No $$ = Poor sound?

[phector2004]

Sorry for the hijack, but:

Gurner, can you (ab)use pin 4 of the chip to add tremolo?

[Gurner]

Sorry for the hijack, but:

Gurner, can you (ab)use pin 4 of the chip to add tremolo?

Sure, but note that the effective range of DC Vol 'resistance to control' the volume is narrowish (vs the datasheet) - from recollection, it's about 150K for maximum volume & about 15k for minimum volume (the datasheet is a little confusing - it talks of a 1M pot)....under 15k it goes the IC goes into mute. (disclaimer this is with a VCC of about 7V, these resistance values may need to be tweaked with different supply Voltage levels - in other words YMMV, also the datasheet mentions variation in resistances needed for the Vol control due to the manafacturing iinconsistencies)

Just bear in mind that an audio amp, and as such has a log response (which for a tremelo I'd imagine wouldn't be optimum?)

[jefe]

If you want adjustable gain variant, easy - use the TDA7052A (it has a pin to put a DC volume control pot on). ...it's a  true 'on the fly' gain adjustable. (furthermore the pot isn't in the signal path so no crackles & pops with age - also put gnd onto pin 4, the TDA7052A's output is muted - no such ability with the LM386)

Cool, it sounds like the TDA7052A may have some potential as the next "Ruby" or "Gem" amp. I'm not sure why no one has gone down that avenue yet, maybe people are still having fun experimenting with the LM386.

Point taken about the distortion, but that said, I'd rather have an amp that's capable of both clean & dirty.The TDa7052A will do both (just crank it's dedicated volume control right up!)  Not totally sure what the Op wants from the LM386...distortion or clean, my comments about the LM386 relate to it's visible level of filthyness (vs other ICs in the same ballpark)

Yeah, I'd rather have both clean and dirty too. FWIW, I built a LM386 Ruby that sounds quite clean with the gain all the way down, and it reportedly cleans up even more when powered at 12V instead of 9V.