DIY Effect Pedal Kits-with bonus!

calaverasgrandes · Post by **calaverasgrandes** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 1:11 pm

Well I dug out the old "Electronics Projects for Musicians" by Craig Anderton and was looking through it to see if I wanted to build anything other than a fuzz. Then I got online to look up some places to buy kits or pcbs.
Came up with these;

Build Your Own Clone, expensive kits that cost nearly as much as the originals(or more). Though they do come with everything and some of these just arent made anymore.
http://buildyourownclone.com/fxkitindex.html

General Guitar Gadgets, pretty much all versions of discontinued pedals, can buy just the PCB if you have your own parts.
http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/index.php

AMZ, this fella has some nifty schematics for free and a few PCBs for sale.
http://www.muzique.com/pcb.htm

Paia, yeah they still exist. The source for those Anderton kits if you have the above-mentioned book. Plenty of other stuff too.
http://www.paia.com/guitarfx.asp

OLC, mostly their own versions of various classic amps in pedal form. Prices are high-ish.
http://www.olcircuits.com/olckits.html

Now for the bonus
I am thinking of building one or two of these kits for studio use. Anyone have any luck with balancing one of these types of deals? I am looking to build possibly an EQ or compressor and balance it electronically or ideally with iron. My other pet project idea is to adapt one of the ring mod kits for balanced operation. Can you say mid side ring mod?

strdsk · Post by **strdsk** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 4:35 am

Any Bi-phase kits? I bought a MuTron Bi-Phase pedal years back from Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins. It sounded amazing, but had some issues...so I sold it...like an idiot. Man...I miss that pedal!

Aj · Post by Aj » Thu Dec 10, 2009 5:38 am

Don't forget BYOC....

http://www.buildyourownclone.com/

They have a great forum area. You might ask there.

Nate Dort · Post by **Nate Dort** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 5:42 am

He didn't:

calaverasgrandes wrote:Build Your Own Clone, expensive kits that cost nearly as much as the originals(or more). Though they do come with everything and some of these just arent made anymore.
http://buildyourownclone.com/fxkitindex.html

calaverasgrandes · Post by **calaverasgrandes** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 9:11 am

strdsk wrote:Any Bi-phase kits? I bought a MuTron Bi-Phase pedal years back from Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins. It sounded amazing, but had some issues...so I sold it...like an idiot. Man...I miss that pedal!

not to mention mutron anything is pedal collector gold. If you could prove it was Corgans it would be worth a house payment by now.
I got a bass cabinet that belonged to the Bassist of Filth, guitarist of the Rickets and a guitarist of Sleep/Asbestos death. No proof of that but I could probably organize a photo shoot if I wanted to sell it (which I dont!).

I might check out the BYOC forums as well. Though at this point I spend a little too much time on forums!

Jeff White · Post by **Jeff White** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 10:40 am

I just built three General Guitar Gadgets pedals this fall, and will be purchasing and building another of there Reverb kits in the next week or two. The reverb is one knob for amount and sounds really great for the money. Simple build. I also built the Tremolo pedal, which is awesome, and the Shin ei Fuzz. All of the pedals were built for a friend with the exception of the tremolo.

I am going to order a reverb pedal kit for myself in 2010, along with a BYOC Tubescreamer pedal. That Tubescreamer has like every mod ever built into it, and I'll use it in series with my modded TS-9 for even more drive. I am not a fan of distortion pedals but love me some overdrive.

If you find out how to balance these things, let me know. I'm fine with using pedals with my Radial X-Amp, but rack-mounting a balanced stereo version of this reverb would be amazing. Or combining Reverb/Analog Delay in a rack. Couldn't be too difficult, right? I mean, the power supply would be a bit difficult, correct?

Jeff

calaverasgrandes · Post by **calaverasgrandes** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 10:53 am

actually power supply is simple. There isno end of power supply kits, fivefish has one that is adjustable. The balancing shouldnt be too hard if I just use transformers, but electrical balancing is cheaper and all which adds up with multiple ins and outs.

space_ryerson · Post by **space_ryerson** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 1:02 pm

Here are some more:

For buying circuit boards, http://www.tonepad.com/ comes to mind as well.

commonsound has some wild original projects.

http://fuzzcentral.ssguitar.com/ doesn't sell circuit boards, but lists the schematics and layouts for some pretty decent pedal projects. If you roll your own circuit boards (less hard than you think), it can open some doors up.

http://musicfromouterspace.com/ sells circuit boards for analog synths, but many of them can be adapted for other uses.

If you ever want to get into the 'how it works' side of things, http://geofex.com/ has a LOT of good info.

...and if the diy pedals bug has bitten you as badly as it has me, the
the diystompboxes forum is a daily read. Many people sell circuit boards there as well. There's a wealth of info and schematics there, and it's a pretty friendly forum.

calaverasgrandes · Post by **calaverasgrandes** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 1:15 pm

thanks for the links Space_ryerson. I happened across those as well but didnt think they were as salient. But I do like how you think.
My general goal is to build up some effect pedals with line level ins and outs, or if its not too hard, line and instrument level ins and outs.
I am inclined to build them into rack boxes, but then why not stomp box sized line level gear? I mostly want them for synth and drum machine work as well as for the odd round trip out of the DAW.

I have been on the DIY thing for a while. I got the Anderton book back in the 80's and built one or two projects but ran out of steam when the parts were hard to come by. Now with the internet parts (and substitutions) are easier to come by.
I am also branching out from modding. Having modded a lot of my synths and pedals, I just want...more.

space_ryerson · Post by **space_ryerson** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 2:55 pm

Having modded a lot of my synths and pedals, I just want...more.

Oh, I definitely know the feeling...

I got Anderton's guitar projects book in the 90's as a teenager, and that's when the solder bug really bit me. His books definitely seem to be a catalyst for a lot of modders/builders out there.

You may know about them already, but I forgot to mention Small Bear for parts. They often have some of the harder to find transistors and whatnot.

Nathangrn · Post by **Nathangrn** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 5:10 pm

Here's a link to a Robert Keeley article about adding an XLR to a compressor pedal. Looks like you'd have to email him for the schematic because it is illegible.

http://www.musicianshotline.com/archive ... r/0805.htm

winky dinglehoffer · Post by **winky dinglehoffer** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 6:02 pm

Not exactly a pedal, but the only bi-phase clone I know of:
http://m.bareille.free.fr/biphase/biphase.htm

signorMars · Post by **signorMars** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 8:54 pm

strdsk wrote:Any Bi-phase kits? I bought a MuTron Bi-Phase pedal years back from Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins. It sounded amazing, but had some issues...so I sold it...like an idiot. Man...I miss that pedal!

Even without the famous former owner, someone ought to stab you in the eyes for selling a Bi-Phase!! I guess the guilt and shame will have to suffice as your punishment.

I have a Phasor II that is my absolute favorite pedal... lucky bid on ebay, picked it up for $108 shipped about 8 years ago.

as far as diy pedals, check out www.smallbearelec.com for parts and schematics.

casey campbell · Post by **casey campbell** » Sat Dec 12, 2009 11:11 am

calaverasgrandes wrote:Well I dug out the old "Electronics Projects for Musicians" by Craig Anderton and was looking through it to see if I wanted to build anything other than a fuzz. Then I got online to look up some places to buy kits or pcbs.
Came up with these;

Build Your Own Clone, expensive kits that cost nearly as much as the originals(or more). Though they do come with everything and some of these just arent made anymore.
http://buildyourownclone.com/fxkitindex.html

General Guitar Gadgets, pretty much all versions of discontinued pedals, can buy just the PCB if you have your own parts.
http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/index.php

AMZ, this fella has some nifty schematics for free and a few PCBs for sale.
http://www.muzique.com/pcb.htm

Paia, yeah they still exist. The source for those Anderton kits if you have the above-mentioned book. Plenty of other stuff too.
http://www.paia.com/guitarfx.asp

OLC, mostly their own versions of various classic amps in pedal form. Prices are high-ish.
http://www.olcircuits.com/olckits.html

Now for the bonus
I am thinking of building one or two of these kits for studio use. Anyone have any luck with balancing one of these types of deals? I am looking to build possibly an EQ or compressor and balance it electronically or ideally with iron. My other pet project idea is to adapt one of the ring mod kits for balanced operation. Can you say mid side ring mod?

jack orman from amz is the bomb. the fulltone fat boost is a stolen jack orman design. r.g. keen and mark hammer are also the the forefathers of pedal building.

those 3 guys did more for the pedal building community. there is another guy, who in the early nineties put out a schematic for just about every pedal design out there, but i can't remember his name now...

i would suggest getting some strip (vero) board, and building something from aronnelson.com/gallery. much cheaper...and just about every great circuit is there. my effects gallery (casey's vintage effects) on that site is good too. i've got a ton of vintage circuits if that's more your flavor...

space_ryerson · Post by **space_ryerson** » Sat Dec 12, 2009 1:28 pm

casey campbell wrote:jack orman from amz is the bomb. the fulltone fat boost is a stolen jack orman design. r.g. keen and mark hammer are also the the forefathers of pedal building.

I can't say enough positive things about those three guys! Their willingness to help complete strangers is not only very generous, but underscores their love of musical electronics.

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