Pre-amplifier circuit not working despite attempts to fix it

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I tried to build a preamp circuit for an electret condenser microphone. I used this schematic.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.


The problem I have is there is a VERY loud hum that changes frequency when I change the gain in the second stage of the circuit (I switched R5 for a 220k pot) and when I turn the resistance down on that pot, the frequency goes higher and goes above what I can hear when the pot is near 0k.
I used an audio probe to see how far the original signal makes it through the circuit (it makes it to the front of R2, the horrible loud oscillation starts right after R2 and goes louder and softer throughout the rest of the circuit and still sounds the same at the output of the circuit)

I have to mention that I accidentally connected the power supply the wrong way around when I tried it the very first time, and a little smoke came out of the circuit (not sure out of what component) :confused: before I realized my mistake :eek:

I tried fixing the problem by doing the following:
I changed the electrolytic caps
I cleaned the back of the vero board and all the solder joints.
I re-did every solder joint to make sure none of them are 'cold' connections
I used a wall power supply (properly filtered) and I also tried a fresh battery to eliminate ground loops.
I changed the opamp for a different one to see if that was the problem.

Any idea what could be wrong?
Thanks in advance
 
I tried to build a preamp circuit for an electret condenser microphone. I used this schematic.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.


The problem I have is there is a VERY loud hum that changes frequency when I change the gain in the second stage of the circuit (I switched R5 for a 220k pot) and when I turn the resistance down on that pot, the frequency goes higher and goes above what I can hear when the pot is near 0k.
I used an audio probe to see how far the original signal makes it through the circuit (it makes it to the front of R2, the horrible loud oscillation starts right after R2 and goes louder and softer throughout the rest of the circuit and still sounds the same at the output of the circuit)

I have to mention that I accidentally connected the power supply the wrong way around when I tried it the very first time, and a little smoke came out of the circuit (not sure out of what component) :confused: before I realized my mistake :eek:

I tried fixing the problem by doing the following:
I changed the electrolytic caps
I cleaned the back of the vero board and all the solder joints.
I re-did every solder joint to make sure none of them are 'cold' connections
I used a wall power supply (properly filtered) and I also tried a fresh battery to eliminate ground loops.
I changed the opamp for a different one to see if that was the problem.

Any idea what could be wrong?
Thanks in advance

Two things:
First, as already mentioned, there should be supply bypass cap across R7.
Second, and more importantly, the minimum supply voltage for the NE5532 is 10 volts (or +/- 5 volts), so 9 volts won't work properly.

If you're using 9 volt batteries, just add another in series for 18 volts.

Mike
 
It's working!!! All I had to do was add the 100uF cap as JonSnell suggested. I know the datasheets says there should be a minimum of +-5V going into this opamp, but I've actually used many of them with 9V and they work 100%. Also, a lot of guitar pedals use this opamp while running off 9V supplies, so that doesn't make complete sense to me, but at least it works, so I am happy!!
 
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This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.