op-amps????

[quatermile]

Hey everyone,
I was wondering if any one would be so kind as to explain what op-amps are, how they work and how their application w/respect to effects pedals and/or guitars? I looked up their definition on wikipedia.com and could not make sense of said information. thanks

[jan.didden]

The basics start at page 5:

http://www.analog.com/library/analog...h1_final_R.pdf

Have fun!

Jan Didden

[Minion]

Well it would probably be difficult to understand in a real way what Opamps are without at least haveing a basic understanding of electronics..... But once you had that Basic understanding you wouldn"t need to ask about opamps.....

[quatermile]

thanks everyone.....

[lineup]

You have a good Rod Elliott tutorial here.
He has written rather detailed about using op-amps:
Audio Designs With Opamps - by Rod Elliott

And he has figures to illustrate.

[peranders]

http://focus.ti.com/lit/an/slod006b/slod006b.pdf
http://www.analog.com/library/analog..._handbook.html

[jan.didden]

Originally posted by lineup
You have a good Rod Elliott tutorial here.
He has written rather detailed about using op-amps:
Audio Designs With Opamps - by Rod Elliott

And he has figures to illustrate.

Rod's seems a good start for a beginner.

Jan Didden

[Cliff45]

Hello all-

I know this probably will not help the OP with his question, but in hopes of helping those a bit more advanced in their understanding of op-amp circuits and applications, I wanted to share these two book resources with everyone. Sorry if you all own these already, I personally have found BOTH of them to have excellent coverage and depth of this particular subject mater.

In the mind-numbing book "Design with Operational Amplifiers and Analog Integrated Circuits" by Sergio Franco, he defines a Operational Amplifier as a voltage amplifier having extremely high gain factor. Some of the examples given are the ancient uA741 having a gain of 200,000 and the slightly newer OP-77 (Precision Monolithics) op-amp having a gain of 12,000,000. The "theoretical" ideal op-amp as defined by Mr. Franco would have infinite gain capability.

This book is defintely NOT a beginner text, it is actually a long-running staple of several college's Electrical Engineering programs. The copy I have was graciously given to me by a engineer friend some time ago, its publishing date is circa 1988. I am quite sure that there are much more recent versions of this book, for those who are seeking a rather authoritative reference on all things op-amp related. Another suggested advanced reading would be Walter Jung's "Op-Amp Applications Handbook", which now has a fairly recent publication date of November 2004.

Sergio Franco's book has so much detail on the various uses of these devices that I have not even gotten half-way through it as of yet. Since most of my EE experience has been totally in the digital realm, a lot of his text has been very helpful to me. This book has a entire chapter just devoted to the various types of noise problems encountered in various op-amp designs, with page after page of formulas for that, to boot....


HTH-