice! It works GREAT for church music and surf stuff. Anything where the guitar is the only instrument playing. Wow. Just be careful not to have anyone else play along or all the sudden the ruby sounds dark and muddy compared to the other instruments.

Im thinking about throwing away all my practice amps and just using the ruby. I am SO impressed by it. It sounds great! Musical and clear and sparkly!

I am a millionaire. I own the McDonalds corporation. I can also fly by waving my arms up and down. 

Any chance we can take a chill pill sometime today? People wouldn't react as strongly to your opinions if you didn't state them as universal fact.

You can diffuse any sort of negative response preemptively by beginning posts containing your opinion with, "I don't know about anyone else, but in my experience with 'XYZ'..."

Maybe tone it down a little, hmm?

[slacker]

Oh. I see. I guess i shouldnt have said anything about my experiences at all.

No, you can pass on your experiences all you want, if it makes someone try an alternative to the lm386 amps that's great, that's what this place is all about the share of information. You have to remember that your experiences might not be the same as someone else's though.
If I've built an lm386 amp and think it sounds good then, it's no good telling me I'm wrong and that they are, and I quote "...a piece of crap", or if you are going to do that you can't expect people not to challenge you.

Anyway we've completely derailed Hupla's thread so that's the last I'm saying on the matter

[grolschie]

I liked the sound of mine so much when up near full volume, I wanted to make a pedal out of it with the volume knob (which is before the LM386) preset at almost full with a trimpot, and adding volume pot at the output, plus other mods. Semi-successful so far. Good for cleaner sounds and meaty, not farty bottom end, really distorted with a boost in front too. I just need to fix the crackle decay issue.

[JKowalski]

For the record, I'm not too crazy about the Ruby I built--however, mine is poorly shielded and is just my bench tester to check for that initial "does it work?" stage. After that, it sees one of my live-rig amps for tweaking. However, I have a feeling that if I put some time into it, I could make a very nice recording amp out of one--it just hasn't been a priority so far.

Oh. I see. I guess i shouldnt have said anything about my experiences at all. After all i was just lying the whole time right?

I just really hate those 386 people. I was trying to get back at them.


Wow the ruby is amazing. It fits in the palm of my hand and is almost as loud as my voice! It works GREAT for church music and surf stuff. Anything where the guitar is the only instrument playing. Wow. Just be careful not to have anyone else play along or all the sudden the ruby sounds dark and muddy compared to the other instruments.

Im thinking about throwing away all my practice amps and just using the ruby. I am SO impressed by it. It sounds great! Musical and clear and sparkly!

I am a millionaire. I own the McDonalds corporation. I can also fly by waving my arms up and down. 

Any chance we can take a chill pill sometime today? People wouldn't react as strongly to your opinions if you didn't state them as universal fact.

You can diffuse any sort of negative response preemptively by beginning posts containing your opinion with, "I don't know about anyone else, but in my experience with 'XYZ'..."

Maybe tone it down a little, hmm?

I completely agree.

[liddokun]

Getting back on topic, I actually really love the way my Ruby sounds. I couldn't really care less for the clean sound I get, but with the bassman mods and gain and volume maxed out, it sounds really pleasing to my ears. The distortion is a little farty and cold and it lacks a bit of character, but for a couple of bucks worth of resistors, caps and an IC, it's a pretty darn good sounding circuit. I run mines through the epiphone valve jr. 1x12 cabinet.

[JKowalski]

Getting back on topic, I actually really love the way my Ruby sounds. I couldn't really care less for the clean sound I get, but with the bassman mods and gain and volume maxed out, it sounds really pleasing to my ears. The distortion is a little farty and cold and it lacks a bit of character, but for a couple of bucks worth of resistors, caps and an IC, it's a pretty darn good sounding circuit. I run mines through the epiphone valve jr. 1x12 cabinet.

It's kind of funny that you said "getting back on topic" because this topic was made so that we could solve Hupla's problem with a sputtery ruby amp, not necessarily debate the quality of it.  That's kind of what caused it to derail

[Tony Forestiere]

Could it be "W"?!?

[brett]

Hi
re distortion from 386: check that your output cap is oriented correctly (just a wild guess)

I just really hate those 386 people. I was trying to get back at them.

That's the attitude!  If you spot one, let us know.
cheers

[El Heisenberg]

Jees i guess sarcasm doesnt really shine through in text format.

I said i could FLY for christs sake!

[frank_p]

If you spot one, let us know.

Vintage types:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6Ah7lZboDI

[Scruffie]

Lol ahh thats a classic video, ah takes me back to my amiga (not quite an 386 I know but it's as far as I go back)... and of course the classic track.

[Jurassic]

Wow the ruby is amazing. It fits in the palm of my hand and is almost as loud as my voice! It works GREAT for church music and surf stuff. Anything where the guitar is the only instrument playing. Wow. Just be careful not to have anyone else play along or all the sudden the ruby sounds dark and muddy compared to the other instruments.

I really like the ruby amp, but that was a good one mate! I've been laughing whole morning.. 

[Brymus]

Not what I imagined my first post to be but,it just so happens I have been messing with the "Ruby" or should I say 386 based amp for a couple of days and came hear looking for a way to rectify my RS 273-1385b I was gonna use for power.
My first impressions are this-
It sounds good,-good enough I played my guitar longer than I needed and wasted a 9v battery(hence the power supply)
I used the info from JRC- http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?qs=sGAEpiMZZMutXGli8Ay4kNj6tSOXtzjZ7u4GKq%2fdnbY%3d
Check out the schematics and notes
For a larger 16ohm speaker you would use a 100uf cap for a 8 you use 220uf 4 a 470uf.
I used the 10uf cap across pins 1 and 8 this yields the highest gain about 50db at 12v or about 1.2 watts.
DONT use a resitor or pot across the pins 1 and 8 if using the cap(fried a chip)
I am running it through a 12" Lady Luck EVJ extension cab.I havent tried any other cabs yet but I was impressed.
No it doest compare to my 18 watt Marshall head or my modded EVJ but it does sound -almost- as good as my 20 watt Crate practice amp.
I like it enough I plan to try a dual opamp in front or maybe some other pre amp other than a single FET like the Ruby uses.

Any tips or schematics for rectifying my RS tranny?
12vac 300 ma part#273-1385b.
I was thinking a full wave bridge with 4 diodes? maybe 4-4001 or 914 would be cheaper ,then some resevoir caps and 1 watt resisors for a power rail?
does that sound right?

[brett]

Hi

No it doest compare to my 18 watt Marshall head

Nice amp!!!  99% of amps don't compare with an 18watter!

I only have a few amps these days (Marshall JTM, Musicman 65, ...).  But I still have an old 386 amp.  In fact, it's my only low power (<15W) amp, and my only non-tube amp.  Many amps (such as the JTM) sound ordinary unless it's turned up loud.  That leaves a "spot" for little 1 W amps like the Firefly (a cracker!) and 386 amps.

just my 2c....

[Toney]

Same here...
The only SS amp I have is some kind of bizarre Roland prototype but it's all about tubes for me.
'Cept I kinda love the Ruby I built. Bassman mods, haven't changed or altered a part on it since I built it.
Plugged it in and damn it just sounds so Ummm Fendery. In a good twangy lets play surf riffs kinda way.
Suits me fine as a tiny muck around amp. But also has it's own tone. It's built into a Christmas cake tin and gets played though an old bookshelf speaker which in itself was kinda trebly. I think it may well be a happy frequency adjusting going on there.
But who cares? Not me. Sounds good.

Imaging putting that much emotion into caring about a 386 amp? Or anything here really. I mean I love this place but encule une canard!
Maybe it's just me....
I'm old enough to not give too much of a crap about the whole internet.
Just as happy reading or listening to music.

[The French connection]

I've build a ruby for testing pedal when i finish one and the kids are sleeping. I use it as an headphone amp and it sound good through headphone and even through a speaker with a zobel network. But i won't use it for ''giging''

I mean I love this place but encule une canard!

Que voulez-vous dire par ''encule un canard''? 

Dan

[Toney]

 Funnier in English (rhymes) 

[The French connection]

Haaaa ok LOL! So it will sound better as ''encule ta mule'' (feck e donk). But that's not the ''poetry'' that i don't get, but more the sens of the expression in the context. Now it makes sens. 

Cheers!

Dan

[newfish]

<eek!>  

With that sort of activity being mentioned, I'd hide your Nurse Quacky if I were you.

That sort of abuse is *not* covered by warranty, or by the debugging thread...