I want pre fabbed pcb boards and pre painted enclosures Like this man suggested.Sounds like a good idea. But I want to learn my parts Ordering them all one by one sounds lke a good thing to do as well
My first effect was the mad bean turnabout on Vero and I couldn't of been happier. It taught me a lot and bread boarding from the madbean schemstics really give you a good handle on what everything does and allows you to modify the circuit and have a game plan before you ever start building the actual circuit
I've been building my own effects for a very long time now. I buy damaged pedals. I never pay more than $25 ( I pay $5 for OD type pedals) and this gives me most of the parts I need to get started, plus spares for other pedals. My OD pedals sound better to me than any commercially made pedal I have ever heard and it rarely costs more than $20. I think your channel is fantastic, these are fun projects that will save people a lot of money. It will also allow them to custom tailor their tone.
Thanks George, good tip, and good idea for learning and repair projects! I can imagine some of the easy to fix pedals that sell for nothing on ebay. Or cut out the pcb and rehouse.
You should learn what basic electronic elements do, and then study schematics of gear, starting with the easist, like treble booster. Seymour Duncan has a great tutorial on how to make a drive pedal
Get one of the cheapest Arduino starter kits -- they include a breadboard, power supply, resistors, capacitors, transistors, diodes, LEDs, buzzers and jumpers for under $20. Your question is a very important one --- much of the discover comes from understanding how to translate a schematic to a working circuit, and breadboards are a great way to ease in. For example --- the first time I grounded two breadboard circuits together I was just sure they were going to explode! 😅
Hey! I have a few videos on powder coating, but its kind of evolved since then (theres alot to learn). You could watch it for some basic tips on it. Just dont have the enclosures anywhere near anything metallic when you spray them. :)
It's a matter of knowing what circuits do what. Some circuits to get you started: Op amp amplifiers, Bi Polar Junction Transistor amplifiers, MOSFET and JFET amplifiers, diode clipper circuits, passive and active RC filters (Low pass, high pass, band pass and band stop filters which are useful for shaping the EQ). Be sure to learn about calculating input and output impedances as well, they're very important.
Most of the things you need to know you can pick up from basic electrical engineering courses that you can find online. Most basic pedal circuits are actually really similar to the circuits you will study in courses like circuit analysis and electronic devices. These courses will also give you insight into how these circuits behave and how changes can affect things like bode plots and gain spectra (graphical representations of the frequency response of the circuit).
Thank you! I'm just getting back into playing again after a hietis of over a decade. I was an effect pedal junkie whom now feels naked without a single one lol. I wanted so badly to make my own fuzz pedal ( back in the 1990's ) but could not get my hands on schematics, nor was I even able to bribe someone into helping me learn what components were needed to do what. Instead of just copying a pedal I already possessed I gave the idea up completely. Now you have given me some food for thought. Again thank you for sharing your knowledge!
Thanks Jack! It should be easier these days with forums and kits available. Also check out my videos "build a fuzz pedal in 7 mins" and "build a boost pedal in 10 mins" (all the "7 / 10 min" series). These are very small circuits and easy to follow to get you started. Good luck! Cheers
i disagree about the stripboard/vero. I wouldnt do a klon or a boss ce-2 for my first build on vero but a fuzz face or tonebender is safe.My first build was a vox tonebender on vero.My second build was a harbinger one madbean univibe.i have mad 40 kinds of pedals totalling 55 builds in 9 months. i like vero the best personally. For me its the most satisfying and way less time and money.i can drill and link a vero i less than 30-50 minutes for even the biggest builds like a phase 100 i did .at 16_20 bucks a pcb or spending all tha time and chemicals for etching its faster more durable and in most cases actually smaller than pcb.Thanks for your videos i started this year and its become a part time job. i have watched almost all of your videos and they are great. . i just did a univibe on vero it took 6 hours but i added some cool mpds. its a univibe,phaser and voodoo vibe very similar o a forum vibe in a wah shell.thanks
Been watching for a while , love what you're doing , you've taught me a lot and helped with a lot of things. You actually really helped get me into making pedals myself. Thanks a lot !!
I build my first 2 pedals on prototyping board and that was a pain in the ass, now the 3rd pedal I've recently build was on veroboard and I love it, its easy, fast and didn't have any issues with it. I have to say I found an vero layout on the internet so I didn't had to break my head on it :)
Did you ever make the video on the mistakes you made with your first pedal build? I'd be really interested to see as I'm about to build my first kit and want to hopefully save myself a few mistakes! Cheers
I'm going to need an ABC-Y peddle. Figured I can start with a passive ABY, then add in the C stage. 4 jacks, two switches, plastic case and some wire.. Get me head around it and they make V2 with LED indicators, and a nicer metal case.I've got Fenders ABY in posts, so I can open that up for reference., along with Morley's '97 schematic. Could be a slippery slope after that.
Great video! I have learned a lot about pedals. I buy damaged pedals. I usually I pay $5 US a piece. I learned that the majority are bad switches and jacks. I also learned that $200 boutique OD's have only a few dollars of electrical components inside. They couldn't have cost more than $30 to build labor included. I have found the famed Germanium Transistors for under $1.00 US. Pigtronix charges $30 more for a special edition germanium model Philosophers Tone! I'm working on an amp kit too.
Hi DIY, You can use pad per hole perf board, much better than vero, in my opinion. Of course a PCB is the best way to go, but I like DIY the hard way. Great channel. Be good, C.
I bought a toggle switch. I was thinking of taking the circuit board off my overdrive and putting it INSIDE my guitar. So instead of a stomp box its just a switch on the guitar itself.
Hi thanks for the great lessons.As i new to this ,Does voltage ratings matter when it's come to Electrolytic capacitors? I mean can we use 50-65 v caps for guitar pedals?and also tantalum caps instead of Electrolytic?Really do appreciate your feedback ..thanks.
Voltage depends on the pedal. Typically, you are using 9V to power things. So, any capacitor rates 10V will work in that case. However, some effects use higher voltages, or boost the 9V to higher voltages. In that case, you will want to up the voltage on the electrolytic caps to exceed that highest voltage limit. Like if you have an 18V rail, you might need a 20V rated capacitor. As of Tantalum, they work, but they have a different "sound" vs electrolytic. Typically, electrolytic is desired over tantalum, due to frequency ranges they work well with.
I suppose i should have said specfically "working out vero on your own". Not just ALL vero. If your following a layout, its probably easier. That NPN booster i was following the circuit. It did my head in completely.
after watching a good amount of your videos is their a demand for pre drilled enclosure beacause ive tried looking for a few and have not had much luck thanks again dude. cheers.
That's why you use a breadboard for prototyping the circuit before you start doing the vero. But that would require knowing those exist, and not trying to cheap out and not buy one.
I'm thinking of combining two different pedals like what JHS does.How do I do this? And if they are the same voltage,how do i keep it the same? (in other words, can two 9v pedals combine to be powered by one 9v or does it have to be 18v)
Great vid. Good ideas on the fab boards Vs the etched. I'd have to disagree on the vero though, only insomuch as there are plenty of vero layouts (verified) already in existence, and personally the most I've learned about circuit layout has been from messing around with vero (trying to understand a layout). Regardless, thanks for producing these, good work mate. Especially given I can only imagine how much boutique pedals run over there ;)
Cheers! Well, its probably going to be one of the 2 things, the transfer medium, or the pcb. I'm not sure what you mean by wavey, uneven? Uneven is probably going to make your things difficult. Maybe try a different medium as well. pnp like you said, or, I've started using the backing paper from a4 sheets of address labels, the slippery stuff. Works really well (and its free :D)
Great video.. :D how do u get rid of the solder fume ? when building a pedal from scratch there will be alot of soldering and its not very healthy to get all the fume in your nose, maybe u have a fume fan of some sort ?
There are plenty of great kits available from mammoth electronics, musikding, uk-electronic, modkits, byoc, general guitar gadgets, pigeonfx and many more.
I agree with a lot of what you said with regards to vero board, but I’d have to disagree that it’s not as beginner friendly. At least with today’s wealth of information. There are so many vero/tagboard schematics out there right now and so much reference trial and error to sift through thanks to channels like yours among others that I don’t necessarily believe vero would be that serious of a turnoff to others. Not sure if you’ve made an update video to this recently, but would be cool to revisit it in a “post-lockdown” era where so much has become readily available online. Thank you for the content 🙏
Hi, great videos!I'm interested in this stuff a lot and i would like to know what to study to know this stuff better I'm a senior and high school and i was wondering if electrical engineering was the field where i can learn this kind of stuff. i really like guitar pedal,amps and electrical stuff related to instruments. Thank you!
hey bud, i want to kind of build and a /b pedal ... but instead a / b / c to one output .. would you know where i can get a wiring diagram for this ? kind regards, george
Fantastic channel! I have a question...I don't understand why my buzz box (double bass fuss) doesn't clip correctly..(Use electronic components that I remove from old appliances)..I have tried many different transistors NPN...only a model now that I no longer '...was good....the model is a c2458...it's very good!..Very good distorsion!!.. In the electric circuit.the rest of componets are ok! 10k resistences...10 microfarad capacitators and diodes 1n4148...I have tried transistor as bc547 c9632 bf240 bc337 bf 495...and other but...nothing!!!!...at best only a slight distortion.....thank you!..;)
Question: Why do effects pedals need a battery? If the amplifier is plugged in why not just use a AC adapter for the pedals? The 9 volt battery takes up a lot of room in the enclosure and it's redundant.
A lot of pedals, like the mini 1590A styled pedals, do just that. Most pedals I make just have barrel jack power. However, there is the "dying battery effect" that some like with fuzz face and tone bender topologies, so there is that
Hi! Can you make a video how to build bass guitar pedals or what to consider when you want to build one? Or can i use every guitar pedal (i.e. overdrive) for bass guitar? Thanks
I am keen to build a pedal that splits a signal in two, applies reverb/delay to one channel which is completely wet (such that it lags behind the first signal) I then want to pass the delayed signal through more effects so that you essentially end up with a delay effect in which the delayed sound is entirely different from the original. I am a physics undergrad and I want to build electronics but I only understand electronics mathematically, can anyone recommend some reading that will help me to begin tackling electronics practically, such that I could understand how to go about building something such as described above?
Hi there, I stumbled on your site and I find it very interesting. I am looking to build a tip to ground latching footswitch pedal for my Mesa boogie. MB have quoted me a ridiculous price for a footswitch pedal. Based on my research this pedal shouldn't cost very much and is a pretty straight forward build. What parts would I need to build my own or if you build one for me how much would it cost? Thanks. Randy
OK, here it goes. I am a power lineman, as in I am a high voltage power line tech. I know basic electricity as any one does. I am a guitar player, too, with an addiction to pedals. I plan on entering the world of DIY pedals, as if I have any time left over for it. Anyway, found your site and want to thank you. Great info, and great ideas. Will be watching you, and asking you a million questions. I also have some basic ideas for pedal circuits (surprise) and a whole line idea (looks and function) I know, another surprise. Here is to the future!!!
Hi, I see you have buffer kits on your site. The vp jr pedal has plenty of videos on tone suckage do you know how to mod that pedal, adding led,buffer and dc jack?
I use Poodle Pedal Parts, decent, reasonably priced kits and super quick delivery, You Tube won't let me post web addresses but he can easily be found on Facebook and Google
Ok i understand, i built fume fan a few years ago, well it does not work 100% but at least it take some of the particles in the fume away in the filters i have in the fan it self, that way i dont have to get it all in my nose.. :D
I dont etch my board yet, but i use veroboard. A good way to start with vero was your 10 minutes pedal and work well as they are simple circuit. Now i found a software DIY Layout Creator that you transfer the schematic on a vero layout witch is great and work fine for me. I found this cheaper for now, as im new, i dont expect my project to be perfect for now. Just sayin guys take it or leave it but like paul said be carefull of human mistakes... Cheers:)
Is there not a type of perforated surface with no conductor on the bottom? Something where you can put your components in the holes then solder the leads together? You'd think something like that would be available. To me it seems it would be easier than vero or an etched board.
+thisdyingsoul76 Perfboard is similar, it still has conductive surface on the flip side but only in pads, you can still achieve what you are saying though
Hi just subscribed to the page. Thanks for the tutorials. I'd love to build a pedal. Wonder if you can help me. I'd like to make an overdrive pedal that I can switch to two to three options like the 808 ds1. Anything you can recommend or point me in the right direction. Thanks kimball
hi is there any type of materials like the solder that can affect the overall quality of sound? what should i look into when choosing the right kind of materials?
But with the vero boards you are going to learn a lot more from figuring out how to arrange your components. I mean it forces you to think it out instead of the extremely easy pcb. I've made a couple of 555 timer vero board circuits before and I enjoyed the challenge of figuring it all out. If it ain't forcing you to use your intelligence, then you aren't really going to learn from it. But pcb's look good and professional. My grandad was into electronics and used to repair peoples radios and other audio equipment in his shed in the 50's, 60's and 70's but I unfortunately never got to learn anything about electronics from him apart from when he showed me how to create an electromagnetic field from a coil of copper wire. I have his oscilloscope which I haven't yet used but I will someday. I'm gradually learning some electronics from making my own circuits, youtube videos and online sources such as forums and websites. For me familiarity is the most important factor. Before I was familiar it was all a complete mystery to me. I never wanted to take part in any form of the education system once I had finished my school years at 16 and now in my mid 40's I still want nothing to do with the education system. I trust in my own ability to self teach and that is basically how much of learning happened throughout our human history.
Veroboard you say?? Challenge accepted! I actually have a bit of breadboard experience (like the RAM controller I have a video of on my channel). Veroboard looks like a similar concept and I know that lots of diagrams and planning ahead is what leads to success in these cases.
I don't know why fuzz or distortion pedals I made don't work properly, even simplest ones, all parts are checked and work, except I used always replacements for transistors, but equivalent to original (npn/ebc), because I have lot of them, I guess that's the problem because mine have lower HFE.. I made few so far and they all sound similarly bad, some very weak distortion, stronger only when I strum harder, but crap anyway, it's different story only when I put booster in front of them, they are truly beasts then.. one question: can I use anything else as replacement for germanium transistors??
You could try either making a Sziklai pair, which is like a Darlington Pair, or you can Piggyback NPNs so their gain can be dialed in. We did a video on that here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-t3tokiKDmIE.html
Personally --- I swear by perfboard. But I enjoy the puzzle of routing the components myself in the smallest space possible. I will move onto fabricated boards, but one thing I enjoy about perfboard is that I know, every step of the way, if the circuit is going to work. If it doesn't when I am finished, it's usually an easily found solder bridge, cold joint or just missed node. The extra hard work translates into confidence --- but as I gain experience, fabricated boards look more and more attractive. I just need to learn a CAD.
Absolutely, i agree! I think what i neglected to explain clearly in the video, it really depends on the skill level of the builder. In this video, i was mentally addressing the information to a beginner audience, even though i didnt actually explain that :)
Can you make or has anyone ever tried to make one giant pedal with all the effects they wanted all in one? Like an Overdrive/ Volume boost/ Reverb/ Phaser/ Flanger/ Delay/ Noise Gate/ compressor pedal all in one big box?
Yes some people do this. I'm not a fan of this type of pedal though as its difficult to be able to change the order of the effects which is important to me.
Hey, I'm new to the DIY scene and I really dig your vids! What's up with that "glowing bottom" on your pedal at the top of your vid? That is friggin sweet.
Hey dommes, the only bass modification i know is to increase the in / out caps (signficantly) to allow more bass into the circuit. Unfortunately that is the extent of my knowledge for bass pedals! sorry...
+Vomiting Christ Hey mate. Well from my store, i would look at any of the 7/10 min projects, they are simple and you get a cool effect at the other end. You could also look at the emberdrive (fuzz/od) as well. I have just added a kit for the classic boost (LPB1) which has a higher output then the 10m dirt and boost but doesnt have the clipping option of the dirt and boost. Any of those would be ok for a beginner. The 7min fuzz and 10min dirt and boost are the easiest to follow of the lot though. Good luck with your first project!
