Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: bandmaster188 on December 24, 2011, 11:37:12 AM
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just wondering if anyone out there has had a go at any d.i.y pedal kits.
i'm looking to build an overdrive/boost or just an overdrive and have been looking at a company called diypedalkits.com. they have a zendrive clone which looks interesting (kendrive) but it would be nice to know how good these kits are before forking out my hard earned cash. i have emailed them but they don't seem to be very forthcoming with a reply which is putting me off.
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I know Kev whom does those pedals & he's a great bloke, but he's travelling at the moment for work & his band. The gear he does is good and I've done his pedals before & they are OK and fun. Others are available such as the BYOC set's, if you want to go a step further the madbean PCB's are around but you have to buy all the other bits to do it.
Our very own Juansolo will be able to jump in & give more info on these than me
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yeah the kev dude who does them posts on the musicradar forum
his pedals were reviewed in guitar and bass mag recently, too
haven't tried them myself
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Ive looked into these before.
They look pretty decent but are priced way too highly for what they are imho.
Its not hard to find all the information and parts to make it yourself far cheaper.
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I have a BYOC (build your own clone) Large Beaver that I built. I love it. Was a lot of fun to build and it sounds great!
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just wondering if anyone out there has had a go at any d.i.y pedal kits.
i'm looking to build an overdrive/boost or just an overdrive
If you read french or can do with just the schematics, techniguitare.com kits are pretty good. Have both the screamer and 'fooltone' and they just rule, period.
http://www.boutiquetechniguitare.com/3-kits-d-effet (http://www.boutiquetechniguitare.com/3-kits-d-effet)
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Not done any of his kits but can wholeheartedly recommend BYOC (http://www.buildyourownclone.com/board/) kits. Super easy to follow and you'll end up with a good pedal at the end of it. They're marketed by vibe-o-tronic (http://vibe-o-tronic.co.uk/) over here (always a fun one to explain on your visa bill).
As mentioned earlier, Madbean's (http://www.madbeanpedals.com/) boards are excellent as are his instructions, but it's a bit of a step up from BYOC. Doing a BYOC kit first will get you into some good practices for assembly. For these you'll have to source all the parts for yourself and drill the enclosures, etc. There's a bit less hand holding. Other sources for PCB's would be: GuitarPCB (http://www.guitarpcb.com/), MusicPCB (http://musicpcb.com/), GGG (http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/) (also do kits), Das Musikding (http://www.musikding.de/index.php/language/en) (also do parts) and Tonepad (http://www.tonepad.com/). These are some of the parts suppliers we use if you go down this route: Farnell (http://"http://uk.farnell.com/"), Rapid (http://"http://www.rapidonline.com/"), Bitsbox (http://"http://www.bitsbox.co.uk/"), Tayda (http://"http://www.taydaelectronics.com/servlet/StoreFront"), GapCo (http://"http://www.gapco.co.uk/"), MEK (http://"http://www.uk-electronic.de/onlineshop/index.php/"), Das Musikding (http://"http://www.musikding.de/index.php/language/en") & Smallbear (http://"http://www.smallbearelec.com/home.html").
If you're handy with an soldering iron and ambitious, you could buy some vero board and do it all from scratch. Bob over to Sabrotone (http://www.sabrotone.com/?page_id=4), IVIark's (http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/) or Aron's (http://aronnelson.com/gallery/main.php/v/DRAGONFLY-LAYOUTS_0/) for more vero layout's than you'll ever be able to make in a lifetime.
For help, BYOC and Madbean's forums are excellent, friendly places. A bit more advanced would be places like DIYSB (http://"http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/") & particularly Circuit Workshop (http://"http://circuitworkshop.com/forum/index.php"). Controversial and sometimes not quite as friendly (downright abrasive/vindictive/nasty to some commercial builders. Sometimes justified, often not) is FSB (http://"http://www.freestompboxes.org/"). Put it this way, I rarely go on FSB these days, usually only when I'm trying to find something specific. Shame as it's a great resource.
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just wondering if anyone out there has had a go at any d.i.y pedal kits.
i'm looking to build an overdrive/boost or just an overdrive
If you read french or can do with just the schematics, techniguitare.com kits are pretty good. Have both the screamer and 'fooltone' and they just rule, period.
http://www.boutiquetechniguitare.com/3-kits-d-effet (http://www.boutiquetechniguitare.com/3-kits-d-effet)
i think i could ask for a baguette or a beer in french, but i don't think it would stretch to building a drive pedal. but cheers for the info.
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Not done any of his kits but can wholeheartedly recommend BYOC (http://www.buildyourownclone.com/board/) kits. Super easy to follow and you'll end up with a good pedal at the end of it. They're marketed by vibe-o-tronic (http://vibe-o-tronic.co.uk/) over here (always a fun one to explain on your visa bill).
As mentioned earlier, Madbean's (http://www.madbeanpedals.com/) boards are excellent as are his instructions, but it's a bit of a step up from BYOC. Doing a BYOC kit first will get you into some good practices for assembly. For these you'll have to source all the parts for yourself and drill the enclosures, etc. There's a bit less hand holding. Other sources for PCB's would be: GuitarPCB (http://www.guitarpcb.com/), MusicPCB (http://musicpcb.com/), GGG (http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/) (also do kits), Das Musikding (http://www.musikding.de/index.php/language/en) (also do parts) and Tonepad (http://www.tonepad.com/). These are some of the parts suppliers we use if you go down this route: Farnell (http://"http://uk.farnell.com/"), Rapid (http://"http://www.rapidonline.com/"), Bitsbox (http://"http://www.bitsbox.co.uk/"), Tayda (http://"http://www.taydaelectronics.com/servlet/StoreFront"), GapCo (http://"http://www.gapco.co.uk/"), MEK (http://"http://www.uk-electronic.de/onlineshop/index.php/"), Das Musikding (http://"http://www.musikding.de/index.php/language/en") & Smallbear (http://"http://www.smallbearelec.com/home.html").
If you're handy with an soldering iron and ambitious, you could buy some vero board and do it all from scratch. Bob over to Sabrotone (http://www.sabrotone.com/?page_id=4), IVIark's (http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/) or Aron's (http://aronnelson.com/gallery/main.php/v/DRAGONFLY-LAYOUTS_0/) for more vero layout's than you'll ever be able to make in a lifetime.
For help, BYOC and Madbean's forums are excellent, friendly places. A bit more advanced would be places like DIYSB (http://"http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/") & particularly Circuit Workshop (http://"http://circuitworkshop.com/forum/index.php"). Controversial and sometimes not quite as friendly (downright abrasive/vindictive/nasty to some commercial builders. Sometimes justified, often not) is FSB (http://"http://www.freestompboxes.org/"). Put it this way, I rarely go on FSB these days, usually only when I'm trying to find something specific. Shame as it's a great resource.
cheers for all the info huansolo, plenty to be getting on with there.
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I've built the A.D.D/boost and it sounds good, the boost gives a nice "sparkle" to your tone. I guess you could source all the parts yourself but that sometimes means buying ten resistors when you want maybe one or two and then plus postage, unless of course you know where to source all of the parts easily.
Personally I enjoyed making it and have also thought about the kenddrive or trying gasfx's drive-thru next.
Paul
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generally it is cheaper to buy 10 resistors than it is to buy a single one.
I usually buy in packs of 100 minimum.
Also if you are planning on doing more in the future its always handy to have them around
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I've built the A.D.D/boost and it sounds good, the boost gives a nice "sparkle" to your tone. I guess you could source all the parts yourself but that sometimes means buying ten resistors when you want maybe one or two and then plus postage, unless of course you know where to source all of the parts easily.
Personally I enjoyed making it and have also thought about the kenddrive or trying gasfx's drive-thru next.
Paul
whats the a.d.d like paul, i was looking at that too. is it a clone of anything.
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This place is local to me, but does great pricing on resistors that makes buying in 100's worthwhile... http://www.esr.co.uk/manuals/ESR%20Components.pdf
95p for one hundred 1/2w resistors and £3.90 for one hundred 1w resistors (all carbon film).
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whats the a.d.d like paul, i was looking at that too. is it a clone of anything.
I'm guessing that it's maybe referencing the OCD, and it does sound pretty similar, and has a fair bit of gain as well as lighter amounts of grit depending on the type of guitar.
I like it.
Paul
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This place is local to me, but does great pricing on resistors that makes buying in 100's worthwhile... http://www.esr.co.uk/manuals/ESR%20Components.pdf
Useful to know - thanks
Paul
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Being a technical numpty, the BYOC pedals are the only ones I've had any success with.
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i think i will be going for a byoc pedal but now i've gotta choose which one.
i like the look of the mouse distortion which has got a rotary pot for 6 different drive sounds. the other one i like is the overdrive 2 which is an overdrive/boost. anyone had any experience with these.
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I have some experience with the classic overdrive.
it turned out to be a pretty accurate TS clone and sounded pretty damn good.
I have some info on it on here
http://www.toboy-diy.blogspot.com/2011/03/ts808-complete.html
http://www.toboy-diy.blogspot.com/2011/02/well-at-least-something-arrived.html
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i think i will be going for a byoc pedal but now i've gotta choose which one.
i like the look of the mouse distortion which has got a rotary pot for 6 different drive sounds. the other one i like is the overdrive 2 which is an overdrive/boost. anyone had any experience with these.
The OD2 is a tube screamer with more mods than you can shake a stick at. It's pretty good, but possibly a little over complicated (surprisingly) for what you need. I'd get a BYOC under your belt then start looking at doing your own (Mouse looks fun).
There are a few simple principles you just need to get down that apply to most pedals (wiring up a 3PDT stomp LED and power (http://gaussmarkov.net/wordpress/thoughts/wiring-up-a-1590b/)) that when you've got that sorted, dropping effects into a box becomes relatively easy. So do that, then do a SHO on vero (brilliant little boost, bugger all parts). This is our version of it that uses an obtainable in the UK pot and is less likely to blow the transistor every few months. Still worth socketting the transistor for paranoias sake:
(http://juansolo.demon.co.uk/stompage/schematics/Zvex/DHOv3.jpg)
Some tips:
- Keep your tip clean ;) works on so many levels
- Get a solder sucker, very useful things
- Get a good set of small pliers and side cutters
- Helping hands help (little stand with croc clips on it)
- Take your time, fit the smallest components first and work up in size, this will make sense why when you do the BYOC
- Get a cone-cutter and a pillar drill press, you would not believe the amount of time this will save
- Read my decalling guide (http://juansolo.demon.co.uk/stompage/decaling.html) (though we do this differently now... I'll have to change that), but it'll give you an idea of what you can do with sticky decals and car rattle cans. There are other methods of finishing. You can paint, etch or just write on it, all depends on what you're going for.
- Get a good desk lamp
- Get a vero track cutting tool (looks like a drillbit with a handle)
As you progress, for testing/diagnosis:
Get a multi-meter
Make an audio probe
Make a little test box with spring clips on it to test a circuit before you box it (yeah, I STILL need to do this! it would save so much effort)
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do you think the overdrive 2 is a bit ambitious for a first time build?
i'm pretty good with a soldering iron but have never done a pedal before, just pickups and the odd simple amp repair. i just fitted new pickups in a 335 and i'm sure that qualifies me to work as a N.A.S.A. engineer or am i getting ideas above my space station!
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Oh I don't think it's a difficult build, I just think it's an over complicating an effect that doesn't need or want to be complicated. I'd build a straight TS808 clone over the OD2. I find millions of knobs and switches on pedals to be a pain and keeping things simple is often the most usuable/useful way of doing things. Put it this way, it was the first effect I ever built. I never used it so gave it to my brother. I recently built a straight TS808 clone that I much prefer. Too much choice is not neccessarily a good thing.