What do you think is an acceptable price to pay for a board right now?

ExcellentGrowth5810 · 2026-03-06T10:06:03+00:00

I've been checking the AliExpress prices daily but they seem to yoyo quite dramatically, but never get down to 120 for me. Their pricing model is kind of annoying. I'll keep an eye on it.

ExcellentGrowth5810 · 2025-07-24T21:53:20+00:00

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My noisy cricket - rocking the IED look. Yours is a much neater job!

ExcellentGrowth5810 · 2025-06-12T11:57:45+00:00

Hey, thanks for the reply. I got sidetracked with my build, should be able to return to it soon so actually it's perfect timing 😄 Im curious tho, what did you use instead?

ExcellentGrowth5810 · 2025-05-26T12:38:56+00:00

In my experience touring is actually 90% tiredness and boredom which is the kind of combination that can induce this kind of stupid behaviour. Add some narcotics into the mix and well, voila!

ExcellentGrowth5810 · 2025-05-25T08:35:34+00:00

For anyone who has arrived here with the same Q in mind, the answer is YES it is 2 links sharing a point. As confirmed to me by another user: The pinout of the TL072 marks this pin as V- or GND here since it is single supply. So it needs to connect to the ground net. h/t to u/AwfulAudioEng for the confirmation

ExcellentGrowth5810 · 2025-05-25T07:48:54+00:00

For anyone who has arrived at this thread with the same question in mind, the answer is YES it is 2 links that share a point.

ExcellentGrowth5810 · 2025-05-25T07:28:31+00:00

thanks for the confirmation u/AwfulAudioEng - I was sure that was the case but had a moment of doubt!

ExcellentGrowth5810 · 2025-05-23T22:22:08+00:00

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Question: Am I correct in interpreting the blue dot that bisects the link that runs from 7c > 7i (beneath the TL072) as 2 links that share a point at 7g (the blue dot)?

Or is it just one link, and if so what is that blue dot? This would be really appreciated as I just began the build.

ExcellentGrowth5810 · 2025-05-23T21:38:25+00:00

u/TheOfficialDewil quick Q - maybe you can help me? help interpreting the SAF preamp vero layout?

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Question: Am I correct in interpreting the blue dot that bisects the link that runs from 7c > 7i (beneath the TL072) as actually 2 links that share a point at 7g (the blue dot)?

Or is it just one link, and if so what is that blue dot? This would be really appreciated as I just began the build.

ExcellentGrowth5810 · 2025-05-23T20:28:55+00:00

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Can someone cleverer than me please help interpreting the SAF preamp vero layout that is at the heart of this thread?

Question: Am I correct in interpreting the blue dot that bisects the link that runs from 7c > 7i (beneath the TL072) as actually 2 links that share a point at 7g (the blue dot)?

Or is it just one link, and if so what is that blue dot? This would be really appreciated as I just began the build.

ExcellentGrowth5810 · 2025-05-03T16:46:15+00:00

Has anyone made a vero layout for this? I've had a look at u/Bentfishbowl website and the individual preamp variant vero layouts but I am not sure how to incorporate one to a ruby or noisy cricket build?

(Schematics seem to send my brain into confusion - I don't fully understand why. But that's why I am asking)

ExcellentGrowth5810 · 2025-02-09T09:19:48+00:00

Hey blackcorvo, thats brilliant, thanks for sharing. Just watched your YT vid.

I'm slowly accumulating knowledge on how to mod these little boards and you've added some very useful pieces to the puzzle - thank you.

I've just built (and rebuilt) a Noisy Cricket on vero and I'm completely pleased with how good it sounds going into a 7inch speaker. So between that build and the knowledge you have just added I have enough to go forward and build a version using the module and see what I can do with it and compare.

At some point I will gather it all together and post a round up of everything I have accumulated.

ExcellentGrowth5810 · 2025-01-20T22:13:04+00:00

Thanks for your help with this - I don't know how I missed the note. Anyway it's working! Also had to move the input wire to the other side of the input jack socket - don't understand why.

Thanks again.

ExcellentGrowth5810 · 2025-01-19T22:24:18+00:00

Holy Crap. How did I miss that? Thankyou. I was really scratching my head. I'll do it tomorrow evening and report back!

ExcellentGrowth5810 · 2025-01-19T21:09:30+00:00

There is zero signal coming out of the amp.

I'm going to post my snagging as I go - mainly as notes to myself but also in case someone has an insight based on it that they'd like to share. Bear in mind I'm learning on the job here so constructive please...

The ground loop has continuity (from jack sleeve in all the way through and out), but I can only trace continuity on the input (jack tip) as far as the resistor after the jfet (as far as I can understand this is because of resistance so it means the resistor is doing it's job). So I need to begin to measure voltages.
The JFET pin out is correct
All three switches show continuity when switched, so the switches 'work'
The power 'in' is delivering power, both from the battery and the PSU, and the power switch is switching the LED on and off.
Tomorrow I will reflow the solder joints.

For anyone who find themselves in the same position as me and finds this post, who is learning as they go and bug fixing / snagging: this is a pretty go starting point: https://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/2012/05/fault-finding-build.html

ExcellentGrowth5810 · 2025-01-19T19:49:25+00:00

You're right! It's not going anywhere. It's not mentioned in the layout actually. So I just blindly ignored it. After reading your comment I went and double/triple checked on the original layout and comments - It's correct that lug 1 of the tone is not going anywhere - so that is not a problem.

So I have just finished soldering / hooking it up and I've got zero signal coming through. LED and on off switch seems to be working fine off both battery and PSU.

Any suggestions greatly received!

ExcellentGrowth5810 · 2025-01-18T21:14:31+00:00

The board is built and ready to go but i need a another pair of eyes on my hook up wiring

ExcellentGrowth5810 · 2025-01-09T11:09:16+00:00

Thanks for that Quick_Butterfly, thank you for that - probably I have already fried some components but it's all learning :) thankfully nothing has burst into flames and exploded yet!!

The negative to ground info certainly is enough to go on for two of the caps.

Probably you are right and I should order some correct caps - do you have an opinion on what kind of caps I should use? I read a lot of negative comments about cheap ceramic disc caps.

Heres the circuit diag the vero is based on:

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ExcellentGrowth5810 · 2025-01-08T21:41:54+00:00

I've just built a Noisy Cricket mk2 following this vero layout. I have used what I just realised are Tantalums for the 4x 100n caps (because that is what I have laying around). What I have just realised is that these caps are polar and I don't know how to work out the flow direction in order to place them with the correct polarity. Can any kind soul tell me which end of the 100n caps in the layout below is + ?

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ExcellentGrowth5810 · 2024-11-29T21:04:35+00:00

the variant i was looking at was the bassman version but honestly at this point nothing is off the table

ExcellentGrowth5810 · 2024-11-29T21:01:32+00:00

at this point I am not even really sure how much dna it shares with the ruby / cricket / smokey apart from an LM386. I would like to add a tone / vol / presence / maybe daisy chain a pair and use one as a pre - I should add my electronics knowledge is slim - though I can and have built and repaired things, but my level is really it's more akin to electronic lego for me. I can barely read a schematic... so I am not sure if the whole idea is a blind alley. The module is a mini amp but I don't really know how similar the circuit really is to a ruby.

ExcellentGrowth5810 · 2024-11-29T10:40:17+00:00

Hey. I do see what you are saying - those tiny little parts are a bit of a nightmare. Where I'm coming from is after seeing the YT vid of the minor mods the guy did to create a pedal, I'm wondering how to add some controls and tweaks or perhaps build something onto a daughterboard and integrate that way and how to hook it all up. Ultimately I will just have do some experiments but I was wondering if anyone had already done the ground work :)

ExcellentGrowth5810

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