DIY Pedals?

[BloodRose]

Im not sure if I got the brand right, (BYO? DIY?) but there is a co that makes pedal kits. Anyone have experience with these? Do they sound like the orig pedals? Id love to build one and save a buck or two. If I had a workshop, id love to build a guitar, rewind pup and try to learn to mod pedals, but... Anyhow, curious about these pedals

[dominus]

Re: DIY Pedals?

BYOC - Build Your Own Clone:

http://buildyourownclone.com/

Not really how to save money, it's just to have the satisfaction of doing it yourself. If you want to save money, you buy a Chinese clone like Joyo or Biyang.

[Surgeon]

Re: DIY Pedals?

It's a lot of fun to build. You'd be hard-pressed (IMHO impossible) to distinguish a tubescreamer clone from a DIY clone, unless it's poorly put together (parasitic noise and such).

The best way to do it for less than these clones (and therefore pay a bit less than the chinese clones) is to source everything yourself rather than buy kits. It's easy enough but also enough trouble (read: not as easy as ordering everything you need in one click) to discourage a lot of people from doing it.

[jon the art guy]

Re: DIY Pedals?

BYOCs are great. Madbean's Pedals and GuitarPCB kits are better IMO. I've got a Zendrive clone from GuitarPCB and it's really nice sounding. General Guitar Gadgets have a couple amp sim pedals that I want to work on...

[jimijames]

Re: DIY Pedals?

I really like General Guitar Gadgets, if for nothing else than their prices.

BYOC is a bit expensive IMO. You get the DIY kit at about the same price you'd get the pedal for anyway. I've bought a lot of their kits but always end up keeping the GGG kits instead. Except for the ESV Fuzz, but that's such a simple circuit you should be able to source and make it yourself for less than $50, let alone the near-$100 BYOC charges. I was just naive.

Plus, if you start putting together the pedals like Surgeon and Jon the art guy recommend, you'll be able to do a lot more creative stuff - an example being trevorus's earlier thread where he made a Z.vex box of rock in an old oakleys case.

At any rate it is a lot cheaper (and a lot of fun) to do your own pedals.

[jon the art guy]

Re: DIY Pedals?

Practically anything you would want to build can be located at tagboardeffects. They're all built on veroboard or stripboard, and they're not schematic you have to wade through, they're diagrams. Follow the picture, solder the leads to the strips, and possibly adjust a bias or two with a trimmer they already told you to buy in the Bill of materials.

The guts are usually the cheap parts, especially if you're building with silicon transistors and no germaniums. The expensive parts are pretty much the enclosure and knobs.

A Silicon fuzz face is literally like $.50 in go-parts and $20 in other stuff.

[MasterKtulu]

Re: DIY Pedals?

I've done two General Guitar Gadgets kits (a Rat & TS808 Clones), and they turned out great and fun to do. The TS808 clone was especially fun to do, as they give you all the extra parts and instructions to mod the the pedal anyway you like. I don't know how close the clones compare to the originals, but both are still on my boards...

[VanDerchuck]

Re: DIY Pedals?

My best advice is to search tagboardeffects for a couple different circuits and build them that way at first. Some vero board, some caps, some resistors, some diodes, some pots, a whole bunch of different transistors, and a couple of enclosures for the price of one byoc kit. Learn to solder the boards first, a little practice can't hurt. Plus your not out as much when you mess one up. You'll learn about the circuits, and how transistors work. And how tame strange oscillations that didn't show up the last time you built the same circuit.

I really like mammoth electronics for parts. They have fair prices, plus you can get scratch and dent enclosures that are predrilled. The five I bought all came in good enough shape to use as is, all powder coated.

I do highly suggest practicing. Using a small solder tip. And getting a few extra components. Just in case.

[jon the art guy]

Re: DIY Pedals?

I really like mammoth electronics for parts. They have fair prices, plus you can get scratch and dent enclosures that are predrilled. The five I bought all came in good enough shape to use as is, all powder coated.

I do highly suggest practicing. Using a small solder tip. And getting a few extra components. Just in case.

Mammoth is great, especially for their sexy enclosures. I think they're directly connected to Walrus Audio pedals?
Tayda is really great, and if you add them on facebook they publish monthly coupons for 15% off. Some people have expressed a dislike of Tayda, but I've gotten my order quickly and correctly. I would also suggest Smallbear. They've got everything you need. GuitarPCB sells some of the harder components to source, like matched germanium sets.

[ratherdashing]

Re: DIY Pedals?

BYOC is awesome if you are new to building pedals and want a kit that has everything you need to do a build (aside from a soldering iron and time). Their instructions are the best, and their forum is full of smart guys who can help troubleshoot problems. They do cost more (sometimes as much as the pedal they're cloning) but you do get what you pay for IMO.

A General Guitar Gadgets kit has all the parts you need, but very little in the way of instructions and reference material. Great kits though. I'd recommend them if you're confident with pedal building and don't need lots of hand-holding.

[trevorus]

Re: DIY Pedals?

I've been stuck on the DIY stuff for a while now. Etching my own PCBs is pretty easy, if you have the gear for it. Photo paper and a laser printer can make excellent transfers if you do the procedure right. Failing that, go vero board.

[AudioWonderland]

Re: DIY Pedals?

I have a couple of GGG pedals and 4 BYOC. They are decent enough. Usually they are as good as the build quality allows. I have a Governor Clone and several loopers and A/B boxes from GGG. Opticomp/Octafuzz/Reverb 2/ Lazy Sprocket from BYOC.

The Gov clone has come off the board along with several other dirt boxes now that I am playing the Legacy 3 amp mostly now. The Loopers and AB came off and were replaced with a single loop master pedal.

[Surgeon]

Re: DIY Pedals?

Can't recommend tayda strongly enough myself. Nothing but great experiences and they're increasing the variety a lot...

[uOpt]

Re: DIY Pedals?

I built a Big Muff. Worked on first try and sounds awesome. Looks like hell since I'm too lazy to paint it and even if I did I don't have any waterslides to label it.

[BloodRose]

Re: DIY Pedals?

BYOCs are great. Madbean's Pedals and GuitarPCB kits are better IMO. I've got a Zendrive clone from GuitarPCB and it's really nice sounding. General Guitar Gadgets have a couple amp sim pedals that I want to work on...

Id never heard of those brands.. Thanks! Yeah, Ive always thought BYOC prices were kinda near retail for the built one