Thank you for sharing! Absolute electronics newbie just made himself a Ruby Amp

[karesplat]

Hi, I'm new here,

Just wanted to thank all those who publish information so freely on the internet. Over the past few days I have literally taken myself from absolutely no clue about any electronics to a fairly good understanding of the schematic for the Ruby amp and I've just completed building one on plug board. Not just copying a wiring diagram but actually understanding what I'm doing. That wouldn't have been possible without the information some of you and others share so readily on your websites and on here.

After reading through the LM386 data sheet and trying hard to follow what they were talking about and finding similarities in their examples to parts of the Ruby schematic and then following the development of Ruby from Smokey through Little Gem really helped a lot. I probably looked over quite a few websites in my quest to understand all this but the guys at runoffgroove and beavisaudio really deserve a big hand. General guitar gadget's instructions for the Ruby and Little Gem amps also provided a useful scratch pad for me to sketch out my notes as I was learning. Very very useful. I'm sure I'll be hitting the websites heavily again in the near future with another build. You guys are great.

I've only had the Ruby going through some headphones so far, I don't actually possess any other amps or speakers yet sadly. You may wonder why I have an electric guitar but no amp - that is because I only recently brought my old cheapo strat copy that my dad bought me many years ago over from another country where I used to live. Previously I was using an acoustic. Anyway the Ruby sounds great both clean and with the gain fully cranked. It's actually so loud I tend not to wear the headphones over my ears.

Next up I've got to make a more permanent version I suppose. The girlfriend is already asking to be involved in any artwork that gets done to an enclosure. Darn your pictures thread! 

Looking forward to more projects in the future.

[drk]

congrats! the ruby is an awesome little amplifier! I've build it a few times, it's really good!
Don't have speakers? What about building one?  eheh
You already have an amp! I play in my room with a ruby amp and it does the job.

Try adding a preamp to the amp, or build it to a box.
keep it going

[Brymus]

Congrats,and keep at it.
The ROG and this site along with SSguitar.com are great places to learn how to DIY.
I too love the 386 chips and all they amps and pedals made from them.
I doubt that very many "Ruby" type amps would have been built were it not for the the ROG crew posting all of thier great projects.

[punkin]

So easy a caveman can do it 

Congratulations on your first build!