What about DIY pedals? Any "trusted" resources for kits?

I'm sure one of the meters you have will get you down the road quite a ways. DC voltage, continuity, and then resistance really will be the bulk of what you'll do with the meter anyway. You can get an idea of its impedance by measuring really large resistors. If a 1M measures significantly less than it should (beyond the part's tolerance rating), then you know you've got a problem. I guess, if it measures way too big you've also got a problem, but that's a whole different deal. ;)
 
I may have to snag a resistor tomorrow at Radio Shack then, if they're not too pricy, just to check and see what happens. At any rate, it's at least encouraging that I shouldn't have to invest in yet another MM for now. :thumbs up:

One last question or two for the night...I'm laying out parts (in polystyrene, like Ecc83 mentioned) and I'm noticing that the pots are smaller... They look very similar to the shitty mini pots I removed from my Epiphone project. They are stamped with Alpha on the back and some minor digging around on the google has brought up very mixed reviews. Should I quit worrying about being a potentiometer snob and not think about it anymore or are Alpha's really crap? I sprung for CTS on my Epi and those, FWIW, got equally mixed reviews. How would one go about testing a pot to determine A)whether it's crap or not - that it works - and B)if it's actually within spec for it's value?
 
Isn't there a couple 1M resistors in the kit?

A pot is a pot until it wears out or gets dirty or falls apart. The only way to really test if these are going to last is to use them and find out. I have used those little Alpha pots in most of my builds. Two of those pedals have been on my pedal board for like five or six years, but only started actually turning the pots during performance a couple years ago. I noticed then that they were a little scratchy, but then I twisted them a bunch and they've been pretty cool since. I think they got dirty while they were sitting in "set and forget" mode, and cleaned themselves (the way they're supposed to) when I started actually using them. I have no trouble with them now.
 
Cool deal. And yes, there were 1M resistors but they are now on the PCB. My lack of patience had me soldering up the components on the PCB tonight so I can finish it up tomorrow when the paint dries on the case.

I went with the MXR dist+ build and that left me with 2 x 20k resistors and a 47k resistor that went to the DOD build option. The 1Ms are right here:
BYOC250pcbtop.JPG
 
Tadpui, if you're still checking this thread, something like this may be a good way to start before you get into a DIY preamp. I'm not an expert at soldering and this was a somewhat pleasant experience. The main thing that I will pass along from my progress so far is that when you put the components through the mounting holes in prep for soldering, the bits and pieces (outside of the electrolytic caps) want to move around a lot. Cross the legs towards each other and it makes life easier and keeps the PCB cleaner. Try and keep the PCB horizontal when soldering, too. I had to redo a few joints because of how I had the board in the vice...PITA and looks like shite in some spots. I've got another easy kit coming for Christmas and I ordered 2 more today to have around for when I have time to mess with it...practice makes perfect, right? :)
 
Pikingrin, as Ashcat says, "pots is pots" there is no audible difference between cheap and expensive types. This goes for all components, despite claims of the Russ Andrews brigade, no one has ever proved any wire, resistor, IC or other component superior to another in any valid scientific test (yes, certain capacitors produce more distortion than others but even the worst are far, far better than one ECC83 stage! No problem for rock n roll)

Top grade pots "feel" better and can have better resolution making it slightly easier to set a value but generally of no interest to gitists.

Checking pots: The track values have a wide tolerance, 20% as a rule so don't be surprised if a 100k reads 89k, don't matter a fig. To differentiate/check between log and lin laws, set the pot to mechanical centre. If the wiper to one end reads about 1/2 the track value it is lin. If it reads about 10 or 90% of track resistance it is log.

I would like to comment on the DOD OD 250 circuit? No RF or input protection. I would at least put a 220puff capacitor across R3 to keep out the Rubber Duck crew!

Have fun all.

Dave.
 
Alright, for anyone still following this - especially those who are new to diy pedals - get your first kit from BYOC. The instructions they give are impossible to screw up if you have half an idea of how to solder. Finished the 250+ build from them last week and it made a little solid state freebie amp sound good, my old magnatone tube amp even better.

BUT - the reason for this post - I would not recommend getting a kit from GGG if you've never messed with schematics or electronics at all. Their instructions are definitely not meant for newbie DIYers. Working on their Brian May treble boost kit at the moment and I just have to say that the instructions leave quite a bit to be desired (from a newbs perspective). They have far more kits and better prices but sheesh...BYOC gives you pictures, GGG gives you a BMP that won't do you any good without a color printer with full ink cartridges. Had to double check cathode/anode legs of electrolytic caps a few times because the PCB isn't the same. Lots and lots of double checking and a few parts that I have no idea about. What are they? Not sure. What do the markings say? Need to get a magnifying glass...

This isn't a rant; I'm pleased with the fast shipping and lower prices/more selections from GGG, just wanting to let anyone thinking about building their own know that it's a different level required with GGG kits versus BYOC kits.
 
I see the IC is pluggable in that PCB picky? Best idea and here are couple of checks you can do to save time after construction in fault tracing or might even save an IC's pretty A!

Once soldered up, leave out the chip and connect a DMMeter neg probe to the -ve battery supply (no battery at this stage) Now using the Ohms setting and looking at the schematic. probe each pin of the IC and note the resistance reading. Some readings will not make a lot of sense but if for instance the non-inverting pin read dead short to -ve and there should be a resistor in the way...You have blobbed or forgotten to cut a track if using stripboard.

If the R test looks ok, power up the PCB (still no chip!) and again, meter on -ve, check the voltage at each pin again looking for something silly or weird, e.g. if the output had volts on it, something is probably wrong.

If all good, power off, fit chip, juice up. In almost all cases the output of an OP AMP is at 1/2 the supply rail, if not close to this and the circuit does not work look at bias and feedback Rs or maybe an electro cap in the wrong way round.

There is a simple way to test an IC for function. Will go into that if needs be.

Dave.
 
How did your pedals turn out, Pikingrin? Do they sound good or better than store pedals and was it at all cheaper? I'm thinkin' bout building my first distortion pedal
 
How did your pedals turn out, Pikingrin? Do they sound good or better than store pedals and was it at all cheaper? I'm thinkin' bout building my first distortion pedal
Sorry for the late response, Nola, I haven't checked this thread in a while. Long story short, I've built 7 pedals (and modded a Boss SD-1) since I started this thread, and they all do what they're supposed to do. I've been sticking with vintage pedal clones so I really don't have any basis of comparison versus the originals other than youtube videos - not really a great A/B source. I have been very pleased with all of them, especially the Rat clone and the Octavia clone I just finished - that Octavia is badass and the Rat, although a slightly different type of effect than the Octavia, is also awesome.

But I will say that, for my purposes, they have been far less expensive than the actual pedals - I just got a DIY klon centaur kit for $58.50, starting that one later this week, and the original can be found for around 10x that if you're lucky. I generally don't do any that you can go to your local shop and pick up new in the box but I would imagine that the kits may be less expensive depending on the pedal you're doing.

I would say, if you're half decent with a soldering iron, give it a shot. Start out looking through the kits at BYOC as I feel they have a slightly better set of instructions for their kits, especially if it's your first build, and read through the descriptions. They have a few kits that would be good for a first-time build that sound great; I started with BYOC's 250+ kit, using the parts for the MXR circuit, and it wasn't disappointing. Now I'm an addict. :D
 
Sorry for the late response, Nola, I haven't checked this thread in a while. Long story short, I've built 7 pedals (and modded a Boss SD-1) since I started this thread, and they all do what they're supposed to do. I've been sticking with vintage pedal clones so I really don't have any basis of comparison versus the originals other than youtube videos - not really a great A/B source. I have been very pleased with all of them, especially the Rat clone and the Octavia clone I just finished - that Octavia is badass and the Rat, although a slightly different type of effect than the Octavia, is also awesome.

But I will say that, for my purposes, they have been far less expensive than the actual pedals - I just got a DIY klon centaur kit for $58.50, starting that one later this week, and the original can be found for around 10x that if you're lucky. I generally don't do any that you can go to your local shop and pick up new in the box but I would imagine that the kits may be less expensive depending on the pedal you're doing.

I would say, if you're half decent with a soldering iron, give it a shot. Start out looking through the kits at BYOC as I feel they have a slightly better set of instructions for their kits, especially if it's your first build, and read through the descriptions. They have a few kits that would be good for a first-time build that sound great; I started with BYOC's 250+ kit, using the parts for the MXR circuit, and it wasn't disappointing. Now I'm an addict. :D


thanks, do you think building a Rat from BYOC would be an okay place to start? They have two Rat a normal and little which did you build?

I only have the tip that came with my solder, it's like a medium side...do you think i'd have to get a small tip, too, or is that size tip okay on the little boards if i get in and out fast?

also, have you painted them or labeled them?
 
Damnit Pikingrin. You were supposed to say that the kits were awful, and they were a giant fiasco, and they sound like crap. Now I'm gonna have to buy a bunch of them. And an Octavia? Insult to injury, man.

Seriously though, I'm glad to hear that the pedals have been a success. Now a DIY kit has moved up on my already too long wish list.
 
thanks, do you think building a Rat from BYOC would be an okay place to start? They have two Rat a normal and little which did you build?

I only have the tip that came with my solder, it's like a medium side...do you think i'd have to get a small tip, too, or is that size tip okay on the little boards if i get in and out fast?

also, have you painted them or labeled them?
I built the normal version; I have built two of their mini pedals and I think that's all I care to do. IMO it's much easier to fit everything in the normal size enclosure than in a mini - you have to be very careful on the mini kits to keep your wires from the jacks to the PCB short enough so that they don't pinch and don't keep the PCB from sitting low enough to put the back plate on the pedal. Kind of a challenge with the minis that you don't have to worry about with any of the normal sized enclosures. I am pretty sure I got the 125b sized enclosure, it's similar to the size of an MXR box and there's plenty of room.

Hopefully your soldering iron is no more than 25 watts, that's all you'll need. I use a pencil tip with a point at the end of it, some use a chisel tip from what I've seen. The small pencil tip that I use lets you get in and make good contact with the soldering pads without any collateral damage to the surrounding board. You could give your tip a try and see how it goes, no harm in that. Also, not sure what size solder you have, but I would recommend ordering some Kester 1mm (0.30") rosin core 60/40 off of amazon (or your local hardware store if they have it). The kits come with solder, and it works, but it's just not as high quality as the Kester stuff and the joints just don't have the shine like they should. Pretty sure I'll have to resolder the pedal that I used the kit solder on at some point in time.

I have painted all of mine and it's been a trial and error process to figure out what works. I haven't tried the printed labels though. I checked out this video on YouTube after I screwed up my first pedal. This guy uses the labels but his prep methods work well. Sand the enclosure, wipe down with Naptha (gasses off quickly), and apply a few thin coats of clean metal primer. Spray with your color of choice, again just a few thin coats to cover the primer, and then a few coats of gloss clear coat after that just for added protection. I have used a paint marker on some to put the name and control labels on - if you go that route, put the markings on before you apply the clear coat. If you don't care and just want to use a sharpie, which is what I've done on the last few, make sure you put the clear coat on and let it dry before you mark with the sharpie. If you use the marker before clear coating, it bleeds out a little and doesn't look very good.
 
Damnit Pikingrin. You were supposed to say that the kits were awful, and they were a giant fiasco, and they sound like crap. Now I'm gonna have to buy a bunch of them. And an Octavia? Insult to injury, man.

Seriously though, I'm glad to hear that the pedals have been a success. Now a DIY kit has moved up on my already too long wish list.
Sorry about that, Tadpui! :D

If it makes you feel any better, I did have an issue with one of the builds... But, that was builder error, before I knew what everything was, and it was easy enough (and good practice) to fix. Like I said, I'm an addict now - my wishlists on GGG and BYOC haven't even begun to dwindle down... :facepalm:
 
I didn't read all the thread so sorry if I missed something. A couple years ago I was into this DIY pedals and started to collect projects, parts lists, sites, etc. I ended finding the forum and the parts mentioned by Ash and as I was super-excited with the idea of make my own stomp boxes I ordered the parts and the board to assemble a compressor.

The very first issue that you may be prepared to face is that mostly of the time you WON'T find the proper parts for your projects. Buy electronic parts is not as to go shopping with a supermarket list. Mostly of available projects will list a few parts that are discontinued, obsolete or simply hard to find. Sure, you have the 'equivalent lists' that supposed to point you alternative parts that you can put in place, but some of those parts (specially ICs and transistors) aren't just direct replace ones and they require adaptations, changes in the pinning and other tricky things.

Second there is the PCB board problem. One will want to make their own board and deal with its design, the acid bath, etc. I wouldn't advice to do that. For the novice it's better to go after the ready to use PCBs. There are some online stores that already sell the PCBs for the pedals you want to assemble.

In my case, I had a huge list of pedals I had the intention to assemble. Long history short, I never finished the first project (a compressor). My main obstacle is that I am not good with soldering iron (or my iron is crap) and I started to frustrate myself struggling with soldering simple parts as capacitors and resistors, so I didn't wan to move forward and try to solder transistors and ICs to not risk to burn them. Then the project remained where it is and I never came back to it again. To tell you the truth I am not willing to and it just remembered me that I have to find the stuff and give it away for someone else...

:facepalm:

What I mean is that this is the kind of project only for those that has previous intimacy with electronics. Beside the soldering part (that seems to be quite easy, but believe me it is not that simple to make a good soldering!) hardly a kit or project will work straightly after the assembling. I already had such experience several years ago assembling electronics magazine kits and mostly of the ones I made never worked or worked with issues that I couldn't solve. An experienced electronic technician can quickly spot (and fix) a problem by the symptoms like hums, buzzes, burn smell, etc, but for a simple curious person it's practically impossible and you will just keep staring to that thing.

The problem with electronic kit assemblers is that we normally don't know jack about electronics and that thing is just a board with a bunch of mysterious parts attached to it. At least that's how it is for me. I have not any idea how that stuff works!

This way I think that pedal projects are for the electronics enthusiast that has plenty of experience or for those that wants to dive into this and LEARN. Now if you are only a guitarist that is after to get cheap clones of boutique pedals or impress your friends with your fancy homemade boxes, know that:

1) Kits aren't as cheap as they seem
2) This is a hard way to go

If you didn't get scared with my words just never mind and rock on!

:listeningmusic:
 
can you guys recommend a brand and model of primer and lacquer? i read you have to use gloss and i can't find any gloss stuff that's cheap at all they're all like $30 for a can.
 
If you're going to use these for finishing the aluminum enclosure, just go to Ace hardware (or Walmart) and grab some clean metal primer and a can of gloss clear coat - Rustoleum makes both and they're around $5.00 per can. If you have an Ace hardware, their store brand works just as well and it's about $3.50 per can here.

Just make sure that you sand down the enclosure and wipe clean with Naptha before you start spraying. Don't overdo it on any of your coats and you'll be fine. You can do a fine sand and re-wipe with Natpha between coats if you want, too, just to make sure there is a rough surface for the paint to adhere to.
 
If you're going to use these for finishing the aluminum enclosure, just go to Ace hardware (or Walmart) and grab some clean metal primer and a can of gloss clear coat - Rustoleum makes both and they're around $5.00 per can. If you have an Ace hardware, their store brand works just as well and it's about $3.50 per can here.

Just make sure that you sand down the enclosure and wipe clean with Naptha before you start spraying. Don't overdo it on any of your coats and you'll be fine. You can do a fine sand and re-wipe with Natpha between coats if you want, too, just to make sure there is a rough surface for the paint to adhere to.

thanks for those leads piningrin. did you use the gloss primer? i read online people saying to only use the gloss not the flat for the primer, and i can't find the gloss that cheap anywhere online, but i can check out local stores. did you use a brush to get the primer on or an aerosol can?

also, what grit of sandpaper do you think i should use?

oh one more question: can these pedals all be connected to one another safely? do any of them have issues?
 
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No, I just use Ace hardware brand flat white clean metal primer in an aerosol can. Once the color goes on, I use a clear gloss topcoat in a spray can as well. I'd imagine that the lacquer that you had asked about in an earlier post may be recommended if you're using water transfer decals - it builds quicker and provides more of a hard finish I think. However, having relentlessly stomped on my original builds, the spray can stuff works just fine.

I sand with 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper, the black stuff, to prep my enclosures. I'd say, as long as it's not anything lower than 120 grit or so you'd be fine. The really coarse grits scratch the enclosure up pretty good.

Every pedal that I have built goes on a 1-spot in a chain with any other off-the-shelf pedals. Typically, they will say in the description of the kit whether or not they will have to be on their own PS. Most kits, though, have a negative ground circuit and are able to be daisy chained on a PS with other 9v pedals you may have. If anything, they all come with a 9v battery terminal that you can wire in if you don't want to worry about all of that. Do some googling into positive ground and negative ground pedals to get a little more detailed info.
 
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