Making kit pedals - what gear would you recommend?

Megii

I did ask a very similar thing a couple of years or so IIRC, and then never did anything, so my apologies for that. But I think I'm serious now, if only because it may be my most economic route to getting the drive sounds I'm after. I particularly fancy doing the Fuzzdog Pedal Parts RAT clone kit, although I would probably start with the Klon buffer kit. And then I'd be looking at a kit for a smooth, fairly transparent overdrive - I guess any recommendations there welcome also.

But anyway - main point is, what kit in terms of soldering iron (+ type of solder) and associated bits, plus any other items (one of those "helping hands" stand things?), should I invest in? I don't want to be hampered at all by not having the right stuff, and within reason I don't mind spending a bit at this stage to get what I need to do a good job. Cheers for any advice chaps.

AustrianJohn

I've built a couple of pedal kits. The FuzzDog TS808 clone is awesome, and being the first pedal I'd built I thought this pedal building lark was easy, but I soon found out that it isn't. My next attempt was the Box of Gilmour from JedsPeds. This has unfortunately never worked - I'm sure due to my ham-fistedness rather than any problem with the kit. I've tried cleaning the solder off areas that look messy and resoldering, but to no avail. Build thread is here: www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/72286/my-first-pedal-build Both FuzzDog and JedsPeds helped with advice when things didn't go according to plan.

First thing to note is that if you are used to wiring up guitars, the components and the enclosures for pedals are much, much smaller. Secondly, there are many, many more components in a pedal than in a guitar - and most of the components looks the same. So you need to be organised and get everything neatly laid out and documented before you start. I found the colours on some of the transistors difficult to decode, so I tested them all to work out what was what.

Do everything you can outside of the enclosure as soldering inside a small box is difficult. A helping hand is really useful, and  inexpensive on ebay. Make sure your soldering iron has a sharp tip and keep it blob free, and use the thinnest solder you can get your hands on. Probably not a bad idea to practice your soldering technique joining very small wires before you attack the kit.

Good luck!

Megii

Thanks for that @AustrianJohn - to be honest I am a little worried by your honestly saying that it was harder than you thought, and also your second kit not working. I'm a bit on the un-confident side about my abilities myself. I am used to wiring up guitars and making circuit mods to guitar electronics and all that kind of stuff, but from what I can tell, wiring small components onto PCBs is much finer work.

I do appreciate your advice on the kit to get though - can I ask what soldering iron you have?

stickyfiddle

Pedalparts kits are really really good. I've built about 8 iirc. If you use his pre-drilled enclosures it's a really easy build too, especially with the on-board pots and ribbon cable to daughter-board for the switch. 

The Rat kit in particular sounds excellent. 

For building, I use a 40W Weller iron, non-RoHS solder and a helping hand gadget with magnifier. Beyond that it's just regular hand tools for assembly and plenty of patience

(EDIT - a solder sucker can be useful for when you inevitably realise something's in the wrong place too..!!)

Megii

Thanks @stickyfiddle, that sounds like fine advice to me, and those items will be on my shopping list. It surprises me, but having gone through a fair few distortions now, I have come to the conclusion that one of my favourite pedals for drive is the RAT - particularly in LED turbo mode, including with lower gain settings. So the Pedalparts kit with all the extras does seem a good candidate for a project, and I appreciate your positive review, cheers.

AustrianJohn

Megii said:

Thanks for that @AustrianJohn - to be honest I am a little worried by your honestly saying that it was harder than you thought, and also your second kit not working. I'm a bit on the un-confident side about my abilities myself. I am used to wiring up guitars and making circuit mods to guitar electronics and all that kind of stuff, but from what I can tell, wiring small components onto PCBs is much finer work.

I do appreciate your advice on the kit to get though - can I ask what soldering iron you have?

I've got a cheap 25W soldering iron. My main advice to you (and to me - if only I would listen) is take it slowly and be careful. If you can wire up a guitar you can build a pedal kit.

Megii

AustrianJohn said:

Megii said:

Thanks for that @AustrianJohn - to be honest I am a little worried by your honestly saying that it was harder than you thought, and also your second kit not working. I'm a bit on the un-confident side about my abilities myself. I am used to wiring up guitars and making circuit mods to guitar electronics and all that kind of stuff, but from what I can tell, wiring small components onto PCBs is much finer work.

I do appreciate your advice on the kit to get though - can I ask what soldering iron you have?

I've got a cheap 25W soldering iron. My main advice to you (and to me - if only I would listen) is take it slowly and be careful. If you can wire up a guitar you can build a pedal kit.

Thanks for that @AustrianJohn - I think I do at least have a bit of a careful, meticulous nature (some would say pedantic) so at least I have that in my favour.

stickyfiddle

That's a good point - IIRC your walnut strat has some clever wiring. A pedal kit is no more complex. Maybe a bit tighter packed, but pretty similar.

Megii

stickyfiddle said:

That's a good point - IIRC your walnut strat has some clever wiring. A pedal kit is no more complex. Maybe a bit tighter packed, but pretty similar.

I wouldn't call it all that clever @stickyfiddle, but cheers all the same. FWIW It's a modded circuit that gives master vol and tone, plus a blend instead of the second tone, which allows me to blend into the extra (neck+bridge and all 3 pickups) pickup combinations - I just found a diagram online and used it really. And the pickups are tapped, and there's a switch to go from vintage to hotter pickup output settings. I take encouragement from what you say anyhow.

But - I'm definitely going ahead with the Fuzzdog RAT kit - planning to order that today, and will be buying a few other bits in the coming days - temp. controlled iron, suitable solder, solder sucker, helping hands thingy, etc.

I do have one query which is that some caution is advised with regard to how easy it is to overheat some of the components, and I've seen people suggest "socketing" such components to avoid the risk.

a) Is that a good idea? and if so
b) where does one buy the socket thingys?

stickyfiddle

Clever or not, that kind of wiring is similar to the sort of thing you have to do inside of a pedal kit, so you'll be fine

The only things that are reasonably easy to cook are transistors and chips. IIRC the Fuzzdog kits come with sockets for the chips, and honestly I've never cooked anything in all my builds, so I don't think it's a big deal. As long as you're careful and have reasonable soldering technique it's probably not something you need to worry about.

Sporky

Megii said:

I do have one query which is that some caution is advised with regard to how easy it is to overheat some of the components, and I've seen people suggest "socketing" such components to avoid the risk.

a) Is that a good idea? and if so
b) where does one buy the socket thingys?

If you can solder a bit already then you'll be fine; just with multi-leg components don't solder them all one after the other, so with a chip if I'm not socketing then I do opposite corners, then another component, then the other corners, then another component, then work through the remaining pins with a component break between each two. If that makes sense.

Even that's probably unnecessary.

For sockets in quantity try Rapid Electronics, RS or CPC. For only a few eBay is probably a better bet - you'll pay silly money for each, but that's still cheaper than buying 1000 when you need two.

Megii

That was a fast response! cheers @stickyfiddle - OK I'll trust that my careful nature and previous soldering experience will be enough to get me through. This is going to be fun - I think I may run a forum thread to document my progress and things I learn along the way.

Megii

Sporky said:

Megii said:

I do have one query which is that some caution is advised with regard to how easy it is to overheat some of the components, and I've seen people suggest "socketing" such components to avoid the risk.

a) Is that a good idea? and if so
b) where does one buy the socket thingys?

If you can solder a bit already then you'll be fine; just with multi-leg components don't solder them all one after the other, so with a chip if I'm not socketing then I do opposite corners, then another component, then the other corners, then another component, then work through the remaining pins with a component break between each two. If that makes sense.

Even that's probably unnecessary.

For sockets in quantity try Rapid Electronics, RS or CPC. For only a few eBay is probably a better bet - you'll pay silly money for each, but that's still cheaper than buying 1000 when you need two.

Certainly does make sense, cheers @Sporky. It may be unnecessary, but it seems easy to take that sort of careful approach, so I might as well. Appreciate the suggestions for where to buy the sockets though - I guess there may be times when that will be useful.

Sporky

I've generally socketed except where I can't afford the space, which is darned rare. I socket some diodes and transistors as well - either heat/static sensitive ones or ones where I want to experiment with different options.

Megii

Sporky said:

I've generally socketed except where I can't afford the space, which is darned rare. I socket some diodes and transistors as well - either heat/static sensitive ones or ones where I want to experiment with different options.

So maybe worth thinking about, cheers again @Sporky. All a bit of a new world for me, but it's refreshing to have something like that to dive into - a bit of a new hobby for me I guess.

Any further tips or thoughts welcome anyone btw - best type of solder to use, what sort of soldering iron temperature, anything really, all very welcome at this stage.

Sporky

I use very skinny solder - you get through more length but it melts and flows faster. High silver, lead free. If I can find the make I'll let you know, probably from Rapid.

Other useful bits are a teeny tub of iron tip cleaner and a brass shavings pad - the latter is much better than a sponge for cleaning. Possibly a fibreglass pencil for cleaning PCB tracks and pads and socket solder tabs. A helping hands thingy and a small articulable vice too - this sort:

http://www.chronos.ltd.uk/acatalog/486353_l.jpg

Megii

All sound like good ideas, cheers again @Sporky

Danny1969

The tools I would never scrimp on are the soldering iron, the side cutters and autostrippers. I solder things pretty much every day, everything from surface mount IC's on laptop motherboards to large triacs on motor control PCB's ... A good iron like a Weller soldering station makes soldering effortless .... forget the wattage, that's only part of the story. Get something that's high quality, that heats up quick, takes quickly interchangable tips  and doesn't waste it's energy heating up the handle. Most beginners get problems due to poor soldering, cold joints, messy bridged joints and other problems. Get a good iron and practice making quick and nice joints using cut off legs from resistors. Try and make a cube out of 12 x 30mm resistor legs .... that's always a good test of your skills

Get a good working knowledge of resistors, caps, transistors and opamps ..... learn the pinouts of popular single and duel opamps so you don't have to constantly check the pinouts

Rather than buy pedal kits as a whole just buy the PCB and then get yourself packs of resistors and caps and opamps in tubes ... it works out much cheaper. For simple circuits like a fuzz or single opamp drive a pcb isn't really necessary, you can use veroboard and get the same results much cheaper

Megii

Appreciate your taking the time to give your advice and help, cheers @Danny1969. Forgive me but I am going to start with a kit for my first project - I do take your points onboard, and I know it's costing me more money - it's just that it provides a degree of reassurance and I know I will have the bits I need.

I may also be spending less than you would on the soldering iron I'm afraid - but I'm prepared to go up to £50-ish maybe, I wonder if there are any recommendations there?

thermionic

The soldering stations Maplins sell for £40-60 are decent by all accounts. Sometimes they sell the more expensive one in-store for £40, which seems to be a bargain. Also easy to get spare bits in different sizes for them.

Adam_MD

Decent soldering iron which will easily do the job 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B005ZEM7YI/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1477836742&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=antex+xs25&dpPl=1&dpID=31pmfB7ECsL&ref=plSrch

Whatever you do don't buy a cheap electronics store solder sucker they're a complete waste of time I couldn't believe the difference when I bought a decent one.  You genuinely don't want to skimp on this I've found it way too easy to burn a trace with a cheap one because you end up excessively heating the board.  

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B002MJMXD4/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1477836913&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=engineer+solder+sucker&dpPl=1&dpID=31FrUVEX1TL&ref=plSrch

Good side cutters also make a world of difference and don't have to cost a load of money.  

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00ONEVUF8/ref=sr_ph?ie=UTF8&qid=1477837057&sr=1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=engineer+side+cutter

Also the best tip I've ever had is to get some bluetack it's awesome for holding components onto the board while soldering.