MINDANAO UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

College of Engineering and Architecture

FET AUDIO MIXER AND PIEZO GUITAR AMPLIFIER

In Partial Fulfillment as a Requirement for ECE21(Electronics II)

Submitted by:
RONEL M. CULIBAR

Submitted to:
LLOYD JHON B. ESTAMPA, MSEcE
March 2015

I.

PROJECT BACKGROUND AND DESCRIPTION

People tend to buy things individually to ensure its quality, however, this may cost them to spend
more than buying things which has the same function and quality and built already in a single device.
Majority of the people listen to music, which makes them buy things individually like audio
amplifiers,ipod,etc. This project helps them to minimize the cost of buying expensive things individually
and built a homemade device which has already what they need including an audio mixer, a guitar
amplifier and a microphone circuitry.
An audio mixer is a device which allow us to mix multiple signals into one or more channel.
Audio professionals nowadays used this to mix the sound of their devices (ex. loopstation, dj
turntable,etc.). Because of its multiple input function you can create a mini band which uses only
android phones.The mixer itself is drived by a Field Effect Transistor(2N3819) which combine the
signals and transfer it to the Op Amp for further amplification. The Op Amp used in this project is the
LM386 which is a low powered Operational Amplifier. With the combination of the two component, this
gives us a clean powerful sound.
This device also include a guitar amplifier which uses Piezo Disk to sound the guitar and have its
electric effect. This component is based on the vibrations and the force exerted to it that turns that
energy to electrical energy. Aside from a guitar, you can also used this device to sound any other
instruments like beatbox, violin and anything else that needs amplification.
Aside from an audio mixer and a guitar amplifier, this project also includes a microphone
circuitry which enables user to sing while the mini band is playing. This device is good for person that
love to sing and playing a guitar at the same time. If you dont have these skills and listening to music is
your favorite hobby, this is suitable for you as well.

Flow Diagram

The figure above shows the flow of this project. From the adaptor, the current flows to each component
to power it and to make it operate. From these, you plug in the inputs whether a cellphone, guitar,
microphone or all at the same time. After these, the inputted signals flow through the mixer. The signals
flowing to it is combined and preamplified by the transistor. After it is mixed, it is transferred to the
input of the amplifier to further amplify it. After this is done, the amplified signals are turned into sound
by the loudspeaker.

Significance:

You can also create a

android phone and these apps. Just plug in
plug and play the song you like.

mini band using your

your phone to the input

Real Guitar

Real Drums

Real Bass

II.

TRANSISTORS UTILIZED IN THE PROJECT

This FET is the heart of this project, without these, mixing wouldnt be possible. Field-Effect
Transistors (FETs) are unipolar devices, and have two big advantages over bipolar transistors: one is that
they have a near-infinite input resistance and thus offer near infinite current and power gain; the other is
that their switching action is not marred by charge-storage problems, and they thus outperform most
bipolars in terms of digital switching speeds.The 2N3819 JFET in this circuit uses the self-bias
configuration to provide greater amplification and thus, greater output. It takes signals from its Gate and
is controlled by its Gate resistance to its Source which amplifies the input.

The 2N39
04 is
a
common
NP
N bipolar
junction transistor used for general purpose low-power amplifying or switching applications. It is a
200 mA, 40 volt, 625 milliwatt transistor with a transition frequency of 300MHz, with a
minimum beta or current gain of 100 at a collector current of 10 mA. It is used in a variety of analog
amplification and switching applications. The advantage of using this kind of transistor is its current
gain which provide greater current for the LED to operate effectively.This is used in most switching
applications especially flipflop circuit,etc.

III.

CIRCUIT FLOW EXPLANATION

THE SCHEMATIC

The circuit starts after plugging in

the 9v adaptor. The microphone circuitry is
connected to one of its input, same with the
piezo disk. The figure shown on the left is
the schematic of the mixer only.
The schematic consist only of two
inputs but you can add more inputs as long
as you follow the setup and its connection.
For my project, I created a 5 input mixer.

The green arrows signifies the flow of the input signals while the blue arrow signifies the current
flow from the source. As the signals pass through C1 and C2 all DC offsets are blocked and only AC
signals flow in this step. The potentiometer VR1,VR2 and the 100k-ohm resistors serves as the signal

control of the circuit which then controls the volume for each corresponding inputs. As the flow
continue for each inputs, all the signals coming in are taken as one by the field effect transistor. Because
of the FETs almost infinite input impedance, these signals are preamplified as it pass through the
transistor. The signal is then filtered by C3 which functioned same as C1 and C2.

on

The signal enters the chip through pin 3 that is

controlled by the 10k-ohm resistor, this serves as its
volume control which allows signals to pass through.
Pin 6 is the chips voltage source pin while pin
4 is its ground pin. Pin 2 is the chips negative input
gain while pin 3 is its positive input gain.
The op amp is considered to be a non inverting
amplifier since the design provides a positive voltage
gain. Pins 1 and 8 are the chips gain control. By
putting a 10uF capacitor the gain will go up to 200 .
As the signal leaves through pin 5 which is the
output pin,the 0.05uF and 10 ohm resistor, which
serves as a Zobel Network filters the high frequency
oscillations produce by the chip and the 220uF which
filters the DC offset.

The next stage is the amplifier part which needs

idea on how to operate the LM386. The figure
the left is the amplifier circuit. This circuit
produces a gain of 200.

This is the microphone circuitry

which is used to create sound from the
microphone. The circuit uses an electret
condenser microphone. This circuit is
composed of a cascaded transistor circuit
which both uses the fixed bias
configuration. R1, R2, R3 is used to bias
transistor Q1 while R5, R6 and R7 for
transistor Q2. As the signals pass through
C1 which blocks DC offset, transistor Q1
amplifies signal which is then transferred
to Q2 but is controlled by 100k
potentiometer and filtered by C2. The
amplified signal exits at J2 which is then
inputted to the mixer above.

Since we already know how the circuit works on each part, here is a little summary when the
circuits are combined.
From the piezo guitar amplifier circuit, the signal travels through input 1 of the mixer. As you
connect sources to the other inputs you can adjust its volume by adjusting the potentiometers. You can
also input the mic with the piezo and the other sources at the same time. This is applicable to all
channels of the mixer. After the signals are mixed, the LM386 amplifier circuit receives all the input
signals and turns it to audible sound.

This is a simple illustration on how the circuit works.

IV.

PICTURES OF THE PROJECT

This is my testing stage in a breadboard. After that,

I layouted the board, etched it and soldered the components.(sorry for the quality.)

This is supposed to be my final case but I decided to change it and add additional 2 input to my mixer.
The picture on the left has 3 inputs, the separated potentiometer is the amplifier volume control.

This is my microphone preamplifier circuitry but this is not finished yet. I

put it on a universal PCB because I dont have etching solution anymore.

This doesnt have transistor Q2, the mic and the audio jacks yet but this is
the right view of the circuit.

Bottom View

Using the same circuit that I etched. I

changed the casing and this is the final output. I
added sticker paper with different colors so that
users will identify the volume control of each
channel.

As you can see, i used the casing I supposed to use for

my mixer. This is my microphone preamplifier.

My speaker.

The Piezo Disk i used to power my guitar.

And this is me, having fun with my project. Also, I placed my piezo disk on my guitar.

My project, the audiomixer,the guitar amplifier and the microphone circuitry.

BILL OF MATERIALS

QUANTITY
6
20
6
4
1
4
1
8

MATERIAL
Mono Potentiometers
Resistors
Input Audio Jack(male)
Output Audio Jack(female)
4x5 CopperBoard
Mylar Capacitors
Ceramic Capacitors
Electrolytic Capacitors

COST
78.00
7.00
90.00
60.00
20.00
14.00
1.00
24.00

1
2
1
8
4
1
4
1
1
1
TOTAL
COST

V.

2N3819 Transistor
2N3904 Transistor
LM386 IC
Stranded Wires(8meters)
Soldering Lead(4meters)
Piezo Disk
Shrinkable tube(4meters)
9V battery
Epoxy Clear
Sticker Paper

20.00
7.00
45.00
40.00
38.00
15.00
40.00
25.00
40.00
49.50
613.50

REFERENCES

http://www.aaroncake.net/circuits/mixer1.asp
http://makezine.com/2011/12/20/collins-lab-diy-contact-mic/
http://makezine.com/projects/make-37/bass-bump-headphone-amp/
http://www.aaroncake.net/circuits/mixer2.asp
http://www.learningaboutelectronics.com/Articles/How-to-build-your-own-audio-mixer
http://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/transistor/tran_5.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biasing