DIY Stompboxes

celticafro

celticafro

New member
G'day, everyone! I haven't been here for about a year. But now I have a question, and I figure you folks are the ones to turn to! I'm a drummer/guitarist living in Australia, and I'm trying to kill two birds with one stone:

1) I'm interested in doing some DIY stomp boxes. I just built a amazing-sounding DI box from a kit at school. It's the first piece of electonics I've built, and now I've got the bug.

2) I also want an early 70's bigmuff clone. I've done a lot of listening, and a reasonable amount of research into repro peoplestuff to know that this is a sound that I'm looking for.

Does anyone know of a place that sells DIY kits for a classic Big Muff? I can't seem to find anyone who supplies THAT specific model. I've found schematics available from ronsound.com, but he won't supply the parts.

I'm not opposed to going and sourcing the components myself, either. Is there a one-stop resource wehre I could get all of the components for a reasonable price?

I really want to be able to put it together myself. The DI box was TOO much fun, and I reckon I'd be able to save a few bucks by putting it together myself.

Any ideas?! Cheers!
 
Re: DIY Stompboxes

www.diystompboxes.com

Go there, read read read and read some more. There's a ton of information out there. There's a lot more to DIY stompboxes than putting them together with a preassembled kit. The fun part is the troubleshooting. What if something goes wrong? How will you find the problem? Do you know where to start, what tools to use, what values affect what?

I'm not trying to burst your bubble, just letting you know that there's more to it than those kits. I've been doing the DIY thing for a few years and started out doing the beginner project on www.diystompboxes.com and reading until I couldn't take it anymore, sometimes the same article multiple times.

There are a couple "build your own clone" circuits I'd like to get, the phaser being one.

Also, be careful of schematics out on the web. A lot of them are wrong.
 
Re: DIY Stompboxes

The think I like about BYOC in your situation you get a pedal that is pretty much no brainer to build to gt you used to soldering and mounting things inside the boxes and routing wires etc. Like Erik said there are so many places out there to read up on this stuff that it will make your head explode!! It is a disease like anything else though!!!
 
Re: DIY Stompboxes

Man, thanks to you guys! I came across BYOC about a year ago, but they were a little different then, and they didn't have the Large Beaver (lol) at the time. After that, I lost them again, and I couldn't remember their name, and I haven't run into them before now in my search.

Thanks for that, B Bent and ErikH!
 
Re: DIY Stompboxes

Now that CelticAfro got his answers (love the screen name btw) ...

I've always wondered something - do you guys like the square boxes the diy pedals use? Does anyone make boxes with the little slopey fronts? You know like the Boss pedals. It seems like there might be a market for these boxes if someone made them.
 
Re: DIY Stompboxes

There is a guy in Europe that makes Boss style boxes but rather than the Boss style footswitch, you use a typical DPDT or 3PDT in the middle of the slope. Very cool looking boxes. Fry's Electronics and Mouser also have the generic sloped front project boxes.

I've been using the MXR style Hammond boxes and a couple others that are a like it with some more room in them. You have no idea what a PITA it is stuffing a circuit in one of those MXR style boxes....LOL. Every measurement has to be exact or you won't get the back on.

Some guys even use the metal electrical gang boxes with the removable lids. Just mount everything to the lid and there you have it. One problem, those aren't beer proof. :)
 
Re: DIY Stompboxes

Hmmm... In the future, I intend to not rely on DIY kits and all that. In your folks's experience, what is the best way to get your hands on all the neccessary components and parts? Where is the "best" place to go to find it all as cheaply and swiftly as possible?

I also enjoy the idea of making my own box for the pedals... but let's just take this one step at a time. :13:
 
Re: DIY Stompboxes

Small Bear Electronics
Mouser
DigiKey

All three of those places will have parts for all your projects. Good luck. And go to www.geofex.com and read everything there. It's a great site to learn more about this stuff.
 
Re: DIY Stompboxes

celticafro said:
Hmmm... In the future, I intend to not rely on DIY kits and all that. In your folks's experience, what is the best way to get your hands on all the neccessary components and parts? Where is the "best" place to go to find it all as cheaply and swiftly as possible?

I also enjoy the idea of making my own box for the pedals... but let's just take this one step at a time. :13:
Click to expand...
I'm lucky enough to have at least two non-Radio Shack surplus electronics stores within 25 miles of me, one of which I only recently discovered. You should check around and see if the same is true for you.
 
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