BYOCs and amp building

[Ian Price]

Hello all, two things!

I am looking at getting a fuzz pedal and am interested in the BYOC range (I want to get into DIY stuff!). Do any of my fellow forum members have any experience of the BYOC fuzz pedals? They seem to have a few and I would appreciate some thoughts! Hendrix fuzz is the sort of sound I am aiming for so the Octave Fuzz looks like the favourite so far.

I'm also interested in learning more about amps and how they work - I know there are kits for building a small amp (everyone's got to start somewhere!) but can't seem to find any on the interweb. Any thoughts?

Cheers all!

[Spitfire]

i have had a go at some byoc.. nothing succesfull.. but i know why, my soldering technique was very bad... i had some lessons from the GF's dad who does it for his job... i think thats the main thing in BYOC... make sure you know what you are doing with a soldering iron.. keep the tip clean, tinned and dont leave it too long on as it will ruin the end.

[sgmypod]

Not built there fuzz have the done the mighty mouse and is fiddly but do able....
Built one of these amps as well is far easier than the pedal http://www.astonelectronics.co.uk/valveampkits.html/ I did the vk5 Mvolume.....but had a 6v6 rather than the el84(kit is adjusted slightly to accomadate)

[mikeluke]

http://www.torresamps.com/

These seem to be a popular starting point

[FELINEGUITARS]

The BYOCs are excellant
Made the wah kit last night and have the tubescreamer as well ready to build

Good soldering is needed

There is a BYOC forum with some great tips and stuff

[badgermark]

The byoc stuff is fun, pretty easy if you can solder and are methodical. My next build will be from scratch, gonna pick up some perf board and stripboard and get some cool layouts. I'll let people know how i gets on when i start, next week i hopes!

[blue]

i've ordered a kit from General Guitar Gadgets, a Marshall Guv'Nor clone.  i convinced myself it wasn't that hard, i could do it ok, but as the time grows near i think a brown stain is beginning to form in my underwear!!

i've soldered the innards of guitars before, and while my first attempts were pretty messy i think i got better at it. hopefully i'll get through it ok.  i'm determined to make a go of it at least!

[kevincurtis]

I'm thinking along silmilar lines - I fancy building a tubescreamer type clone and either modding one of the cheap 5 watters or building something like the Aston kit...think it might be a time of life thing?!  :?

[Twinfan]

There's a DIY Build A Fuzz article in this month's Guitar Buyer (or is it Guitar And Bass?) magazine.  It's a circuit from their pedal expert, Dan something.  I can't remember much this morning can I?  :oops:

I'm tempted to have a go at that.......

[kevincurtis]

I have now purchased and built the Tubescreamer clone, took about 4-5 hours all told but I was being methodical. (I did burn out the led which is annoying!)

Have to say I'm very impressed - built it to TS808 spec, has that tight solid state 'chunk' and seems to sit well with the JCM800. I want to play around with the clipping mods next see what variations can be gotten from it...

[sgmypod]

Have to say I'm very impressed - built it to TS808 spec, has that tight solid state 'chunk' and seems to sit well with the JCM800. I want to play around with the clipping mods next see what variations can be gotten from it...

Rocky road from here will be modding anything..... even your grans stairlift *L*.....but is fun

[kevincurtis]

Rocky road from here will be modding anything..... even your grans stairlift *L*.....but is fun

Not so sure about the stairlift...has to be musical in some sense :)  If and when I do another pedal it will either be a compressor or the lazy sprocket thingy cos that sounds fun! Most likely next project will be a valve junior - I want a low wattage power amp and one of those may well fit the bill.

[hamfist]

I have now purchased and built the Tubescreamer clone, took about 4-5 hours all told but I was being methodical. (I did burn out the led which is annoying!)

Have to say I'm very impressed - built it to TS808 spec, has that tight solid state 'chunk' and seems to sit well with the JCM800. I want to play around with the clipping mods next see what variations can be gotten from it...

That's good to hear, as I've got one on order for use with my 800 clone.   I chickened out on the making it myself though, I've ordered it already built from "Axe and you shall receive", which is linked to on the BYOC site.  it'll come with lots of socketed sites on the board, so it'll be easy to play around with all the alternate components that come with it.
  I'm fairly confident noodling around inside a nice big hand-wired amp, but don't trust my soldering skills with small PCB's yet.

[sjwebb90]

The BYOC kits are are comprehensive and easy to build. However, I would suggest that anyone getting into DIY pedal building, first buys themselves a decent soldering Iron. (Weller is the industry standard.) Another choice tool would be a multimeter.

I have succesfully built the BYOC's:
Phase 90
Ross Compressor
Tube Screamer
Analogue Chorus

There is also a forum for assistance including how to mod your pedals should you wish.

Another good site for building clones is Tonepads.

They supply the circuit board and instruction but you have to source the components
http://www.tonepad.com/

Again I have succesfully built the:
Boss CE2 chorus
MX Microamp
Tremulus Lune
Rebote Delay 2.5
Tube Screamer
Small Clone Chorus
Ross Compressor

Cheers
SJ

[Mark66]

DIY pedal is something I might fancy having a go at. Managed to fit all my pickups no prob.
Considered building a valve amp from scratch at one time, then chickened due to time involved, expense, me
being clueless.