I've had a box of old Opamps I was kindly given to me a while ago, along with an old Weller soldering iron, lots of solder and an Beckman DMM from the early 80s.
I got them from a retired tech
Are the old can Opamps any good?
I got them from a retired tech
Are the old can Opamps any good?
Attachments
Most of the type numbers are unreadable. The ones that are readable are typical for the time frame, long superseded by better units.
But you can still use them of course.
Jan
But you can still use them of course.
Jan
If the writing I see can be believed, then you have a short tube containing a LM386 ChipAmp, so not bad. There is a couple in the box marked 555 (google it) and those are timers still in use today but are not OpAmps. But that is what is to be believed from reading writing on boxes and that writing may not reflect what is really in there or in the tubes.
The rest of the black components? Without a list and your picture doesn't do the laser etching justice, so you are on your own.
OpAmps come in many varieties from many manufacturers, some being use for very specific applications. These packages may contain a single or dual OpAmp... Analog Devices, Burr Brown, Texas Instruments, Signets, National Semiconductor, and others all made these devices in multiple models. The individual devices were also tailored to have characteristics like laid back or very aggressive qualities depending on the circuit design. Two different OpAmps in two differently designed headphone circuits might sound the same -- swap out the OpAmps for one another and you might punish your ears.
Easiest thing to do is ground yourself (so you don't fry any components), read the laser etching on the components, and type those into a Google search.
Thanks for the great replies guys.
The picture quality on my temporary phone isn't the best so the prints don't look good but seem easily readable.
I'll write a list later. Apart from the common NE5532/34 and TL074 I did a quick Google search on the CA303094 and they seem popular in guitar amps. The 555 is one of the first 8 pin chips for a timer for LEDs I think, which may come in handy. I believe some are good used as buffers.
The picture quality on my temporary phone isn't the best so the prints don't look good but seem easily readable.
I'll write a list later. Apart from the common NE5532/34 and TL074 I did a quick Google search on the CA303094 and they seem popular in guitar amps. The 555 is one of the first 8 pin chips for a timer for LEDs I think, which may come in handy. I believe some are good used as buffers.
CA3094 are used in the DDT circuit in 90's Peavey PA amps. I paid about $8 apiece for some 8 years ago, haven't seen any for sale since. Worth $10-20 for somebody repairing a peavey, although the fans of 85 pound transformer amps are far & few between with everything going to throwaway 30 lb class D amps.
777 & 748 are **** for audio. too old, too noisy. Can't read the rest.
777 & 748 are **** for audio. too old, too noisy. Can't read the rest.
Thanks for your input too indianajo,
I know you like your older Peavey's, like myself. You helped me previously with a more modern one. PVi something or other. What do you think of the Crown XS900? I just bought it for £20 as it was in protection mode. It was just a ground screw missing in the front end of the SMPS.
Other black silicon types I have are,
Harris? CA3080E
National LM13080N
Motorola MC1741CP
uA741C & CG
TI TL061CP
National LM741CN & CP
LM308N
LM393N
LM358N
RC4555DN
RC4558DN
BA4560
4195CP
These are all 8 pin. Lots of NE5532 and NE5534 oc
I know you like your older Peavey's, like myself. You helped me previously with a more modern one. PVi something or other. What do you think of the Crown XS900? I just bought it for £20 as it was in protection mode. It was just a ground screw missing in the front end of the SMPS.
Other black silicon types I have are,
Harris? CA3080E
National LM13080N
Motorola MC1741CP
uA741C & CG
TI TL061CP
National LM741CN & CP
LM308N
LM393N
LM358N
RC4555DN
RC4558DN
BA4560
4195CP
These are all 8 pin. Lots of NE5532 and NE5534 oc
Crown XS900 may be early enough to be covered by the tech who said the reliable PA amps with 24/7 power ratings were Crown, QSC, Peavey, Yamaha.
CA3080 and LM13080 are same part. Another RCA transconductance amp used in some 90's Peavey products. Fastest amp alive about 1988.
4558 is useful for replacment in mixers & graphic equalizers. Gain 1-10 its fine. At 50x it is too hissy, I had to replace some in a RIAA MM stage to quiet it down and make it hifi.
1741 & 741 are 2nd generation singles. Too hissy for hifi. first generation Peavey CS800 used them, up to rev C. OK at high volume, a nuisance in the living room. Replaceable these days perhaps by OPA604 which would be quieter. Haven't tried that theory, shipping a 72 lb CS800A B or C is about $75 since they won't ship USPS. easier to move right on to a CS800s that weighs 30 lb and costs $100 more.
BA4560 is a nice quiet op amp. peavey used them in CS800x & CS800s which were .003% HD at rated wattage. Have them in MMA-875t and MMA-81502 which I paid about $70 each for with freight. Came working out of the box (mono).
TL061 is a low power TL071 I think. quieter than a 741. Marginally useful for audio. The Peavey M-2600 I bought for $140 with freight had TL074 (quad), .1% HD @ 75 W. Sounds okay on the *****y speakers the burglar left me.
393 I think is a comparator, I used one in an organ shade engine circuit. Is the shade position pot voltage > or < the sum of the 8 CCS inputs from the organ swell pedal? Dingbat OEM 1982 swell engine driver (used 4 741 & 26 transistors) caught fire, $820 replacement board was populated by fake transistors and I couldn't really read the blueprint after I changed those. Designer is dead, elec tech can build them but doesn't know how they worked.
Happy repairing & listening.
CA3080 and LM13080 are same part. Another RCA transconductance amp used in some 90's Peavey products. Fastest amp alive about 1988.
4558 is useful for replacment in mixers & graphic equalizers. Gain 1-10 its fine. At 50x it is too hissy, I had to replace some in a RIAA MM stage to quiet it down and make it hifi.
1741 & 741 are 2nd generation singles. Too hissy for hifi. first generation Peavey CS800 used them, up to rev C. OK at high volume, a nuisance in the living room. Replaceable these days perhaps by OPA604 which would be quieter. Haven't tried that theory, shipping a 72 lb CS800A B or C is about $75 since they won't ship USPS. easier to move right on to a CS800s that weighs 30 lb and costs $100 more.
BA4560 is a nice quiet op amp. peavey used them in CS800x & CS800s which were .003% HD at rated wattage. Have them in MMA-875t and MMA-81502 which I paid about $70 each for with freight. Came working out of the box (mono).
TL061 is a low power TL071 I think. quieter than a 741. Marginally useful for audio. The Peavey M-2600 I bought for $140 with freight had TL074 (quad), .1% HD @ 75 W. Sounds okay on the *****y speakers the burglar left me.
393 I think is a comparator, I used one in an organ shade engine circuit. Is the shade position pot voltage > or < the sum of the 8 CCS inputs from the organ swell pedal? Dingbat OEM 1982 swell engine driver (used 4 741 & 26 transistors) caught fire, $820 replacement board was populated by fake transistors and I couldn't really read the blueprint after I changed those. Designer is dead, elec tech can build them but doesn't know how they worked.
Happy repairing & listening.
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Hi Stewart,
Yes, most of those are simple old op amps. The CA3080, LM13080 and 4195CP are special purpose (not op amps).
The 4195CP is a tracking +/- 15 VDC regulator chip. You wouldn't use it in a new build, but it is needed for a repair I have to do. Do you have many of those?
-Chris
Yes, most of those are simple old op amps. The CA3080, LM13080 and 4195CP are special purpose (not op amps).
The 4195CP is a tracking +/- 15 VDC regulator chip. You wouldn't use it in a new build, but it is needed for a repair I have to do. Do you have many of those?
-Chris
'3080 *Of Known Provenance* are worth $5 all day long on guitar pedal forums. (Genuine '3080 got scarce a decade ago. eBay is flooded with fakes; even honest retailers have sold fakes because there is no easy/cheap test. Genuine '3080 are now available via Rochester and Small Bear, but dusty vintage stock is still fun.)
LM308 is semi-vital to one specific distortion pedal, because it is so slow it fuzzes less nastily than most. Not everybody agrees, but you can find folks to pay $3.
'4558 is an excellent small-audio chip with a fairly tame overload in guitar pedals.
BA4560 may be that beefy opamp which drives headphones well. Only worth a buck; however seems to be no-stock at the major distributors?
The LM 308 metal can was used the very early and rare Dayton Wright SPM preamp as the phono opamp. The line stage was LM 301 with feed forward compensation.
Wow, truly appreciate the replies. Your knowledge is staggering.
Indianajo, great input, and sorry to hear about the back luck you've had. Very interesting to know the info on the Opamps, I have some dead GE's and mixers about from my late father that I'd love to get going. Honestly have a storage full of gear from my dad and grandfather I'm slowly getting through as well as my own, need to offload some as I can't bury it with me one day lol.
I reflowed a lot of solder joints on my Crown amp, should have pulled some caps really to test while I was there. Tbf it'll probably be stacked up in between my other PA amps I have. Yamaha's, a Peavey, 5 Crowns and 3 GSC lol oh and an RCF, basically a cheap QSC. I hire a lot more out. I use a Lab Gruppen to run a DIY Seas 10" sub for HT, not turned it on in months as I'm not a movie fan or subwoofer in stereo kinda guy.
anatech, I only have one 4196CP but I forgot there's more DIP8's on the otherside of the cans, I'll check those too. I'll be happy to send though if you just need the one
PRR, excellent info, thanks. I notice about 10 of those BAxxxx, just when I finished a cheap Chinese headphone amp with NE5532's which I didn't socket. It's only a 47 AMP type HA, just to improve the output of my phone, will build a 'proper' HA one day.
ticknpop (c'mon whats the background of that cool username?) lol.
Phono Opamp eh, seems interesting (no idea what a Dayton Wright SPM preamp is) lol
Indianajo, great input, and sorry to hear about the back luck you've had. Very interesting to know the info on the Opamps, I have some dead GE's and mixers about from my late father that I'd love to get going. Honestly have a storage full of gear from my dad and grandfather I'm slowly getting through as well as my own, need to offload some as I can't bury it with me one day lol.
I reflowed a lot of solder joints on my Crown amp, should have pulled some caps really to test while I was there. Tbf it'll probably be stacked up in between my other PA amps I have. Yamaha's, a Peavey, 5 Crowns and 3 GSC lol oh and an RCF, basically a cheap QSC. I hire a lot more out. I use a Lab Gruppen to run a DIY Seas 10" sub for HT, not turned it on in months as I'm not a movie fan or subwoofer in stereo kinda guy.
anatech, I only have one 4196CP but I forgot there's more DIP8's on the otherside of the cans, I'll check those too. I'll be happy to send though if you just need the one
PRR, excellent info, thanks. I notice about 10 of those BAxxxx, just when I finished a cheap Chinese headphone amp with NE5532's which I didn't socket. It's only a 47 AMP type HA, just to improve the output of my phone, will build a 'proper' HA one day.
ticknpop (c'mon whats the background of that cool username?) lol.
Phono Opamp eh, seems interesting (no idea what a Dayton Wright SPM preamp is) lol
I used to fool with the CA3080s, oh, 40 some years ago when I was in college. At one point I had a state variable bandpass filter, that could be swept following a voltage using a pair of the 3080s.
I connected this to the classic op-amp full wave rectifier (which also had a second order filter that could "ring") to derive a control voltage from my guitar as input. Was getting those Garcia "wah" sounds following the envelope of each plucked string.
With the guitar while playing chords however, you couldnt get smooth envelopes unless the strings - and your fingers - tuning was perfect. I could rarely play them that seemed to work well through the effect.
I connected this to the classic op-amp full wave rectifier (which also had a second order filter that could "ring") to derive a control voltage from my guitar as input. Was getting those Garcia "wah" sounds following the envelope of each plucked string.
With the guitar while playing chords however, you couldnt get smooth envelopes unless the strings - and your fingers - tuning was perfect. I could rarely play them that seemed to work well through the effect.
Hi Dave,
Yes, I recently repaired one of those preamps. Not what I would call a nice design, but it worked and I guess was novel for the time. Back then you almost couldn't use op amps for audio. Feed forward on an LM301 was pretty much the only option without going to transistor designs. The 308 was quiet, but sssslllloooww.
Hi Steward,
That would be fantastic if you have more. I have bought fakes for this and yours are real.
-Chris
Yes, I recently repaired one of those preamps. Not what I would call a nice design, but it worked and I guess was novel for the time. Back then you almost couldn't use op amps for audio. Feed forward on an LM301 was pretty much the only option without going to transistor designs. The 308 was quiet, but sssslllloooww.
Hi Steward,
That would be fantastic if you have more. I have bought fakes for this and yours are real.
-Chris
The round metal cans are 741 variants or pin compatible,some may need an extra "compensation" capacitor, download the datasheets.
I recognize MC1741, uA777, MC748, the erased label ones must have been some flavour of 741, make a small test jig on Protoboard and plug them in; most (all) should work in a classic 741 schematic, say an inverting 10X gain stage (only 2 resistors: 100k - 10k) , fed +/-15V
One might be an LF351. Never saw one in TO5 case but who knows?
This old Tech probably worked on some stuff (Industrial Electronics?) which *required* TO5 footprint Op Amps, no easy to find DIP8 plastic case will fit on that PCB.
FWIW my earliest own design SS guitar amps (1970/71) used round case 741´s because I had been building tube amps so far (Fender/Gibson clones) on eyeletted boards; impossible to fit a DIP8 there but possible by spreading long TO5 legs into a 12AX7 sized "octal socket" type pattern he he.
I recognize MC1741, uA777, MC748, the erased label ones must have been some flavour of 741, make a small test jig on Protoboard and plug them in; most (all) should work in a classic 741 schematic, say an inverting 10X gain stage (only 2 resistors: 100k - 10k) , fed +/-15V
One might be an LF351. Never saw one in TO5 case but who knows?
This old Tech probably worked on some stuff (Industrial Electronics?) which *required* TO5 footprint Op Amps, no easy to find DIP8 plastic case will fit on that PCB.
FWIW my earliest own design SS guitar amps (1970/71) used round case 741´s because I had been building tube amps so far (Fender/Gibson clones) on eyeletted boards; impossible to fit a DIP8 there but possible by spreading long TO5 legs into a 12AX7 sized "octal socket" type pattern he he.
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