Build your own...

[LukeFRC]

So every so often i daly with effects, I wanted to experiment with lots of things and bought a floor pod. It was good but we didnt get on so it got sold.
The only things I was using was a bit of OD, the odd chorus and the tuner.

I was looking on the internet and finding schematics for building your own pedals. A steep learning curve but technacally something I wouldn't be against doing.
I was thinking one box with a od, chorus and maybe something else in it. Tuner i don't think would be possible unless I bought a behringer one and went about stripping it down and mounting it in the new box. But these are all just thougts I had last night.

so, do you all think it is worth the effort?
any suggestions/advice?
buy a kit, or just buy the parts?

[umph]

it's definatly worth the effort, its a bit addictive once you start though. I'd recomend you start off with a kit from GGG or BYOC.

[LukeFRC]

[quote name='umph' post='737115' date='Feb 6 2010, 12:46 PM']it's definatly worth the effort, its a bit addictive once you start though. I'd recomend you start off with a kit from [b]GGG or BYOC.[/b][/quote]

at risk of sounding stupid.... GGG? BYOC?

[LukeFRC]

edit... google is my friend

[Silent Fly]

Very good questions...

[i]- do you all think it is worth the effort? [/i]
If you think it will be a hobby and you ready to invest time, a little bit of frustration and some lessons learned the hard way - it is definitely worth the effort. If you just need a pedal and you have no intention to continue, I am not sure.

[i]- buy a kit, or just buy the parts?[/i]
If you never built something before, a kit (the simpler, the better) is a good way to start. While you build your first pedals buy yourself a good book about electronics.

[i]- any suggestions/advice?[/i]
Take your time, pay attention to details and use good quality materials.

[LukeFRC]

[quote name='Silent Fly' post='737210' date='Feb 6 2010, 02:08 PM']Very good questions...

[i]- do you all think it is worth the effort? [/i]
If you think it will be a hobby and you ready to invest time, a little bit of frustration and some lessons learned the hard way - it is definitely worth the effort. If you just need a pedal and you have no intention to continue, I am not sure.

[i]- buy a kit, or just buy the parts?[/i]
If you never built something before, a kit (the simpler, the better) is a good way to start. While you build your first pedals buy yourself a good book about electronics.

[i]- any suggestions/advice?[/i]
Take your time, pay attention to details and use good quality materials.[/quote]

thanks for the reply!

I have done enough little electronics projects in the past I don't think the learning curve would be too bad. Although my soldering and everything would be no way as neat and tidy as your work silentfly!
I think I don't 'need' a pedal but would like one. It would be more fun to build one, whether that is just a kit or just working out how to build something from a schematic.
Also I'm not a massive pedal head. If I made something, and did a reasonable job, it would likely satisfy my effects cravings, which is an attractive idea.

Are their any kits you would recommend?

[LukeFRC]

this is what got me thinking to start with....

[url="http://moodysounds.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_15&products_id=216"]http://moodysounds.com/index.php?main_page...products_id=216[/url]

[mancunianfox]

I love making pedals and its definitely worth it. Starting off with a kit is great advice.

[Silent Fly]

[quote name='LukeFRC' post='737252' date='Feb 6 2010, 02:46 PM']Are their any kits you would recommend?[/quote]

The BYOC Optical Compressor looks a nice kit.

It is also available in the UK [url="http://www.vibe-o-tronic.co.uk"]here[/url].

[BottomEndian]

[quote name='LukeFRC' post='737255' date='Feb 6 2010, 02:48 PM']this is what got me thinking to start with....

[url="http://moodysounds.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_15&products_id=216"]http://moodysounds.com/index.php?main_page...products_id=216[/url][/quote]
I've got the Hjärt Müller. Really easy to build, and it sounds pretty good too. Plenty of grunt and bottom.

Quite tempted by the BYOC Large Beaver too.

[mancunianfox]

You can also find some kits here which are a bit cheaper than the BYOC ones. I've built the tubescreamer for a guitarist friend which turned out well.

[url="http://www.musikding.de/index.php/cat/c122_Musikding-Kits.html"]http://www.musikding.de/index.php/cat/c122...kding-Kits.html[/url]

[nick]

I'm another (amateur) pedal builder. Though unless I'm building something for someone else, only build what I need or interested in trying out.

Though IMHO, still think it works out more cost effective to buy some pedals rather than to make them.
However, decent fuzzes,OD's,distortions etc are well worth making & a damn sight cheaper than originals, generally easy to build too. One of the best examples being Woolly Mammoth.

If you're interested in fuzz, I'd recommend the [url="http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=62&Itemid=26"]Brassmaster clone[/url]. Love mine.
For overdrive [url="http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/main.php/v/DRAGONFLY-LAYOUTS_0/album17/album06/WH_RED_LLAMA_001.jpg.html"]Red Llama[/url] is pretty good & easy to build.

Cheers

[LukeFRC]

okay... next question....

i still want to build at least one of the effects im thinking of putting in this box...
whats the negatives of taking cheaper dano or behringer pedals, which with some of them the main negative i hear is the plastic mountings, and remounting them in my box.
In effect all I would be doing was remounting the circuitry, I seem to remeber hearing that some of the dano pedals were very close copies of other things anyway?

[Al Heeley]

Go here:
www.beavisaudio.com
Read everything
Get this:
[url="http://www.beavisaudio.com/bboard/index.htm"]http://www.beavisaudio.com/bboard/index.htm[/url]

I love this site So much really useful stuff tucked away, wiring, powering, LED's, 3PDT switches and true bypassing,
Clipping mods, all sorts of useful stuff.

[Silent Fly]

[quote name='LukeFRC' post='737859' date='Feb 7 2010, 09:13 AM']okay... next question....

i still want to build at least one of the effects im thinking of putting in this box...
whats the negatives of taking cheaper dano or behringer pedals, which with some of them the main negative i hear is the plastic mountings, and remounting them in my box.
In effect all I would be doing was remounting the circuitry, I seem to remeber hearing that some of the dano pedals were very close copies of other things anyway?[/quote]

It called re-housing. It consists exactly in what you decribed: take the circuit from a pedal and put it in another enclosure.

Often cheap pedals are indeed copies of other pedals - however, the difference is not only in box. To cut costs, everything is designed to cost less - down to last resistor. Having said that, sometimes they sound quite good.

It is a good exercise and if something goes wrong you can put everything back in the original box

If you do it, you could post photos of the process - it would be very interesting.

[Ancient Mariner]

Rehousing is quite popular, particularly with those pedals that sound good but come without true bypass and in odd shaped cases - like some of the behringer and Danos. See here for examples: [url="http://supervelcroboy.wordpress.com/"]http://supervelcroboy.wordpress.com/[/url]

If you want to try building then have a look at OL Circuits too: [url="http://olcircuits.com/olckits.html"]http://olcircuits.com/olckits.html[/url]

And if you'd like to try rehousing something that was never housed to begin with then have a look at the GFS modboards: [url="http://store.guitarfetish.com/modboards.html"]http://store.guitarfetish.com/modboards.html[/url] Originally designed to fit inside a guitar or bass, they can also be built into a housing like you describe (check out their pitchblack style tuner too, in the pedals section).

[nick]

[quote name='LukeFRC' post='737859' date='Feb 7 2010, 09:13 AM']okay... next question....

i still want to build at least one of the effects im thinking of putting in this box...
whats the negatives of taking cheaper dano or behringer pedals, which with some of them the main negative i hear is the plastic mountings, and remounting them in my box.
In effect all I would be doing was remounting the circuitry, I seem to remeber hearing that some of the dano pedals were very close copies of other things anyway?[/quote]

As well as rehousing cheap pedals, modding is another thing worth considering. I've bass-ified Bad Monkey, Boss CS-3 along with a few others.

Some info here that might be of interest [url="http://freestompboxes.org/viewforum.php?f=11&sid=f28c60f2c999c5c81a1c68346bd72aab"]Freestompboxes 'Pimp My Cheap Pedal'[/url]

[LukeFRC]

so... my thinking....

this is all in some kinda big box, hopefully small enough to fit in my gigbag....

some kinda OD, kinda like the look of the flipster
[url="http://www.runoffgroove.com/flipster.html"]http://www.runoffgroove.com/flipster.html[/url]
for a ampeg type sound. think that over something like Hjärt Müller, anyone here any experience of flipster?

then possibly into a fuzz of somekind which won't get used as much, either a big muff Pi or something...

then think may leave my building there and buy a cheap chorus to stick in or something.

am i missing anything out i would want to do?

[Ancient Mariner]

You should do a compressor - no bass player should be without a compressor.

[LukeFRC]

[quote name='Ancient Mariner' post='739436' date='Feb 8 2010, 09:33 PM']You should do a compressor - no bass player should be without a compressor.[/quote]

see ive played with compressors a wee bit, I'll be honest and say I've never seen a use for them for me.
this may be due to the random way I use my right hand but ive never seen what they add to my sound, often when using them i get annoyed with something changing the way the notes open out. maybe i'm talking rubbish here
feel free to educate me what use they should have!

[Al Heeley]

have built a couple cos people told me i must have one in the pedal chain but i never turn them on, they just seem to remove the dynamics from my playing style and why would I want that? maybe if you're into a lot of agressive funk/slap stuff, but I don't do the slappy thang.

[The Twickerman]

[quote name='LukeFRC' post='739465' date='Feb 8 2010, 10:00 PM']see ive played with compressors a wee bit, I'll be honest and say I've never seen a use for them for me.
this may be due to the random way I use my right hand but ive never seen what they add to my sound, often when using them i get annoyed with something changing the way the notes open out. maybe i'm talking rubbish here
feel free to educate me what use they should have![/quote]

I agree.

[LukeFRC]

[quote name='Al Heeley' post='739552' date='Feb 8 2010, 11:15 PM']have built a couple cos people told me i must have one in the pedal chain but i never turn them on, they just seem to remove the dynamics from my playing style and why would I want that? maybe if you're into a lot of agressive funk/slap stuff, but I don't do the slappy thang.[/quote]


ahhh suddenly penny drops. slap!
i'm still learning and it's taken me ages to balance out the relative volumes of slaps and pops.
I agree, fingerstyle it just seems to suck away some of the life.

Back OT, has anyone tried the fliptop circuit?

[LukeFRC]

right.... I've found something I'm going to try to make, tell you later when I've actually started it....

but....

1)where do you find is best to buy parts from? some stuff maplin can get me, other stuff i found mouser on the net... where do you recomend?

2) electrical gubbins I know whats what. but switches, pentometers and jacks... what do ppl find are good for audio pedals like this? I find myself faced with a massive list of pots and not knowing what is good and what isnt....

[mancunianfox]

www.musikding.de is a good one stop shop for pedal parts with cheap(ish) delivery from Germany. Theres also a decent website which I think is called bitsbox in the UK. Best off avoiding maplin tbh.

Switchcraft jacks and 3PDT footswitches are a good way to go. Pots aren't really that important to me in a pedal. I use 16mm alpha pots. I like the look of neutrik jacks but I haven't used them myself (yet).