My first pedal build

AustrianJohn

As my first pedal build I picked the FuzzDog Tube Screamer (TS808 version) from pedalparts.co.uk. The kit is comprehensive and the instructions clear (at least in retrospect).



I can't work out the resistor values from the coloured rings - even if my eyes can see the rings the different colours are not easy to differentiate, so it's best to check with a multimeter. I was pleased at how tidy the tiny board looked after I'd populated it. (In the photo the resistors values are far clearer than in real life!)





Next step was to test everything before cramming it insde the small box and wiring up the switch.





It was then I realised my first mistake. When I ordered the kit there was the choice of board mount or wired pots. I had no idea what the difference was so went for wired. Board mount makes it much easier to make everything fit inside the enclosure - I chose wired, and it was all a bit of a squeeze. Next step was to plan the internal wiring.



I managed to wire the input jack wrong, but as the jack was inserted or removed it briefly made the correct connections, which gave me the clue about what was wrong.



For now I'm using some spare guitar knobs - but I'll replace these with something more appropriate, and I'll try to make my own decals, although I'm not sure they'll show up against the black case.



Cost was £42.90 compared with the Ibanez TS808 price of £159. The build was quite straightforward. Thankfully, the only mistakes I made were incredibly stupid ones that were easy to track down.

After wiring 30+ components on a circuit board not much larger than a big toe nail, and connecting more than a dozen wires inside this tiny enclosure, I'll never again complain about the complexity of wiring a few pots, a five way switch and a maybe a micro-switch on a Strat scratchplate!

I'm very pleased with the range of tones available. It works well with my P1800 - and using the pedal with the drive turned up and the level down gets a great sound at a volume that doesn't evacuate the neighbourhood. Best of all, used with different guitars the character of each guitar shines through, augmented by the pedal. Some other pedals I've used that cost around £50 sounded the same no matter what guitar you played through them.

Next up is a Box of Gilmour from JedsPeds.

usedtobe

Nice!

Sarge

Excellent! good thread.

MrDecalPaper sells white decal paper, I've successfully used it on black headstocks, though the black did show through the white as a slight grey hue.

earwighoney

Superb. 

I had a tentative look at the Fuzz Dog site and after seeing your efforts I realised there is no chance I will be making one myself! 

tabbycat

grand job, austrian john, the first pedal has a learning curve like a brick wall. you did really well to scale it without tears or trauma. fuzzdogs instructions make life a lot less painful than it might otherwise be. pedal looks great and if you like the sound all good, and if you don't i know the fuzzdog has a few slot in option for caps, so doors left open re future tweaks.

by way of a suggestion, i have built (and messed up) a fair few pedals in my time, and i would highly recommend snipping all the tails off as short as you can go on the solder side of the board. once it has rattled around in that box for a while it may well get closer to the bottom of the enclosure, at which point sticky-out stalks like that might make contact with the case and short it out, or even give you a little belt. worth snipping them down to a little mound and losing the stalk. you can also glue a piece of thin plastic or card to the inside of the enclosure beneath the pcb to completely rule out that shorting possibility.

re accidental shorting of exposed wiring, the same applies to the 'node' you have gathered your grounds to. if that makes contact with the sides of the enclosure or other parts it make well cause noise or short out parts.
tape is an option, though often works loose after a while. i either use heatshrink tubing (bitsbox sell it among other places) or just get the hot glue gun out and give it a blob on the end to seal exposed wire.

as to your finished unit, that looks pretty damn cool. and beyond the saving on an original you will have got enough knowledge and confidence under your belt to mean your next one flies by.

you'll be addicted in no time.

frankus

Great work!

I usually use a multimeter to measure the resistors, and as I have a stash I keep them in labelled compartments.

It's good to hear you reporting the set backs, it's a recognisable part of any adventure, frustrating but dull without it.

There's a saying in martial arts 'a master is one who has made more mistakes than his students', pedals are a great way to learn basic electronics.

I find mounting and housing pedals to be the trickiest part.

nutbox

Cool ,nice work buddy you got a video clip of how it sounds?

AustrianJohn

tabbycat said:

...you can also glue a piece of thin plastic or card to the inside of the enclosure beneath the pcb to completely rule out that shorting possibility.

re accidental shorting of exposed wiring, the same applies to the 'node' you have gathered your grounds to. if that makes contact with the sides of the enclosure or other parts it make well cause noise or short out parts.
tape is an option, though often works loose after a while. i either use heatshrink tubing (bitsbox sell it among other places) or just get the hot glue gun out and give it a blob on the end to seal exposed wire.

...

you'll be addicted in no time.

I'd put card under the PCB but not thought about protecting the grounds - good idea.

The bad news is that I am already addicted. The good news is that a handful of new pedals doesn't fill the house up as much as a handful of new guitars or amps!

Sporky

AustrianJohn said:

It was then I realised my first mistake. When I ordered the kit there was the choice of board mount or wired pots. I had no idea what the difference was so went for wired. Board mount makes it much easier to make everything fit inside the enclosure - I chose wired, and it was all a bit of a squeeze. 

Wire mount is arguably more serviceable though, and can reduce stress on the circuit board. I always used wired pots and secured the board onto two standoffs - proper steel ones, screwed through the face of the enclosure. If you use countersunk screws you can fill the heads in with liquid metal or similar, paint over and it's pretty much invisible. But much stronger than the sticky-pad plastic ones, easier to put the board in and out and won't weaken over time.

english_bob

Did you paint the enclosure yourself (if so, what with? looks cool), or do FuzzDog offer pre-painted ones. (EDIT: never mind, I see they do)

I sort components the same way you do, using a piece of card to keep them secure til I need them, only I've normally written the values next to them (this works better with BYOC's method of marking the PCB and the instructions which may be different to FuzzDog's).

Once you've cracked the general process of sorting parts and populating the PCB you should be good to build whatever pedals you like- I worked my way up from a fairly simple BYOC Tri-Boost (which in hindsight I wouldn't have started with as the rotary switch on the old version was a total pain to wire up) to fairly large and complex kits like their flanger and Octave Divider clone. The process is exactly the same as with a simple kit, only with more components. The real pain is in troubleshooting (particularly if, like me, you don't really know what's going on in the circuits), although with a full kit from a reputable place like FuzzDog or BYOC the biggest danger is sloppy soldering, which is largely preventable with a combination of practice, concentration and sobriety

thecolourbox

Good work, I have fancied building some pedals for quite a while now from the Pedal Parts and BYOC kits, though I've had quite a lot of failed projects recently for various reasons so I'm a bit wary.

Threads like this are really helpful though as it gives a better visual idea of what's in store and also there are a lot of good tips that a beginner wouldn't necessarily think of or be able to solve if that makes sense. Like your cardboard parts thing, that's a great idea.

I'd love to build the Octave Divider that @english_bob mentions (unless you fancy selling me the one you made haha), but I'm thinking I'd need to build a few drives first before something like that, especially as the circuit board resembles a computer!

Good work @austrianjohn

usedtobe

You've made me want to build a pedal, now...

english_bob

 thecolourbox said:

I'd love to build the Octave Divider that @english_bob mentions (unless you fancy selling me the one you made haha), but I'm thinking I'd need to build a few drives first before something like that, especially as the circuit board resembles a computer!

Definitely not selling, @thecolourbox! It's a very cool pedal. That thing was an absolute mission to build though, just because of the sheer number of parts. Like I said, more parts doesn't make it more difficult exactly, just means more component sorting, more soldering and more potential for something to go wrong. I could bang together a dirt pedal in an evening, but the Octave Divider took me about a week of 1-2 hour sessions.

The great thing about using BYOC or Fuzzdog kits (or any other respectable kit seller) is that you can be reasonably sure that you've got all the right parts, a quality PCB and some good, clear instructions on how to put the thing together. As long as you read everything twice and take it slow, about all you can get wrong is the soldering. A few of the kits I've built have taken a bit of tinkering to get working, but in almost every case enough reflowing of solder joints did the trick. (the Octave Divider, which was the most recent thing I built, worked straight away )

IMO it's well worth a go- most of the Fuzzdog kits are £30-£40 once you factor in knobs and an enclosure, which is next to nothing in guitar gear money. This forum would probably provide pretty decent tech support if something goes wrong too.

 

LordOxygen

Well done, I'm tempted to have a go and make one of these myself now. 

AustrianJohn

nutbox said:

Cool ,nice work buddy you got a video clip of how it sounds?

No, but I'll see if I can do one to compare it with my next build, a Box of Gilmour from Jeds Peds.

jonnygreentrees

I applaud your organisation laying everything out on the box and labelling them. I just tip everything onto my desk and crack on!  :-/

AustrianJohn

jonnygreentrees said:

I applaud your organisation laying everything out on the box and labelling them. I just tip everything onto my desk and crack on!  :-/

And I only post details of my well organised builds!

Teetonetal

Nice thread and a good build Really must take this step too at some point

AustrianJohn

Well, the next build didn't go quite as well.

It's a Box of Gilmour from JedsPeds. The populated board seemed ok, but when I wired up in the test harnes it didn't work.





After useful input from Jedspeds it was clear that I hadn't followed the test harness instruction 100%, and when I rewired it worked. In the meantime I'd managed to get solder inside a jack socket (making it difficult to get a jack in), and I'd taken the top off the trim pot with over-enthusiastic trimming. So I'm now waiting for some spare parts (including a free trim pot from Jedspeds - thanks!).

Adam_MD

It gets better dude I had a couple of dodgy builds which took a while to troubleshoot but overall the quality just gets better with each build you do.

My last 10 builds have all worked first time so stick with it.

english_bob

AustrianJohn said:

In the meantime I'd managed to get solder inside a jack socket (making it difficult to get a jack in), and I'd taken the top off the trim pot with over-enthusiastic trimming. So I'm now waiting for some spare parts (including a free trim pot from Jedspeds - thanks!).

This all sounds like a job for a solder sucker. You can get one for about £2 off Ebay and it'll serve you well for jobs like getting stray solder out of places it's not meant to go and desoldering components you've er... been overenthusiastic with.

And yes, it gets easier with practice. I don't think I've had a DOA in ages.

That said, I've  got a perfboard build waiting to fire up. I haven't done many perfboards before...