Guitar MOD FAIL!

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axewrecker

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Hi I am trying to put together a circuit that will make LEDs flash when the output of a guitar is put through it (i.e. when you strum the guitar). The idea is to put these under pickups or scratchplate to give a nice backlit effect.

Anyway I found a project online that also had a youtube video showing it working, so assumed it would work fine (mistake number 1!), the basic design is shown below.


When I connect this up before I even put anything to the input the LEDs light up. I have tried increasing the resistor values in front of the LEDs but this just dims the LEDs. The amplifier just seems to be outputting a constant voltage.

I am thinking that this is probably because the 386 is designed to have a 8R load at the output? Would it help if I put a 8 or 10R resistor in parallel with the leds? From the other 386 circuits I have now looked at it seems that I may be missing other components that will make this work (capacitors at output etc). Any help with this would be much appreciated.
Thanks
 
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Ok so based on what I have seen elsewhere I am thinking of maybe trying this. Might this work? Any obvious glaring errors? Please help its been a while since my GCSE electronics!

Also the guitar pickups output between 100 - 200mV so should be no problem with gain settings correct?

 
Look at this thread. Read it over and look at version2. I'm amazed how similar your idea is to the other one. I still don't think much of the idea, but there is a circuit that might work. It has some problems, as another member pointed out. But it just might work...
 
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Thanks

Cheers for pointing me in the right direction, but are you saying the 386 version is not usable at all?
 
can it work?

would the 386 idea need much added to it to work? if its a complete no-go I guess I need to buy some more components and have a crack at the circuit BrownOut suggests
anyway thanks for helping
 
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