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A good, modern alternative for lm386?

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maor

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From what I understand the lm386 is an old model of an op-amp, and I'm looking for a good alternative for it, something I can also simulate and yet get for a fair price in my country.
Any ideas?
 
The LM386 is not an opamp, it is a little power amp (low power) with built-in biasing and built-in negative feedback.
Most opamps and little power amps are inexpensive but we don't know which country you are in.

You forgot to say what you need the opamp to do.
 
I'm using it for musical purposes for battery powered amplification, and effect boxes.
And I live in Israel, something on the low dollar.

And to mike: No, I have my reasons for it.
 
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You forgot to say what resistance the opamp has for a load.
Most opamps can drive a resistance as low as 2k ohms. An LM386 little power amp drives an 8 ohm speaker at low power like a clock radio.

I don't know about in Israel but all electronic parts are inexpensive here in Canada and employers pay well.
 
As I noted that I'm using it for musical purposes I want it to drive a load for standard speakers, 4-16 ohms.

I'm also looking for a good opamp for pre-amplification purposes, so it can be used for the effects, due to the fact I'm not sure the resistance is good for modulation or distortion.
 
Thank you for saying you need a power amplifier to drive a speaker instead of an opamp like in your first post.

But you forgot to say the output power that is needed. 0.1W or 1000W?

There are a few excellent audio opamps available. I use the TL071 single, TL072 dual and TL074 quad audio opamps. I have also used the LM833 dual audio opamp.

Why are you talking about resistance and modulation without saying what resistance and what modulation?

Everything you say is missing all the important details!
 
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Sorry for being so uninformative, I guess I need about the same specs as the lm386 so 1W up to 10W.

Well, I'm not sure what load will be needed to connect an effect to an amplifier(practical one, a guitar amp).
And by modulation I mean envelope filters, distortions etc.

I'm just looking for an opamp to use to preamplify the minimal voltage that comes out of the guitar to a more usable voltage for effects.
Edit: also, I'm looking for an amp I can control the gain with resistance, like the lm386.
 
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Sorry for being so uninformative, I guess I need about the same specs as the lm386 so 1W up to 10W.
An LM386 has an output at clipping into 8 ohms with a 9V supply of only 0.45W, not 1W and not 10W.

Well, I'm not sure what load will be needed to connect an effect to an amplifier(practical one, a guitar amp).
The input impedance of most audio amplifiers is 10k ohms or more so an opamp can easily drive one.
A guitar pickup needs a load of 3M or higher.

Well, I'm not sure what load will be needed to connect an effect to an amplifier(practical one, a guitar amp).
Then why don't you research the required load? But a circuit does not neeed a load. Instead it has a minimum load that it can drive.

Edit: also, I'm looking for an amp I can control the gain with resistance, like the lm386.
Any amplifier can have its gain controlled by resistance. A simple volume control or gain control.

As you probably know, "effects boxes" were designed over 40 years ago so their parts are not available anymore.
 
Hey Audioguru, thanks for all your help, I guess I don't have enough electronics knowledge to discuss it professionally.
 
Hey Audioguru, thanks for all your help, I guess I don't have enough electronics knowledge to discuss it professionally.
Many nOObs are smart. But you don't know what you are talking about.
 
It seems that you want to re-invent old circuits from "effects boxes" without knowing any details.
Why not look around for the obsolete parts (some people hoarded the parts and sell them on E-Bay today for extremely high prices) so that you can copy the simple old circuits?
 
I do not wish to copy older circuits, I want to create my own concepts and effects, but I can only use the logic I know currently :p, and well, my school doesn't really teach electronics at the amount I want to use, I think it will take another two years till I know how to make this things alone.
 
The original "effects" circuits over 40 years ago used old analog parts that are no longer made. You can fiddle around to make your own with millions of parts.
New "effects" circuits use Digital Signal Processing. You program what you want the sound to do.

If your school doesn't teach about the basics of old electronic circuits and doesn't teach about new DSP then why are you there?
 
I am aware of the use of DSP's in modern effects yet I'm trying make analog effects.

And well, they teach a specific plan thats relevant to our finals, I wanted to learn FET's only to find out the material wasn't included in this years final.
And all of the circuits we were taught were DC voltage, We only used AC for well, pretty much nothing I guess, we made calculations for AC but never practically used it.
From what I understand, next year we will be studying AC voltage via FM and AM, so I'm not worried.
The funny thing is, most kids in my class just learn it to get the marks on the final diploma; I do it for a love and fascination to electronics, thats why I started studying electronics two years before I could study it in my school.
 
Maybe your teacher wants you to research how the old timers made their analog "effects" circuits.
Good luck if you need to make an old circuit.
 
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