building pedals?

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tylerxxx

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any of you ever done it?
any good tips/links or anything?

thanks!
 
tylerxxx said:
any of you ever done it?
any good tips/links or anything?
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The subject's been done to death here many times before, so you might save some time just doing a search.

Bottom line is that you can buy two lot better pedals than you can make in 2006 for the price of building one, if you shop hard.

People may still wish to build pedals as a hobby thing, but the smart money's on ready-built. It's no longer possible to handbuild a comparable pedal to a modern effect having a highly-sophisticated subminiature circuit.
 
Ive built a few. But it takes time. There are a ton of schematics and layouts on the web. You have to make sure you order the right parts. I'm done with that phase in my life. It is not a lot cheaper building and effects box, plus the time and work you put in it. I started putting more time in recording. I would start with a simple project just to see if you like it.
 
bongolation said:
The subject's been done to death here many times before, so you might save some time just doing a search.

Bottom line is that you can buy two lot better pedals than you can make in 2006 for the price of building one, if you shop hard.

People may still wish to build pedals as a hobby thing, but the smart money's on ready-built. It's no longer possible to handbuild a comparable pedal to a modern effect having a highly-sophisticated subminiature circuit.
Click to expand...

search function doesn't work on my browser for some reason.

a friend of mine is telling me about this right now, saying he builds pedals for like 65 bucks, and if that's the case, and they work/sound fine, i'd much rather build my own than buy pre-built.

plus, i'd like to learn about wiring and schematics and all of that, and maybe someday build my own heads. that is far off, though.
 
To search, you have to be logged in. Then it's in the blue bar near the top.

Pedal building is not an economic move. You won't save anything--in fact, you'll probably spend more. If you think you'll save money over buying, say, Boss pedals, you won't.

However, there are great advantages to being able to build your own. Queue the list!

1. If you're looking for a pedal that hasn't been made since the 70s, and it vosts $700 on eBay, if you can find a schematic, you will be able to save a lot of money. This is a rare case, but you can undercut "vintage" prices. For anything in production, don't waste your time and money.

2. There are some--no, MANY--pedals that are not made commercially. Google "circuit snippets" and take the first entry. It's Tim Escobedo's site full of wonky pedals that nobody makes. I built the Uglyface from his site, and unless you build it yourself, you cannot get it. Building your own opens up non-commercial pedals to your arsenal.

3. You can make pedals look like anything you want. The painting/finishing is definitely an art in itself, and once you have a working pedal, it's nice to style it up to catch people's eyes. It's nice to have people say. "woah, what's THAT pedal," and be able to respond, "I made it myself. In my basement. Because I'm so awesome."

4. It's fun. At times it's more frustrating than anything else I've tried. But it's fulfilling to get a pedal you made yourself.

To get started, check out the following:

www.generalguitargadgets.com
www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum
www.muzique.com
www.geocities.com/tpe123/folkurban/fuzz/snippets.html
 
i am always logged in. the search button brings up a .php download, then just continues to open new firefox browsers.

anyways, i've been reading about pedals all day. hopefully by the time i have cash to blow, i will have a solid understanding of pedals and how they work.
 
also, i don't see how building a digital delay pedal for 75 as opposed to paying 150 for a new one, is NOT saving money. i'm not trying to start crap or anything, i'm just wondering why you guys think it will be as much or more expensive than buying commercial pedals.
 
tylerxxx said:
also, i don't see how building a digital delay pedal for 75 as opposed to paying 150 for a new one, is NOT saving money. i'm not trying to start crap or anything, i'm just wondering why you guys think it will be as much or more expensive than buying commercial pedals.
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tylerxxx said:
a friend of mine is telling me about this right now, saying he builds pedals for like 65 bucks, and if that's the case, and they work/sound fine, i'd much rather build my own than buy pre-built.
Click to expand...


First off, your friend is full of shit.
Second, your friend isn't building dital delays.

Now, the reason a distortion pedal can be built for $50-70 is because of two thing.....

One, undercutting costs via using SHIT materials. And two, (this is the biggie) the over ehad cost of getting started building has already been absorbed or is simply not being counted into the cost.

For me the overhead just in obtaining stuff easily came out to over $150 in the basic neccessities. You don't see it right off the bat when making your parts list, but they pop up and they DO add up...quick.


Now the first part I said about undercutting the cost is because a QUALITY enclosure to house a pedal is between $10-25. Anything that is more than a simplistic fuzz will need a box bigger than the MXR size because lets face it, our fingers are not automated robot arms. So now you case is $20 after tax and/or shipping.

Now you need the actual parts. If you buy in bulk, hitting your budget goal is possible...even for a digital delay. The problem is that all the little parts you need are not gonna work for every pedal....so you might have 20 pots that are 5k and you only need 1 and your next 10 pedal projects only really are gonna use 3 or 4. Now you are at almost $2 each as opposed to $1.25 for bulk. Sure you could spend $20 and get them in bulk, but thats $20 and you won't use them anytime soon. Samething with all the other stuff...even the $0.07 resistors. THen there is shipping....which if you need a hard to obtain part that is only $0.50, youi still end up spending $3-5 on it....and it will happen. I have a very good electronic store down the road called Circuit Specialists (they are on the net too, use them), but they don't always have what I need becuase thats just how things work.

Also you have to consider things don't always work when you assemble them. Even if you assemble a simple jimi hendrix style Fuzz Face. yes, search over at Aron's Stompbox forum for "fuzz face problem'. Its like a fucking encyclopedia of issues for a project that has all of about 20 parts.....and that part count includes the case and pc board lol......its rediculous. And if that gives that many people that mny problems, imaging a digital delay with about 150-200 parts. Thats a lot of potential for fucking up.
i am done typing for now.
 
alright, thanks. once again, i'm not trying to start anything, just trying to figure out if this is worth doing or not.
 
tylerxxx said:
alright, thanks. once again, i'm not trying to start anything, just trying to figure out if this is worth doing or not.
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I edited my post and added a new last paragraph if you are interested. ;)
 
I have never tried this before, but according to above posts, if you have the time, go for it, but I wouldn't plan on doing it to save money, as most do it as a hobby. You would be better off buying them.
 
mjm620 said:
I have never tried this before, but according to above posts, if you have the time, go for it, but I wouldn't plan on doing it to save money, as most do it as a hobby. You would be better off buying them.
Click to expand...

buying them wouldn't come close to satisfying me as much as building my own, haha. although i definitely plan on buying some, at least.
 
tylerxxx said:
buying them wouldn't come close to satisfying me as much as building my own, haha. although i definitely plan on buying some, at least.
Click to expand...

I totally agree. When I first looked into building my own, it was because I couldn't afford a Digitech Whammy pedal. I looked into what I could build. Nothing you can do yourself does what a Digitech Whammy does. But once I got into the hobby, I enjoyed it. And then, after building three pedals, I bought a Digitech Whammy anyway. (Actually I got a good deal from someone else at the pedal building forum).

Building does not stop you from wanting to buy because some pedals are not feasible to build. But a mostly-custom pedalboard is just. . . awesome.

Oh, I forgot, the other advantage to building your own is becoming familiar with how they work. This is key because it allows you to figure out how to fix pedals that crap out on you. Being competent enough to fix your own pedals can save a lot of money.

AND. . . modding your own pedals. Switching out a capacitor value here or there to get a custom tone better suited to your gear. NO stock pedal is perfect for EVERY setup. But if you can modify them to your liking, you can make a factory pedal your very own.

And, I know you didn't eant to start anything, but $75 for a digital delay is a very low estimate, and only if you buikld like 20 of them, as tyler said. I've only built four pedals so far, and I've spent at least $600 because I bought tons of extra parts to stock my bench for future, unforseen projects. $75 is if you consider that you only used $2 of paint from a $12 can of spray paint--but you still have to buy the whole can. I;ve spent a lot, but I can also build a ton of pedals with what I already have. But the "Getting Started" purchases, including tools, makes a single pedal for $75 impossible.

Helpful hints to save money:

1. Recycle cases from other brken electronic devices. I'm going to build my next pedal in a couple of computer hard drives. I want to make a 3-in-1 edal in my old DVD player. Become a scavenger.

2. Become best friends with someone who owns an autobody shop. Some people will give you as deal on paintjobs (and good ones, too) if you agree to use something that they're already using that day. They can just give the box a once-over when blowing out the lines. It's very little extra effort for them. And when you're done the graphics, an autobody's epoxy clearcoat is one of the best protective clears that won't turn yellow.

3. Buy a little more than what you need, because something will break. Having to pay shippinhg for a package just for a single transistor is really annoying.
 
im getting excited, i think im gonan try my luck with this, maybe this summer.
 
Build Your Own Clone is a great site for kits. I just finished my fuzz face clone and I love it. I didn't get it right the first time but I was patient and thorough and I triumphed. $75 for a boutique fuzz pedal ($150). No parts were substandard. Quite the opposite. I am planning on the MKII fuzz pedal next. A friend highly recommended the delay pedal after he built one from BYOC. Lots of great pedals to build. All are classic designs that typically are THE vintage pedal to have. And I also put $20 into a soldering iron and accessories. I'm hooked. Weber speaker and amps have a late 60's Marshall 100w head kit for $700 I plan on working my way up to. And before any of yall say it...amplifier capacitors store enough energy to kill a human and a person needs to be careful and knowlegeable around such dangers.

www.buildyourownclone.com
 
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