Handwired Pedals?

[ahab]

Hello Everyone,
I have seen many descriptions regarding certain pedals as being "handwired." What exactly does this mean? For example, people have lately been distinguishing Lovepedal and Menatone effects by whether or not they are the handwired version. Does this mean that the earlier versions from these manufacturers do not use PC boards?
What about pedals from manufacturers like Fulltone, Prescription Electronics, HBE, Barber, xotic etc.? Are these still handwired?
Thanks for any information to help me sort this out.

[ahab]

Anyone?

[SonicVI]

Machines don't wire pedals so as far as I'm concerned every pedal that doesn't have everything mounted to a pc board (including jacks and switches) is handwired.

[ahab]

Thanks for the response Sonic...
So, when people make the distinction between "handwired" lovepedals and the "newer versions," are they noting that the new versions use a pc board and the old ones do not?

[amp_surgeon]

Different people may mean different things when they say "hand wired". As SonicVI noted, most pedals have at least some handwiring in them.

When most people refer to a Lovepedal as "hand wired" they are NOT referring to it being wired without a printed circuit board. The hand wired pedals I've seen from Lovepedal still used PCB's. However, the PCB's used through-hole components (i.e., parts with wires going through holes on the circuit board), which were presumably soldered to the circuit board by hand. My understanding is that newer pedals are being manufactured by machine, though I haven't seen the insides of one of these yet.

The hand wired pedals are not electronically different from the machine assembled pedals, so there really shouldn't be any difference in the tone. However, the hand wired pedals seem to have a higher resale value, probably because collectors keep the prices high.

Seriously, "hand wiring" gets far too much hype. Most of Sean's pedals probably have a dozen parts or so on the PCB's. You're not going to get any more Mojo from a dozen parts soldered by hand than you would get if those parts were stuffed and soldered by a machine.

Note to Sean: I haven't seen the guts for all of your pedals, so I don't know how many parts are actually inside all of them.

The fuzz pedal I make has almost 60 parts on the PCB, which are all stuffed and soldered by hand. All of the switches, jacks, and pots (except for one trimmer) are chassis mounted, and wired by hand. We even use old school waxed lacing cord to tie up the wire bundles. Even so, I don't hype them as "hand wired". That would imply that there's somehow something better about doing all of the work by hand. As an engineer, I know this isn't true.

[missing_dave]

Originally Posted by amp_surgeon

Different people may mean different things when they say "hand wired". As SonicVI noted, most pedals have at least some handwiring in them.

When most people refer to a Lovepedal as "hand wired" they are NOT referring to it being wired without a printed circuit board. The hand wired pedals I've seen from Lovepedal still used PCB's. However, the PCB's used through-hole components (i.e., parts with wires going through holes on the circuit board), which were presumably soldered to the circuit board by hand. My understanding is that newer pedals are being manufactured by machine, though I haven't seen the insides of one of these yet.

The hand wired pedals are not electronically different from the machine assembled pedals, so there really shouldn't be any difference in the tone. However, the hand wired pedals seem to have a higher resale value, probably because collectors keep the prices high.

Seriously, "hand wiring" gets far too much hype. Most of Sean's pedals probably have a dozen parts or so on the PCB's. You're not going to get any more Mojo from a dozen parts soldered by hand than you would get if those parts were stuffed and soldered by a machine.

Note to Sean: I haven't seen the guts for all of your pedals, so I don't know how many parts are actually inside all of them.

The fuzz pedal I make has almost 60 parts on the PCB, which are all stuffed and soldered by hand. All of the switches, jacks, and pots (except for one trimmer) are chassis mounted, and wired by hand. We even use old school waxed lacing cord to tie up the wire bundles. Even so, I don't hype them as "hand wired". That would imply that there's somehow something better about doing all of the work by hand. As an engineer, I know this isn't true.

nicely put.....man where were you during the SMT,handwired,mojo,blood bath that had gone on a little while ago? youve summed up the rational side of it quite easily..thanks again:BEER