DIY pedals and effects

[_ Six _]

The price of kits from BYOC is prohibitively expensive.. plus, you can buy the pedal you're trying to clone for not much more.Now I understand that the satisfaction is in building the effect for yourself but for a newbie that will burn out components and make a mess of the soldering it's a no go.

Are there any companies that sell affordable kits that are actually usable on completion? Or is it a case of find the schematic and source your own parts?

I'm after guitar/ bass pedals to start and maybe later have a go at some rack mount effects.

Cheers!

Six

[sambrox]

I built a couple of pedals from scratch a few years back, after getting into the modding scene. Circuit boards for quite a few different pedals were easy to find online back then. I didn't pay more than a couple of quid for the circuit board to my customised Tubescreamer clone - the trickiest and most expensive part was sourcing one of the more desirable NOS chips that was used in the best production run of the original Ibanez pedals. Everything else was available in my local electronics shop, apart from a pot and the true bypass switch, which I got mailorder from Small Bear in USA.

To someone who has no background in electronics and hadn't picked up a soldering iron before deciding to tinker with my Big Muff (!), the learning curve was surprisingly gentle and soldering the parts and chips to the circuit board couldn't have been easier. Soldering the wiring is more tricky and will probably take a minute or ten to understand the engineering schematics, but for what it's worth, I found the whole process immensely enjoyable. Wish I could say the same for drilling and fitting the casings....

Cheers,
Sam

[zenguitar]

There is a very good blog called Guitar FX Layouts that has a massive collection of classic FX laid out on vero board.

They have teamed up with Bits Box, well regarded by a number of DIYers here, to offer a growing range of FX pedal kits based on those layouts.

The kits don't include enclosures, sockets, hookup wire or knobs. But they are all available on the Bits Box site at good prices. The Hammond enclosures are pretty good value, all well under a tenner.

Andy

[_ Six _]

Brilliant chaps! Thank you!

I want to get into etching my own boards and sourcing my own components after I've got the juices flowing with a kit. I'm still building up my lab and trying to source a cheap 'scope on the Bay.

[monkfish]

http://pedalparts.co.uk/

[Griggsy]

You need to register at Diystompboxes.com - it is THE forum for this stuff. Very friendly place with lots of resources, layouts etc etc.
www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/

Here's another kit site:
www.generalguitargadgets.com

If you get into making your own (i.e. etch PCBs, source the parts yourself etc), Tonepad is a great place for projects, and they sell the PCBs too - could be a good first step beyond full kits without having to worry about the PCB fabrication part:
http://tonepad.brinkster.net/

Home PCB etching is easy once you've done a few and cheap. The basic kit you need is the etchant (ferric chloride), some copper clad boards, some Press-n-Peel Blue Transfer film, a laser printer and a miniature drill that can take very small (0.8 mm) bits. I have made many things with home etched PCBs since getting into pedal building, including a complete Fender Rhodes suitcase piano preamp clone and power supply. The possibilities are vast.

[sambrox]

Ah yes, Tonepad! That's where I got my PCB from.
Cheers,
Sam

[Martin Walker]

http://pedalparts.co.uk/

http://pedalparts.co.uk/

I've got this lot at the top of my 'Component Suppliers' list, largely because although they don't carry a big range of products, they do offer the cheapest postage (£1) I've been able to find when you only want a few components!

Oh, and they like poodles

Martin

[Marjeda]

Here's a couple of links from my bookmarks folder.

UK guitar pedal parts supplier http://www.doctortweek.co.uk/

European audio parts http://www.banzaimusic.com/

Projects and circuit boards http://www.madbeanpedals.com/projects/index.html

And on the Madbean forum, there's plenty of completed projects porn to check out in the photos and videos.

[Marjeda]

At the Rapid site you can pick up painted stomp box enclosures too http://www.rapidonline.com/Mechanical-Fastenings-Fixings/1590-series-Painted-aluminium-Stomp-Box-enclosures-200116

That's on my to do list to get a few when my soldering is up to scratch a little more.