LM386 - This article is a good read

[Phil_S]

I don't remember how I got subscribed to "All About Circuits" and most of what I see is way over my head. Once in a while, there is a nugget. This article is a retrospective on the LM386 chip, invented in the 19070's, any how/why it has endured. I think you'll enjoy it and it's a very quick read.
https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/news/t ... ight-pins/
I'm not an engineer, just a hobbyist. So, it brings me to a question. The LM386 offers a gain of somewhere between 20 and 200, depending the external components used with it. It seems like it could be used for a gain stage in a guitar amp. (Indeed, the article showcases the Smokey Guitar Amp in a cigarette-like pack.) Is there some typical usage of the LM386 in (mostly) tube guitar amps? I'm thinking, for example, it might be good for a reverb recovery stage or a pre or post cathodyne PI amplifier. Or maybe it can be used as a cathodyne PI?

[Guy77]

Just read the article.

That is pretty amazing that you can get up to a full 1 watt of output from that little chip and a 9v battery!

Cheers
Guy

[didit]

Hello --

For interest sake y'all may be curious to check out itty-bitty class-D parts readily available and in broad application across the smaller-scale audio gizmo space. For example, TI's TPA2011D1YFFR runs off 3.5-5VDC, delivering up to ~3W at 4Ohms with remarkable efficiency. In just a 9 pad BGA less than a 1/16" square that needs just a few supporting passives, and all that around $0.50 each in quantity >= 10.

Hoping to carve out desk-time in KiCad soon to craft schematic and PCBs for a long deferred project that'd put several on a small blob I can embed in guitar body pickup cavities.

..

[Littlewyan]

My first ever build was an LM386 chip!

It was the Big Daddy circuit, sounded great.
https://runoffgroove.com/grace.html

There's also this one off the same website:
https://runoffgroove.com/littlegem.html

[flemingmras]

It seems like it could be used for a gain stage in a guitar amp. (Indeed, the article showcases the Smokey Guitar Amp in a cigarette-like pack.) Is there some typical usage of the LM386 in (mostly) tube guitar amps? I'm thinking, for example, it might be good for a reverb recovery stage or a pre or post cathodyne PI amplifier. Or maybe it can be used as a cathodyne PI?

Of course it could, but why? And for what purpose? It's just an op amp with extremely low output impedance. Nothing special.

[ChopSauce]

& now I need to build one for playing guitar inside my van ... (-;