Pedal Kits

munckee

Have ordered some posca pens and am going to sand the finish off my two joyo pedals so my daughter can individualise them over the summer holidays.  I was toying with getting a new drive pedal over the summer as well.  Have had the brainwave of a pedal kit to give me a project and then put it in a plain enclosure and give it to my daughter to finish.

How hard are pedal kits, I can change pickups and have wired one guitar from scratch, whats the probability of me throwing the pedal kit in the bin halfway through and kicking the dog we haven't got in frustration?

Are they really difficult and which UK kits are any good?

stickyfiddle

They're really simple if you can already do guitar wiring. Though obviously smaller components so slightly more fiddly. 

Fuzzdog gets a lot of love and all is richly deserved - www.pedalparts.co.uk

DannyP

+1 for www.pedalparts.co.uk - great kits and good after sales service.

vale

Lee at fuzzdog (pedalparts) is boss dude for uk kits.

if you are a newbie then start with a simple clean boost or basic low part count fuzz

eg. the LPB boost
https://shop.pedalparts.co.uk/LPB_Boost__Treble_Boost__Shouting_Bird/p847124_6164908.aspx

& the bazzfuzz
https://shop.pedalparts.co.uk/Bazz_Fuzz/p847124_6346768.aspx

unless a germanium transistor is involved (a very few vintage circuits, these kits will usually be flagged up as requiring a bit of know-how to tune in) these will build up just like a soldering version of lego.

take you time to get your head around what you are going to do before you fire up your iron.
check orientation of parts before soldering (if you put them in facing backwards they won't work).
review progress as you go along, rather than race to the end and find out you did something stupid three parts in and should have stopped and addressed that before ploughing on.
check it all one final time before powering up.

one really important thing is to accept that trouble shooting is part of the learning curve. and what you learn from doing that you carry on into every other project. so engage with it as learning, not failure.
initially the curve may seem steep. but persist!

if your soldering technique is rusty, maybe watch a few 'how to solder parts to pcbs' on youtube to get tips on technique. a fine tipped soldering iron will help.

anyway, fuzzdog kits come with full instructions pdfs (on kit page, download and view the pdf before you buy to see if you think you can cope with it). maybe read the pdfs for the kits recommended and see what you think.

the major warning i would give you about getting into this, above all, is that it is crazily addictive. once you build one you will feel incredibly empowered and want to build another.
so watch out for that if you have a family or band or life that also has demands on your time.

enjoy!

munckee

Thanks @vale and everyone.  That's sort of my hesitancy my soldering skills is wiring a guitar the same as fine soldering a PCB.

Thanks for the warning, due to family stuff we spend a lot of time in the house, they get fed up with me playing guitar too much so I find myself tinkering instead, this looks like a whole new level of tinkering : )

Adam_MD

munckee said:

Thanks @vale and everyone.  That's sort of my hesitancy my soldering skills is wiring a guitar the same as fine soldering a PCB.

Thanks for the warning, due to family stuff we spend a lot of time in the house, they get fed up with me playing guitar too much so I find myself tinkering instead, this looks like a whole new level of tinkering : )

I had only rewired a few guitars when I tried pedal building and 3 years later I'm super addicted and absolutely love it.

You're best starting with a tagboard effect layout on vero (kits available from bitsbox) if you're concerned about your soldering that way if you really mess up a board it hasn't really cost you much vs approx £5 a time on pcb.  You do really have to apply a lot of heat on a pcb to lift a trace or pad and ruin it though.  Most newb mistakes I've seen have been putting a component in the wrong place, the wrong way round or a tiny solder bridge between 2 parts which are close together.

Start with an overdrive or a boost and see how you get on.

TheMarlin

Years ago, I bought a pedal kit.  It was a clone of the Blackour Effectors Musket Fuzz.  never built it.  I sprayed the case....

The instructions were not included, and I couldn't see how the stomp switch would be wired in, so didn't get past spraying the case....

Ho hum

Does anyone want to finish it for me, for a fee?

Marlin

Adam_MD

TheMarlin said:

Years ago, I bought a pedal kit.  It was a clone of the Blackour Effectors Musket Fuzz.  never built it.  I sprayed the case....

The instructions were not included, and I couldn't see how the stomp switch would be wired in, so didn't get past spraying the case....

Ho hum

Does anyone want to finish it for me, for a fee?

Marlin

If you can wait till I move house at the start of September and can unpack all my gear I’ll build it for fun.  If you’ve already finished the enclosure the rest of it’s a doddle.  I like soldering components to a board it’s pretty therapeutic.  

Send me a pm if you want.  

andy_k

I built my first from one of their kits, I did a 'noisy cricket' micro amp.
I read through all the instructions, and then laid all parts out dry.
Next session, I just went at it with a soldering iron, and was actually amazed when it all worked.
I made one silly mistake--soldered up the DC jack before I had bolted it to the box, so that was stupid, but it all worked out fine, and sounds DAMN good through a 4x12, powered by a 9v battery.
Great fun all round.
cheers
andy k