Breadboarding a Tube Mic Pre Amp

Breadboarding is not my favorite thing to do in the world. It's not even my 2nd favorite. If you tell most people that you breadboarded anything they look at you with a dumbfounded look on their face that yells, "Why?!"
This tedious and complex process is extremely time consuming and very technical. You are working with very small electronic components and one wrong placement could potentially and literally make your project go up in smoke. However, this process is extremely beneficial. It allows you to see, feel, and understand your components from an entirely new perspective. Instead of just following directions and soldering right away, you are able to closely examine every piece and see where your signal is going as well as where it is coming from. This is extremely beneficial because you are more in tune with your components and you can figure out what is wrong whenever the need for troubleshooting comes across. Have you ever had any electronic device stop working, and you just couldn't wrap your head around what the problem was? Well, if you breadboard that device, I promise you can find out what the issue it. At the very least narrow the problem down. This specific pre amp took me about 12 hours to complete, from the first resistor to the very last capacitor. It does take some time because you also want to test your components every step of the way and make sure your signal is going where it needs to. I am very excited to solder this pre amp now and use it to record dialogue and vocals.