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that damned fly wrote:instead of putting it online you oughta go into business with a guy who's already got a pedal company who can manufacture it and both you and he can make some money.

i'm talking about themilford, by the way.

if he or anybody else wants to make them and sell them and charge people some kind of premium for having taken the time to build them, that's super. if they're jacking up the price to charge R&D, that's pretty lame. regardless of who wants to build one, if I draw up a schematic, I'll give it out for free to anybody who wants it. it saves humanity the trouble of paying for one and tracing it and drawing up a schematic, which somebody might do eventually.

i'm not big into keeping useful information a secret, especially not for the sake of somebody profiting off of somebody else by way of the secret.

i'm gonna build one or two or four for myself. if anybody else wants to build their own, that's great. if somebody wants me to build one for them, i'll probably do it but it'll either take a really, really long time or be quick but cost a lot of money. y'know that old expression about "cheap", "quick" and "done well", and how you can only ever have two of the three? "done well" is the one I will not leave out.

if somebody else is set up to manufacture pedals and has an interest in doing it, more power to 'em. that's not me.

I like the idea of open source hardware. You could probably make a little money selling kits and that way not have to build. Print PCBs, get the parts in bulk. People can mod it and not have to go to the trouble of printing a pcb. It's cheaper for everyone. Unless they don't sell.

yeah, I won't use PCB in the first place. I kinda hate them. a lot. too limiting, too rigid, too annoying to work with. quick to mass produce. but I don't care about that. i'm fully expecting everything to be wired onto the pots, switches, tube sockets, and a few things here and there either on a really small section of turretboard/eyeletboard or maybe those 5-hole chassis-mounted eyelet strips.

anybody wants to make a PCB and a parts kit, that's great. I got no interest in that. I just have a box that I need that i've never heard of anybody else making, so i'm making it for myself. cause I need it.

I haven't read any of the responses so I don't know how much I'll be repeating......

1) Which kind of distortion sound is easiest to get a quality sound out of, distortion, fuzz, or overdrive?
My tubescreamer TS9 clone

2) how easy is it to make your own stompbox if you've got no experience?
It'll probably be a pain in the ass. You are going to need some basic knowledge like how to solder and what the components are that you're working with.

3) how good do you need to be with machinery in order to do it?
If you are drilling your own enclosure or making your own PCB you'll need to be handy with a drill press.

4) how much does it cost to get all the components together?
If you are buying a kit it'd be the cost of the kit plus your soldering tools. If cost is a concern then stay away from DIY. In the long haul it can save some money, but until you have all the tools you'll ever need it's expensive! I've spent thousands on tools to build my projects.

5) what kind of stuff do you need to make one?
Some sort of substrate (PCB or perfboard), an enclosure, soldering tool, drill press, hand tools, board components, wire, etc.

I'd check out the following sites:

runoffgroove.com
diystompboxes.com/forum
tonepad.com

SecondEdition wrote:1) Which kind of distortion sound is easiest to get a quality sound out of, distortion, fuzz, or overdrive?

Your first box might not be that good. Try easy first, then move up to sounding good. There are a bunch of kits for Fuzz Faces, and that's pretty easy. And if you like fuzz, it's a classic.

You'll have to define "good sound" before I can recommend you something that might be what you're looking for. Perhaps there's a pedal out there that does what you want that you can refer to?

2) how easy is it to make your own stompbox if you've got no experience?

Not that hard. Learning to solder isn't too difficult, it just takes some practice.

3) how good do you need to be with machinery in order to do it?

What kind of machinery are you asking about, specifically?

4) how much does it cost to get all the components together?

About as much as a pedal from the store. Maybe a little less, but you'll make up the price difference in your time, and probably exceed it by a lot.

5) what kind of stuff do you need to make one?

Depends. Soldering iron, needle nose pliers, solder, and all of the parts of the pedal (case, jacks, pots, wire, circuit board, components). Kits are nice to start with because they'll send you all of the parts for a specific pedal. If I remember correctly, PAiA used to sell kits with a pre-made steel case for the pedal, which was great because it already had the holes in place, so you didn't need to do any drilling or anything.


There are a few threads here and there on the subject. Do a search on this forum and you'll find all sorts of info. All of the links posted here are also very useful.

General Guitar Gadgets will sell you PCBs, which makes things a lot easier, but you'll still have to order the parts off of that list. I recommend Small Bear for ordering parts for pedals, but Mouser is pretty good as well. Both GGG and SB sell kits as well.

Well, before I respond, I would like to thank everyone so far for their very helpful responses. You have all been extremely informative. Thanks so much, everyone!

Uncle Ovipositor wrote:

SecondEdition wrote:1) Which kind of distortion sound is easiest to get a quality sound out of, distortion, fuzz, or overdrive?

Your first box might not be that good. Try easy first, then move up to sounding good. There are a bunch of kits for Fuzz Faces, and that's pretty easy. And if you like fuzz, it's a classic.

You'll have to define "good sound" before I can recommend you something that might be what you're looking for. Perhaps there's a pedal out there that does what you want that you can refer to?

I do adore fuzz. It's just a beautiful sound to me.

So probably stuff like the Fuzz Face, the Tone Bender, the Superfuzz, the Guild Foxey Lady...all great.

However, there's also heavier distortion that I'm into as well. A lot of this Boss distortion stuff doesn't really appeal to me. I'm sure they're extremely reliable, but the distortion often feels tinny and generic when I play it in the Guitar Center I go to after my guitar lessons.

Players with distorted sounds I love: I'll try and keep this short. Hendrix, Rowland S. Howard, Eddie Hazel, Fripp, Bruce Gilbert on Pink Flag, Iommi, Jonathan Donahue/Wayne Coyne on In a Priest Driven Ambulance, Jimmy Page, Bob Mould, Santiago Durango, Neil Young...it's a long list.

2) how easy is it to make your own stompbox if you've got no experience?

Not that hard. Learning to solder isn't too difficult, it just takes some practice.

Is it kind of like using a hot glue gun, except with molten metal?

3) how good do you need to be with machinery in order to do it?

What kind of machinery are you asking about, specifically?

A soldering iron, mainly.

4) how much does it cost to get all the components together?

About as much as a pedal from the store. Maybe a little less, but you'll make up the price difference in your time, and probably exceed it by a lot.

Hmm...shit, I was hoping it would be less expensive. But it makes sense that it wouldn't be - certain desirable parts and all that...

5) what kind of stuff do you need to make one?

Depends. Soldering iron, needle nose pliers, solder, and all of the parts of the pedal (case, jacks, pots, wire, circuit board, components). Kits are nice to start with because they'll send you all of the parts for a specific pedal. If I remember correctly, PAiA used to sell kits with a pre-made steel case for the pedal, which was great because it already had the holes in place, so you didn't need to do any drilling or anything.

Shit. I don't have any of that stuff. Guess I'll need to start saving up sometime soon.

General Guitar Gadgets will sell you PCBs, which makes things a lot easier, but you'll still have to order the parts off of that list. I recommend Small Bear for ordering parts for pedals, but Mouser is pretty good as well. Both GGG and SB sell kits as well.

Thanks so much! This has been very helpful.

Benny wrote:

endofanera wrote:

scott wrote: quest for tone and whatnot.

You are certifiable.

Please post a schematic of the Scottbox when you are completed.

Scottbox. it only can have this name.

And I hear it pronounced with a Chicaaagoh accent: Scatbax.

SecondEdition wrote:I do adore fuzz. It's just a beautiful sound to me.

So probably stuff like the Fuzz Face, the Tone Bender, the Superfuzz, the Guild Foxey Lady...all great.

The circuit for a Fuzz Face or a Tone Bender are pretty much the same and very easy to build. The geofex site has a little downloadable document on what the circuit is and what a lot of the common variations are, but first I'd say order a kit from GGG and build it. Assuming you don't need a case I'd say you can put it together inside of a couple hours, even if it's your first project.

However, there's also heavier distortion that I'm into as well. A lot of this Boss distortion stuff doesn't really appeal to me. I'm sure they're extremely reliable, but the distortion often feels tinny and generic when I play it in the Guitar Center I go to after my guitar lessons.

Players with distorted sounds I love: I'll try and keep this short. Hendrix, Rowland S. Howard, Eddie Hazel, Fripp, Bruce Gilbert on Pink Flag, Iommi, Jonathan Donahue/Wayne Coyne on In a Priest Driven Ambulance, Jimmy Page, Bob Mould, Santiago Durango, Neil Young...it's a long list.

That's a pretty wide range, there.

I would suggest maybe taking a different approach and buy an old, boxy big muff (the green or black ones from the 80s). You can get them for extremely cheap on ebay (under $50), the circuit board is the same as a classic muff, and they have lots of room to maneuver. Swap in some different components - play around with it and see what works best for you. I learned a lot about how distortion (and specifically the muff) works this way. I think there's a document on GGG that outlines what components they recommend experimenting with - use that as a guide, try things out, see what they sound like. I think geofex also has a pdf for sale about how this circuit works, and that might also be useful to learn about the gain staging etc.

Uncle Ovipositor wrote:

4) how much does it cost to get all the components together?

About as much as a pedal from the store. Maybe a little less, but you'll make up the price difference in your time, and probably exceed it by a lot.

.

I'll have to disagree there. For example, you can build a "Super hard on" aka, a clean boost, for about $25 in parts.