Could I learn to make fx pedals in a day?

thecolourbox

I have some (quite a lot) annual leave to take before the end of the year, and alongside a few other things to do and a couple of outstanding diy projects, I was thinking of stuff I could learn in a day, and get something out of at the end of it.

So I thought of effects pedals, I've always fancied making my own (all standard stuff, nothing too zany) and think I should be able to learn it, but wanted to see what you guys thought. I've never learnt how to solder, which I'd expect would also be a useful skill elsewhere, though I do have some kind of basic soldering iron at home. I'd prefer to get a kit that came with a ready drilled enclosure so there's no drilling involved. Would probably just try one or two drive pedal types to see how I get on. 

Is this achiveable in a day?

EricTheWeary

If anyone wants to run a day like this in the West Midlands I'd sign up as well!

thecolourbox

Lol or you could join me in my garage if I do it

stickyfiddle

If doing it from kits, absolutely. 

Start with a pedalparts one-knob booster to get your soldering eye in, then move on to a fuzz face with extra knobs and higher complexity without going nuts, and then build the rest of his entire catalogue, one by one.... 

EricTheWeary

You'd have to learn to solder and teach me all at once!

Would be a nice little day for someone to run. As for doing it yourself in a day I guess it depends how quickly you can pick up soldering technique and how many times you realise you haven't got the right tools. Finishing the enclosure can involve a lot if waiting for stuff to dry so it would also depend if you wanted to paint it, etch it or whatever.

Gagaryn

My advice would be practice soldering in the morning - build the kit in the afternoon - play through it in the evening.

ecc83

Go to Maplins and buy their One Watt Amp kit*. Buy some AA battery boxes and some "PP3" clip leads and at least TWO stereo 1/4" jacks sockets and few cheapo jack plugs plus some screened cable.

The amp kit builds into a super guitar headphone amp powered by 2 xAA and powered from 9 volts will make a respectable noise into a speaker.

*The bigger 7watt amp kit is really quite loud powered by 18volts.

These kits are easy to make, useful as test amps, hard to bust and cheap enough if you do.

Dave  (PM me if you want a bit of 1 on 1)

thecolourbox

Thanks everyone for your thoughts, much appreciated! I've fancied that maplin amp before but I'm not sure how I'd drill an enclosure to put it in - the attraction of fx pedals is that they come with drilled enclosures!! I take the point though, start on something small but useful. Thanks Dave for your kind offer of help.

Will have a gander at pedal parts et al to see what can be achieved - excited about the Distortion + I can see on there already though!

freakboy1610

Bear in mind that you will have to identify the values of the components in a pedaparts kit. This can take a while if you've not done it before. It certainly took the wind out of my sails when I started my first pedal! BYOC kits are a bit more expensive but everything is labelled and the instructions lead you through each step in minute detail.

Adam_MD

If you get a multi meter, start with a basic build and tick components off as you go it won't take long. Something like a sho only has 5 resisters and 2 caps. That only leaves the board a diode, transistor and a pot.

freakboy1610

I found this very useful too.

BigMonka

I'd fairly confidently say that you could learn to make a pedal in a day, especially from a kit. 

A bit of soldering practice beforehand would be useful (it's really not that hard to do once you've got the technique down), so maybe search your loft for some knackered electronic devices you could open up and practice unsoldering/resoldering some of the bigger components - or get some strip/vero board and a few resistors from maplin to do some practice with.

Rocker

Apologies for the thread hijack but could you please point me to the Maplin One Watt Amp kit  @ecc83

BigMonka

@Rocker it's this one: http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/1w-amplifier-kit-n48fl

Sassafras

As already mentioned BYOC kits are excellent. A bit more expensive than Pedalparts but they're high quality and sound really good. They've also got more builds to choose from. I've got an Orange Squeezer clone that I use above all other compressors.

ThorpyFX

Sassafras said:

As already mentioned BYOC kits are excellent. A bit more expensive than Pedalparts but they're high quality and sound really good. They've also got more builds to choose from. I've got an Orange Squeezer clone that I use above all other compressors.

I started out building a rangemaster boost- it didn't work so I decided to switch fire and move onto BYOC kits. As stated by @sassafras they are a bit more expensive but the quality, customer service and support forum are second to none.

thecolourbox

Yeah I saw they even do a Mutton Octave divider on byoc! Which is exciting indeed. I might still get maybe the cheapest one from Pedal Parts as a dummy run so if I make a mess of it, its not too much bother?

Would like to try a Distortion Plus, something like a Rat, then if that goes well then the Mutron!!

Cheers for the recommendations guys, I really value the opinions on here as you guys know your stuff in terms if building and your tone ears. Thanks

Adam_MD

Doesn't get much easier than one of these and bonus it also sounds pretty good too. If you get the kit the enclosure is pre drilled so it's a very easy build with very few parts.

http://shop.pedalparts.co.uk/Boner_Boost/p847124_6343638.aspx