No matter what anybody says, you can take it with you. . .here’s the low-down on a small, inexpensive, portable headphone amp. Pocket Rockit, A Personal Amplifier BYJIM FIORE here Iwas, on the shore ofa lovely ‘Adirondack lake, bathed in the cool light of mountain sunset. ..play- ing my bass guitar. Yes, thanks toa pock- evsized personal amplifier, designed to drive Walkrman-style headphones from a single 9-volt battery, the full sound of my clectric bass was right there with me in the sylvan mountain setting, ince the “Pocket Rockit” (catchy name, eh?) seemed to work so well, 1 thought Id share the design with other {folks who like to play theirinstrumentsin odd surroundings, or practice, for exan- pile, at 3 am. but find that inconsiderate neighbors, policemen, or vigilante groups interrupt much to0 regulary, The Pocket Rockit is designed for guitarplayers, key- beardists, electronic drummers, and any- cone who needs to monitor che output of When not harassing his Electrical Engineer ing Tech, students at Mohavk Valley Com- munity College in Utica, NY, Mr. Fiore spends vast amounts of time in his home studio commauning wath smal pices of sticon and lots of wire Jim plays drums in deference to ether Primal Scream therapy or Est. His hobbies inchude diving sdoway’s dow coun try roads, complaining about the high cost of “yogurt and Zelda, Fig. 1 Schematic an electronic instrument via headphones ‘orthrough small loudspeakers, Function- ally, the unit has volume and overdrive (istortion) controls, a “bright” switch, and bass, mid, and treble EQ controls. ‘THE SCHEMATIC Referring to the Rockit’ schematic (Fig. 1), the first stage is a preamp/distorion block centered around opamp IC la. An LF353 offers low battery drain, although an NES332.could be used for lower noise “Toeliminate the need fora bipolar power supply, R2, R3and RA bias the LF353 for single-ended operation, R4 and C2 de- couple the input from the power supply noise while C1 and Céare the inputand output coupling capacitors, respectively C5 restricts frequency response at sub- audio frequencies. C3 and RI minimize RFT (radio frequency interference). C4 bypasses the op amp power supply. The gain of this stage equals (Q#PL/R6 and is adjustable from unity upwards coward 68 (about 36 dB). The load for this stage is non-linear and con- sists of B7, R8, D2 and D3. At low signal levels, the signal is passed on with no change in waveshape, but at higher levels, the rwo diodes kickin and ciip the signal However, the clipping will tend 10 be somewhar softer than that produced by normal diode clippers thanks to RS, R7, and R8, These resistors tend! to “butler” the drastic change in diode impedance ‘once conduction begins. Heavy Metal Bletrome Musician jure 1987 44users fear not.as high overdrive setings will sill produce the classic, full bore transistor distortion.” Stage 690, buiaround op amp (Cb, provides the bass, mid, and treble EQ (equalization) functions. This circuit isa typical inverting configuration witha fe quency selective feedback nevwork. 89, RIO, P2, C7 and C8 produce high fte- quency shelving R11, R12, RIS, P3, C9 and C10 comprise a 2 ki midraage peak/dip function, and Rt, RIS, R16, P4,C11,and C12 produce low frequency shelving, RI7-RI9 and CL3-C15 provide Dissidents Pocket fockit V0 T/a0 ne : ° ona Fig. 2 Fall side of PC board ‘. he Saga wrens AE edhe eee Lid Hees ca ae ‘oop none [13+ cles me miead pew we MEET JE O8 sittin coed oRee = Re AN 306 "ee OF Hey oT Fig, 3 Stufing Guide 42 Becronic Musician June BA ‘i —F ‘ Lei Sigal is Fig 4 Wiring How to avod the counter cloclowse Dues biasing and coupling P5 is the volume control Like Pl, P5 must be alg (audio) taper device for proper “ee. The final stage consists of the L386 power op amp. It is bypassed with C18 and C19 while C20 maximizes the PSRR (power supply ejection ratio). The bright” switch connects in a single pole lag net work (low pass 6 dB/octave fier) hinged a3 kHz, The normal poston is with the. | Sinich closed. Thiswil echoche response of ypical 12- and 15-inch loudspeaker, ‘which stato rll off once they each theit ‘mass controlled region (hisuaaly accare Derwcen 2 and ke), Openinghe switch will produce nue fa response, which is subjecrively bright when compared t0 a Fig, 5 Completed PC Board ‘ypical guitar orbass amplifier loudspeak- ex semup. (Keyboards, drummers and ‘thers who normally play through full range systems with a fa top end should considerthistobe a’ dul” switch instead — actualy a more appropriate name, sine i was designed with rock guitarists in mind Harde-harchar) Now that Ive alienated several ead- ers and the editor (Just remember who signs your check, Jim—Ed.), le’s con- tinue, R21 and C2i stabilize the LY3B6 at high frequencies and C22 servesasthe courput coupling capacitor. Finally, a the output we connect the load. Normally this will be a pair of mini Watkman-style headphones. Note that a stereo ouputplug is required to send the instrument signal (in mono, of course) to both ears, (itsalso possible w connecta small loud- speaker here instead; for best perform- ance make sure that the load does not drop below 8 ohms.) A pair of mini head- phones connected in mono will usually produce around 25 ohms. (The load im- pediance is usually listed in the speci tions for a panicular loudspeaker, other- wise, those who have access to sophisti- cated electronics devices can measure load impedances with an impedance meter) The maximum ourput powerisabout Ys watt, which won't make a loudspeaker seream but can produce very high levels with headphones —so be careful. You can ‘maximize battery life by keeping the vol- ume low and using high impedance headphones (like the Sennheiser HD 414), Alternately, you can power the cir- cuit from a 9-volt battery eliminator. If batteries are realy important, you can get longer life by using six 1.5-wlt AA bat- teries instead of the single 9-volt uni The AA's will come out cheaper in the long run, particularly if you opt for the Fig. 6 Suggested layout for complete project rechargeable Ni-Cad variety. They do, however, take up more space Fig. 2 shows the PC board (fil side) anwork, Fig, 3 shows the component layout. When assembling, make sure that you obey the polarity markings for the ‘capsand diodes. Also make sure thatthe ICsare oriented correctly, Miswiting the pots can produce some strange results, for all pots requiring three leads, the wiper arm should connect tothe center pad on the PC board, The other wires are ‘connected as shown in Fig. 4. Connect- ing them backwards will make your volume, drive, and other controls decrease | River Falls, MN 56701, Jameco Electron- ‘when you rotate the por clockwise, so | ies, 1355 Shoreway Rd,, Belmont, CA pay attention. Fig. 5 shows a completed | 94002; and JDR Micro Devices, 1224 S, board and por assembly, and Fig. 6 is 2 | Bascom Ave, San Jose, CA 95128. If you Grawing of the completed unit use good, standard soldering techniques, FINDING PARTS IC sockets and the like, your Pocket Rock: i should give you no trouble during as- Ifyou cant find pans locally, there are } sembly and test. 1 hope you find this several good mailorder sources including, | circuit useful, and that i gives you a Digi-Key Electronics, PO Box 677, Thiet | fetime of service. Parts List R), RUT, RI 2, R3, R18, RI Re RS R6 7, RB R9, RIO RB RI. RIS, RIG RI7 R20 Rat Pl PD, PB, Pa PS Capacitors (15 working a C2, c13.c16, c19 3 cH cs cs a 3 ro co cn, cir cis 20 ca an Semiconductors Ic 12 Di D2,D3, Mechanical Pars Sl, $2 Misc. Resistors (All resistors & W, 5% carbon film) 4K7 (4.7K) 220k 470k 20 1k 68 (68) 313 3.3K) 68 (68K) 5k6 (5.6K) 27k 1M. 10k wow) 100k log potentiometer 100k linear potentiometer Uk log potentiomerer volts DC or greater) 100n mylar 01) 10p electrolytic 68p disc 145 analum 224 electrolytic 33x elecwolytic 560p disc 1n5 mylar (00015) 2n2 mya (0.0022) 4n7 mylar (0.0047) 22n mylar (0.022) 6n8 mylar (0.0058) oon mylar (0.1) 47 electrolytic 47m 50V mylar (0.047) 470q electrolytic 1LF353 dual op amp (National Semi) 1LMB86 power amp (Nacional Semi) IN40OL rectifier IN9I$ or equiv. diode SPST switch Knobs, case, hoolup wire, IC sockets, &” and "6" {jacks (mono and stereo), batery clip, ete