So, a friend of mine has started building his own effects pedals, and i'm spreading the word a bit for him!
Feel free to move this if it's in the wrong section...
Ok, this is a long post, so please bear with me and take the time to read it all if you're into effects.
I've recently built myself a couple of effects pedals with extremely pleasing results, and I'd like to start building more. I'm going to build myself a couple more, but I'm also thinking of taking custom orders.
I'm not looking to make any actual profit from this at first, because I just want to build up my own experience and have a little fun in the process.
All pedals will use PCBs made by either Build Your Own Clone or General Guitar Gadgets, but I'm going to source all the parts myself rather than buy full kits This will make the end product not only more flexible in terms of options on enclosures and modifications, but also slightly cheaper.
Standard options for all pedals will be a choice of enclosure size, layout and colour, a choice on the style of knobs you would like and also a choice on the colour of the status LED. Off the top of my head, LEDs come in red, white, blue, yellow, green, orange and purple.
The pedals may not work out any cheaper than say a Boss or Digitech equivalent, but they'll have a smaller footprint, will be true bypass and will also be made up of the same high end components that are used in Keeley, Fulltone, Catalinbread, ZVex etc pedals. If you know who these manufacturers are, then you'll know what I'm talking about.
The cost for a standard pedal with no mods will depend entirely on the particular model, but an average will be somewhere between £40 and £60. As I say, I am not looking to make profit at all at this stage. I won't even be charging for labour on the first few, as I'm aiming to build up a name for myself for the future.
Possible pedals will include:
True Bypass Loops
Ok, with many pedals, your signal is running through it's circuit whether it's turned on or off. Boss, Digitech, Line 6, MXR etc etc. some pedals suck all the life out of your signal when they're not in use. Pedals with a bad bypass can ruin what should be an awesome straight up guitar to amp tone.
A true bypass loop fixes this problem by placing an pedal inside it's loop, and you then turn it on and off from the bypass box itself rather then the pedal creating the effect.
The switch used in these boxes mechanically bypasses or engages the loop, meaning that without batteries at all, you can take the offending effects pedal quite literally completely out of your signal path wen you aren't using it.
Other uses for these boxes are to group various pedals inside loops so you can turn on or off say 3 or 4 pedals with just one click.
I can build these with any number of loops, and also have the option of a 'tuner mute' switch too.
Big Muff
Can be built to standard USA re-issue, Russian Sovtek, Original 'Ram's head', original 'Triangle Knob' or 'Creamy Dreamer' specs - or can have toggle switches to flip between 2 or 3 of these models.
The stock Big Muff sound has scooped mids, so I can include a toggle switch to switch between 3 different voicings - standard scoop/flat mids/boosted mids - or I can install a sweepable midrange pot instead.
Rat
As standard, this comes with a switch to toggle between 3 modes - standard Rat, 'Big Boost' and overdrive. The standard Rat mode can be built to to Vintage Rat, Rat 2 or Turbo Rat specs, and I can also add a second toggle switch to toggle between 2 or 3 of these models if you like, meaning a potential 5 different modes on this pedal alone.
Marshall Shredmaster
Made famous by Johnny Greenwood and long since discontinued, this is a high gain distortion with 3 band EQ that regularly fetches £150+ on ebay nowadays. This one can be fine tuned for a tighter bass response by switching a couple of components inside, but I don't know of any additional mode modifications as yet.
Tubescreamer
Everyone knows what a Tubescreamer does. I can mod this for more gain, more bass, more volume, less mids...there are heaps of mods available on this one. Ask for more details if you're interested in a Tubescreamer type pedal but want options not available on standard Ibanez models.
ALL OVERDRIVE, DISTORTION AND FUZZ PEDALS CAN BE BUILT WITH A FOOTSWITCHABLE BOOST IF YOU LIKE.
MXR Phase 45, 90, 100
I can build any of the three of these models, or I can install a toggle switch to select between 2 of the 3 models.
Phase 90 can be built to 'script' or 'block' specs, and I can totally pimp this one out to include depth pot, regeneration pot, or a toggle or foot switch to take you to a univibe mode too.
Tremelo
This is a simple 2 knob trem, with depth and rate controls and the LED flashes in time with the rate it's set at.
Options include 2 sets of controls with a toggle or footswitch to flip between 2 completely different settings. Ideal to switch between a slow pulsing leslie type sound and a machine gun stuttering sound, for instance.
I could also install an expression pedal input jack, so you can control the rate of the tremelo with an external expression pedal.
Delay
A very basic but good digital delay which is voiced to sound like an analogue delay such as a Boss DM2 or DM3. As standard, this goes up to about 300 milliseconds. You increase the length of repeats up to roughly 500 milliseconds, but this will decrease the fidelity of the repeated sound somewhat. This can be desirable if you like lo fi sounds.
This WILL self oscillate.
An expression pedal input can be added to control either delay time or feedback - whichever you prefer, or you can have both if you like.
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These are the models I can see being the most popular, but I can source PCBs to build many common effects, and modifications in the vein of what I have described for each pedal above can be carried out on anything.
Other effects I could build are:
Various overdives, distortions and fuzzes
Various boost circuits
5 knob flanger
2 knob compressor
5 knob compressor
Analogue chorus
Envelope filter
etc etc etc
If there is something you'd like me to build that I haven't mentioned, please let me know and I'll research it to see if it's possible. Particular pedals of interest may be vintage pedals that are discontinued. With many vintage pedals, I can find a wiring diagram and accurately reproduce it for you.
Just a couple more things...
An expression pedal input can replace ANY knob on ANY pedal. For instance, if you wanted to be able to control the gain control on a distortion pedal, this can be arranged. You could use it to control the speed on a phaser, the depth on a chorus etc etc. You get the idea, I'm sure.
Another service I am proposing is to modify pedals you already own. Electro Harmonix Small Clone choruses can very simply be modified to include a switch to flip between standard chorus mode and a brand new pitch vibrato mode, for example.
Do you have a pedal that you're not entirely happy with? Let me know and I'll tell you if I know of any mods to make it better.
A couple more things...
If there are a few of you wanting things built, this will make it cheaper because I can order all the parts in one go and pay only one shipping amount from each supplier I use.
I can build multiple circuits in one box. For instance:
A modulation box with 2, 3 or 4 of the following: phase, chorus, tremelo, vibrato, univibe and flange.
A dirt box with 2, 3 or 4 seperate pedals built in. I could do a really cool 4 way box with boost, overdrive, distortion and fuzz to suit all your gain needs.
A 'plug and play' multi effetcs box. For instance a cool blues type box with a Tube Scremer, Fuzz Face, Univibe and Delay. Or a box of massive stoner/doom with a Big Muff, a ZVex Fuzz Factory and a phaser.
The only limits I have, really, are whether or not I can find a wiring diagram for what you want.
Give him an email if you're interested - davidson dot pi at gmail dot com
Or, PM me for his phone number :)
