DIY pedals

Wana_make_a_guitar

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Maybe jim or trevor or Blue could answer this. What were the sites that sold DIY pedal kits? I think I might wanna buy one.........or four.  :icon_biggrin:
 
There's BYOC (http://www.buildyourownclone.com/). Their kits are really a steal for what you get. The layout is thought out, the directions are as simple and as detailed as you could possibly be, and most kits offer additional options to modify from the original if you want.
 
Also generalguitargadgets.com.  Never tried 'em but they're cheaper than BYOC...
 
I have tried them both.  The BYOC pedals are a nicer product, the pcbs are manufactured, not homebuilds, but the effects are more or less the same.  GGG has some different clones available as well.  If you like dirt boxes, try the Red Llama, it is a great distortion pedal for not to much money.  I just finished the Stereo Analog Flanger last night and it is pretty damn cool.  Might try one other mod to it, but it is pretty fun already.  If you do get a BYOC pedal, definitely lurk through their forum.  Most people have already had any problem you might run into.  Good luck, and watch out, another addictive habit...
Patrick

 
Wana's_makin'_a_guitar said:
dbw said:
Also generalguitargadgets.com.  Never tried 'em but they're cheaper than BYOC...
For me, cheaper is better!

I've seen what both offer and actually built a couple of BYOC kits, the BYOC stuff really is much higher quality. Although I'm now moving on to using veroboard and sourcing my own parts as it's a lot cheaper.
 
Wana.

I've done a couple of BYOC kits, and they are great.  Not familiar with the GGG kits, so I wont comment on those.  My only reservation with getting the cheaper stuff ( and I totally understand you reasons!) is that if 'You buy cheap, you buy twice'.

I did the BYOC Triboost clean boost pedal, and the 5-knob compressor.
Both are great, as long as you take your time, and are careful to get nice clean solder joints.

 
I want to do three pedals actually, and BYOC have them there. I want a phaser, 5 knob compressor and the digital delay with ping pong. They all seem really cool. 

I built myself a pedal board the other day, and my wah looks really lonely!  :laughing7:
 
The ping pong delay is really crammed in there.  I built one and I do not think that the kits are too tough.  But, it has a ton of components stuffed onto it.  The GGG kits are nice, well done kits.  But, the boards are not as nice as the BYOC ones.  I really like the GGG Red Llama distortion box.  The BYOC 5 knob compressor is one of those pedals you wonder how you lived without it.  It really is a Ross compressor with a tone knob, very nice grab.  The BYOC lazy sprocket (Slow Gear) is another one of those unavailable pedals that they offer.  I am not sure how useful it is, but it looks pretty easy.  The BYOC Tri boost is a great pedal as well.  It is like having a Rangemaster with a Zvex SHO, and a silicon boost added on top.  I always seem like an advertisement for BYOC, but they are a lot of fun.
Patrick

 
The Lazy Sprocket is a great little pedal, completely unique and fairly easy to build. It's hard to describe accurately what it does but basically it automatically swells the guitar volume from nothing to full while you play individual note (or chords if you replace the tantalum capacitor). For it to work you have to ensure silence from the guitar before each note/chord is played. so you end up with a rather odd method of playing where you end up palm muting between every note or chord. Sounds a little bizarre on it's own but when combined with a bit of delay, reverb, chorus etc it's a really useful bit of kit. It's also sounds excellent when fed by the BYOC Armstrong Twin (compressor/octaver).
 
Those other boxes sound great.

What I aim for on my pedal board is my Wah, the phaser, 5 knob compressor, the digital delay with ping pong, Seymour Duncan Twin Tube Mayhem ( I definitely won't be building that!) and a smart gate.
 
That looks like a fairly good selection of pedals, may I suggest that to start with (if possible) you get the confidence booster, it's a very basic (and cheap) booster circuit designed by BYOC to be a simple introduction to building kits like this, you will need to supply stuff like a case and the footswitch if you want to use it as a proper pedal but it's a perfect introduction to building guitar pedals and one I wish I'd known about a few years ago. The mods for turning the confidence booster into a proper pedal are detailed in various threads in the BYOC forum.

Sorry if that reads like an advert but since you're no doubt on a very limited budget it would be a real shame for you to buy a couple of expensive kits and find that you either don't have the skills to build them or simply can't be bothered.

Oh and I think you're a wimp for not considering building your own tube pedal, I'm currently pricing a tube overdrive up and I reckon I can build it for less than £30 if I shop around for parts. ;)
 
hey connor, i have the byoc phaser and large beaver (big muff clone) and they both kick ass. especially having a big muff with true bypass (my original one was a major tone sucker).

also...

i cheated and had them built for me....  :tard: at the time of purchase i the exchange rate was good and i was working full time (so didnt have time to do them myself), my big muff was playing up and i needed a replacement, thought i'd try something new but similar. plus, i'd never built a pedal before and needed one fairly quick. it was cheating i know!!! i'm planning on getting a tri-booster down the line to build myself as some kind of redemption for my sins.

they have a link on the BYOC to the pre-built kits, at a site calles www.axeandyoushallreceive.com or something similar. decent prices for pre-builts IMO, very clean and tidy job. i recomend them if anyone out there doesn't have the time/skills (like me at the time) to DIY.
 
I actually design and make Custom Effects pedals.. I started a small business called DC Custom Effects.. If you are interested in a custom guitar pedal.. and i mean completely custom.. anything you want i can probably do... and the plus side my effects are way cheaper than name brand custom/boutique effects. usually around 60- 80 bucks for one of my pedals.. i also do mods

Here is my pedal board.. every pedal was made by me or customized...(Besides the Boss Tu-2 Tuner)

Here is my looper pedal which is a 20 second analog looping pedal... it sounds kind of like the Zvex's lo fi loop junky pedal

if you like what you see and are interested in a pedal or a mod contact me at dgowrylow@gmail.com  :icon_smile:
 
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