DIY guys, what are you building?

I just finished a pedal board and have started on an SHO.

Next are five other dirt pedals.

 

Building pedals is fun and rewarding, eh?!

 

That's even more fun!
You can think of electronics as machines of sorts, with all these different little mechanisms being combined to deliver a complex final function.

I encourage anyone who is interested to start with ohm's law and see if your interest is sparked. It only gets "better" from there!

Congrats on the interest in a new hobby!!

 

This is something I've contemplated. Any advice or tips you could pass along to those of us thinking about taking the plunge?

Also, Jack, I've always enjoyed your input and encouragement here. Kudos.

 

Mr. Deville's board layouts will bring a grown man to his knees, big ups

As for what I'm building (well, more like haven't finished, waiting on parts and all):

Dr. Boogie
ToneBender MKII and 3 Knob
RangeMaster
Wooly Mammoth
Couple Muff variants
FN5
Les Lius

And a bunch of other stuff I've probably forgotten.

 

I recommend jumping onto one of the various DIY forums. I recommend Madbean, but that's just personal opinion talking. After that, read up on whatever info you can find, ask a lot of questions, think carefully before you make any purchases, and then go for it! Even if your first pedal doesn't work right away, you'll learn a lot and discover if you really like the DIY thing. I think all guitarists should try it.

As for me, I have many projects on the go all the time. Some that I'm excited about finishing include a DMM clone, and some I've working on recently include a tap tempo delay prototype based on my production line, and a similar delay with switchable modulation.

Jacob

 

I just finished a bluesbreaker not too long ago.
Honestly I know it's in bad taste, but I'm waiting for the Klon schematic/pcb to come back into the market.
Also for the EP-3 preamp boost to go up on madbean
And like two weeks ago I became dead set on making a devi ever soda meiser, but i guess i forgot.
And a lo-fi looper

I recommend byoc.com to anyone interested; especially if you're really, really interested, but lack the willpower to go all in yourself. It provides a sense of security in taking the plunge.

 

My ADHD usually causes me to get about 4-5 projects going on at once. Unfortunately this means that no one project gets done in a timely manner. So here's where I'm at:

1. Mayo clone. I've been reading the various interwebz info and have one of madbean's PCBs populated w/ "Mayo spec" components. I've gone through a ton of trannys and will post my findings eventually. I'm trying to get my pedal to be more on the "Creamy" side of things (so not too distorted), and I definitely want to have a Mids Boost switch. The muff circuit is so ****** versatile I'm having a hard time comitting to any one idea. So this project is ongoing.

2. OCD "output buffer mod". I don't know what to call this thing. Apparently the OCD does not have an output buffer so when on a pedalboard, you can experience tone/volume loss if it's not after a buffered pedal or something. I'm still learning about this - and I never noticed this until recently. There's a guy who does the mod at http://www.thru-tone.com/OCD_Eternity.html but it's $85 for him to do it. I had some PMs w/ him and he seems like a good guy, but $85 is a good chunk of change so I'm working on DIY'ing this myself. Skreddy has given me a direction (that guy rules!) so I'm gonna work on that tonight.

3. I have some Gibson Classic 57s that I want to put in my Ibanez AS120. The pups are silver but the guitar is gold hardware. So I'm gonna remove the covers, repot the pups, and put them in the gold ones. I got the wax and a decent idea of how to repot them. Just gotta remove the Ibby ones and do it.

4. I have an old ('60s) Hofner that needs two of the three pickups rewound so I need to find a place to do that (so far I'm looking at Fralin or Lollar). I also want to replace the pots, but they're the old style roller ones so I need to see if I can find those. Also, I need to see if the PUP selector switch is working properly. Hopefully it is b/c it's friggin Crescent Shaped! I've never seen one of those before. I haven't searched for one yet so hopefully, if I need it, it exists.

5. : I had an idea a while ago about making a pedal that was a SHO clone and an Orman MOSFET boost in one pedal. Gonna call it the Purple Jesus Boost. My original idea of having the SHO always on and a toggle that brings the Orman into the mix isn't working for me. I think both circuits should have their own footswitch. But doing this will most likely mean not having two output jacks. So I'm still tinkering w/ that idea. It's gonna be pretty cool when I figure it out, though.

Guess that's it for now. :thu:

 

Loud popping when toggled;
the gain past noon is terrible IMO (it has a weird layering effect to it, where it sounds removed from dry signal);
the gain around 11, tone around 10, volume maxed - moi bien.
I bought the kit intending to use it as a creamy, cleanish boost, but the more I listen to the white stripes the more that gain knob moves towards noon.
Yeah, all and all I'd say pretty great. It was also incredibly fulfilling just the process of putting it together.

 

I have a bunch of parts on order at the moment but have in the works right now:

1. A PigeonFX Rangemaster and PigeonFX Fuzz Face that I'm putting together into the same enclosure. My own PigeonFX Sunlion.

2. Buzzaround clone. Board from Madbean and everything else from SmallBear.

3. SHO clone. Board from Madbean again and more parts from SmallBear.

4. BJFe Folk Boost. I really need to order parts and layout a circuit board for this one, I keep putting it off.

5. I have very good intentions for picking up a muff board and building a Red Army Overdrive clone but good intentions is as far as I've got so far.

BTW, Ed, PM sent on your BB project. Just a though for you.

 

For getting started I like to recommend byoc to start and ggg for when your comfortable. I think the byoc stuff is a little easier but the ggg stuff is a little better and more flexible to be creative. After that, on to MadBean, SmallBear and sourcing your own parts for stuff.

For learning? I'm learning a lot between FSB and BJFe.org's Folk Forum. Other than that just reading basic books on electronics, there's no rocket science, pedals and amps are pretty basic from an electronics stand point.

 

I populated the PCB for my OLC Whisker Biscuit last night.

I need to get motivated to wire it up...probably this weekend.

http://www.olcircuits.com/olc_whiskerbiscuit.html

 

To make things clear...

Amps are a completely different ballgame in danger compared to Pedals. Working on amps in an unsafe way CAN KILL YOU.

Working on pedals cannot. However, it can kill your free time and spare money.

Jacob

 

Yeah, what jkokura said. Pedals are fine and non lethal. I think amps are simpler but yes, they truly contain lethal voltages.

Unless you know what you are doing or are working with someone who actually know what they are doing, STAY THE HELL OUT OF YOUR TUBE AMP!

 

I am about to get started on a echo base once I get the pcb. I have a question for the more experienced amongst ourselves, is building using stripboards really difficult or am I just really bad at it? Tried several times but could never get anything to work. This was after I had built 4 pedals kits and madbean boards.