Background
I originally started this website as a way to share my soundfiles with people. Since then I found another hobby...building guitar effects pedals. So now I can share pictures of the projects I've completed thus far.
My very first project was installing a true bypass switch in my Vox wah pedal. It wasn't too difficult, and I had a lot of fun doing it. So I decided I could handle more. I moved on to kits from www.buildyourownclone.com. I started with the Fuzz Face kit, which sounds incredible (much better than the Dunlop Fuzz Face reissues at the time, though Jeorge Tripps of Way Huge fame has since joined Dunlop's team to re-engineer this and other circuits.). Then I moved on to working on my own stuff.
The first thing I attempted on my own was my Green Sovtek Big Muff Pi rehousing projects. As you can see, I was able to cut the size of the enclosure in half for the first project, and nearly in half again for the second project (since the second box is almost half the height of the first). If you want to see the full photoessay for my two projects, I have set up a link here.
Boba Fuzz
My first full pedal build was a Build Your Own Clone Germanium Fuzz Face. This one was fun because I had no idea what I was doing at first. The soldering itself wasn't that bad, but I figured out pretty quickly that I needed better equipment if I was going to keep building effects. I got the entire kit from www.buildyourownclone.com, which is an awesome place to start out building effects. Keith has a whole line of effects now, and they're all top-quality. Even now that I'm relatively experienced with this stuff, I still get his kits and circuit boards from time to time.
For the enclosure, I started out by using Dark T-shirt Iron-on Transfers. These are great because you can print out any design you want. I actually abandoned the idea of using iron-ons because they're pretty hard to work with. They look wonderful when done properly, but they're easy to burn and wrinkle.
I ended up using glossy sticker paper, which worked okay, but I think it would have looked a bit better using glossy vinyl sticker paper.
Minibooster
My first pedal build from scratch was an AMZ Minibooster. I had already completed the Boba Fuzz, so I thought I was ready to try to build a pedal on my own. I found the layout and pre-printed circuit board at General Guitar Gadgets, which is an incredible resource for the do-it-yourself guitar effects builder. They not only show you layouts and build instructions, but also sell PCBs for most of the projects they offer.
Actually, I have since found out that Jack Orman sells his own circuit boards, layouts, schematics, and modification instructions via his site, www.muzique.com. I have bought Mosfet Boost boards from him since then, and they're top quality.
The Minibooster is based on an old design originally included in a National Semiconductor publication in the 1970s. Jack adapted it to work even better with guitar, and it's been a highly-cloned circuit since then. The Fulltone Fat Boost is the same circuit (with a few mods...see the "Boutique Boost" project, listed under Effects Projects -> Boosters -> Mini Boosters at General Guitar Gadgets). The Bad Bob Boost is another popular Minibooster clone.
Tremulus Lune
After completing a few easy projects on my own, I decided to move in a more difficult direction. I chose to build a Tremulus Lune tremolo pedal. Boosts and distortion pedals are the most basic projects, but they get a bit boring after a little while. There are just so many out there that it's sometimes hard to distinguish one from another.
I wanted a good tremolo pedal, and I had originally been quite happy with my Electro-Harmonix Pulsar. However, I was disenchanted with the overall size, and I wanted something a bit smaller. I found exactly what I was looking for in the 4ms Pedals / Commonsound Tremulus Lune.
The Tremulus Lune has all the options one would want in a tremolo pedal...depth, speed, shape, spacing, volume, and fine-tuning. I decided to add an additional option to mine. Inspired by REM's What's the Frequency Kenneth?, I wanted to have the option of a momentary tremolo...one that only engages when you hold down the switch (and turns off again as soon as you lift your foot off). This is key for quick bursts of tremolo, as it does not require double-tapping to turn the trem on and off.
Marshall Blues Breaker
At this point, I was pretty comfortable with building pedals. I knew all the basics, and was even starting to be able to troubleshoot problem circuits. I started buying broken pedals off eBay to fix up, and continued modifying Boss pedals and Crybaby wahs.
Distortions are a dime a dozen, I know, but I had heard great things about how the old vintage Marshall Blues Breaker overdrive complemented Les Pauls (or any guitars equipped with humbuckers, for that matter).
It sounds quite good with my Les Paul, and I just got a broken original Blues Breaker that I can A/B test it against. I'll let you know how they compare!
Green Cheese
I happened across a project for a Lovetone Big Cheese clone, so I decided to check it out. Lovetones are getting more and more expensive these days, so I knew I would never get my hands on an original. $400+ is a lot to throw down on a single pedal!
The Green Cheese is a very nice fuzz with a rotary switch that selects equalization settings. The last setting gives you a nasty, gated fuzz that people seem to love. The gating effect is controlled internally by a trimpot and externally by the Fuzz knob.
This was a difficult project because the rotary switch is PCB-mounted (at least for the PCB I found). So the layout ended up a bit weird. You can see the original unfinished box in the project gallery. I think the final box came out looking pretty nice, especially considering how obtuse the original layout was.
This sounds especially nice in the effects loop of my original Lovetone Meatball...the one Lovetone effect I was willing to shell out big bucks for (it helped that I got it for about half the going rate).
Crimson Alpaca
Speaking of prohibitively expensive pedals, another fun project was a clone of the elusive Way Huge Red Llama. This is the same kind of thing as with the Lovetones...Way Huge pedals have been steadily increasing in price to the point where only collectors can really afford them. I actually had a Way Huge Piercing Moose for a while, but sold it for what I thought was a ridiculous amount of money...Little did I know that they would steadily increase in price!
I actually ended up doing a few of these because the first one I built wasn't working correctly. Turned out I had the drive pot wired up incorrectly, and it was a simple fix. So now I had two! I sold one of them (the one pictured) and converted the other one into a dual boost.
The dual boost is pretty sweet...it has a Minibooster circuit first (similar to the one above), followed by the Red Llama circuit. The result is sonic bliss...they sound great individually, but when engaged simultaneously, the minibooster drives the Red Llama's op amp even harder. Very cool.
Since then, I've built a few more of these pedals under the name "Rocket Drive" so as not to impinge on anyone's copyright. The Red Llama is based on the Anderton Tube Sound Fuzz, so it's not quite like any of the other overdrive pedals that are available on the market today. It's a medium overdrive with more volume on tap than you'll know what to do with. Very very cool stuff. If you're in the market for one, I highly recommend the Tone Factor Mule, available from "Unkle Brad" at tonefactor.com.
Fender 5F1 Champ Amp
At some point, I got sick of all this "weak sauce" pedal nonsense. I decided to try something a little bigger and a little cooler...building an amplifier from scratch.
After a lot of searching, I decided on a Fender 5F1 Tweed Champ. It seems like a great choice because it's low wattage (5 - 8 Watts) and relatively small. It fits well in the gear corner of my Manhattan apartment. But it packs plenty of tone and volume in that portable case.
I decided on a kit from Marsh Amps, since I didn't want to go through the stress of drilling the chassis and finding all the right parts on my own. The Marsh kit included a pine cab, alnico speaker, pre-drilled chassis, Sprague atoms and orange drops, and cotton wire. It was the best combination of quality and price, and I couldn't be happier.
During the build, I got a lot of help from the folks at AX84.com, who tend to know how to build a tube amp. Mr. Marsh was also great with customer support. I'll definitely get my next kit from them (when I get a bigger place...).
Phase 90
My Boba Fuzz pedal happened to place third in Big Tone Music Brewery's Pedal Pageant. (since then, Big Tone has gone completely DIY and can be found under www.buildyourownclone.com.) Third place was actually what I was hoping for, because I wanted to win the third place prize, which was a pedal of my choice. I chose the Phase 90 clone, since I had plenty of distortion already (and his delay and chorus kits weren't out yet).
This is a sweet phaser. I didn't do any mods to it because I like it stock. It's easy to add a depth control and do a few other things, though. Nice kit, nice pedal. If you're going to build a Phase 90, I'd definitely either get Keith's kit or - at the very least - his PCB + matched transistor set.
Ross Compressor
I've had plenty of compressors, ranging from vintage and reissue Dyna Comps (script logo, block logo, and Dunlop reissues) to Keeley Compressors, to the DOD Milk Box. The only one I've kept through all this time has been the Toadworks Mr. Squishy, which is a very transparent compressor that works well with both single coils and humbuckers.
But I thought that, given my heavy U2 influence, I should at least have a Dyna Comp variant around. So I built a Ross Compressor clone. Of course, the vintage Ross and the Dyna are very very close in design (they only vary by a few components), so I built the Ross clone, figuring I could easily mod it to match Dyna specs if I wanted.
I like it the way it is, and I named it Compy.
Build Your Own Clone Delay
This is one kickass little pedal. When I heard that Keith from Build Your Own Clone was putting together a delay kit, I knew I had to have it. I had seen some sweet mods on the PT-80 projects over at both Aron's DIY Stompboxes forum and at Moosapotamus, and I knew I wanted a delay with an external effects loop. This was my chance.
Keith was kind enough to work with me to create an effects loop modification for my BYOC delay. Basically, when the loop is engaged, it allows you to add any external stompbox (or boxes!) to your delayed signal. The original notes stay unaffected, so it only changes the repeats. This allows you to add nice modulation (vibrato or chorus), phase, or any combination of different effects. Very cool.
You can also turn off the effects loop so you're left with your stock analog-voiced delay. You can hear that it adds a lot of texture to the overall sound. If you turn the delay time to minimum, the blend knob - which normally controls the volume of the repeats - acts as a mix knob, blending original sound in with the effects you have added.
I originally just built it into a Hammond 1590BB box, but always intended to put it into an enclosure with a nicer finish. I ended up having the opportunity to work with Donner from www.tonesafari.com, and the results were better than I could have hoped for. He did a lot of Tsunami Relief Edition stompbox enclosures, and they look amazing. Here is the gallery for my finished product.
I also made some clips of this one, and have them hosted here, on my clips page. I apologize for the clipping in the sound files...that's my soundcard, not the pedal!
Black Pearl Distortion
This was another fun project. I fell in love with the sound of my Way Huge Red Llama, and wanted to see what some of the other Way Huge offerings sounded like. In particular, I have quite an affinity for Big Muff variants, so naturally I was interested in the Way Huge Swollen Pickle. Unfortunately, the prices were a bit prohibitive, so buying one off eBay wasn't a very feasible option. As a result, I decided I would need to reverse-engineer one so I could hear how it sounded. The Way Huge Swollen Pickle is a variant of the Big Muff Pi circuit, with a few key differences. It uses a matched transistor array chip in place of discrete transistors, several of the stock component values are tweaked, and it has what some people refer to as a "magic" tone stack, which gives the Swollen Pickle its characteristic mid-scoop, amazing bass response, and incredible dynamic range.
Anything that's worth doing is worth doing well, so I went all out with this one. I got powdercoated enclosures and custom white lettering for a professional look and durability. I also custom designed the PC boards from scratch, and had a lot of fun troubleshooting and getting the layout just right (many thanks to Jack Orman's Rat and Muff e-book!). I was quite pleased with the final result, and sent it to a Way Huge aficionado for some serious A/B testing. He put my prototype up next to both of his Swollen Pickles and told me that it absolutely nailed that Pickled sound. It's always great to have an expert's opinion when you can't do the A/B testing yourself! I ended up making a limited run of them for some people on the Harmony Central message boards, and invested the proceeds in my very own Way Huge Swollen Pickle (pictured here with a custom Black Pearl that uses an added mid switch to jump from the classic scooped sound to a mid-boost setting that really cuts through a live mix). I may be putting together a few more in the future, so check my "for sale" page if you're interested.
In conclusion . . .
That's about it for now! I've built plenty of other pedals, but haven't taken enough pictures to justify a whole new section for them. My latest builds have been a Kay Fuzztone clone (click here for a 4 MB Windows Media demo) and a few more rehoused Muffs (like this one, this one, this one, and this one) .
Hope you've enjoyed my project pictures! I'm still building pedals, and may even have a few up for sale from time to time. Check back on my homepage under the "Pedals For Sale" tab to see if there's anything up for grabs right now!