I build guitar pedals for a living. AMA.

>>1107475
What do you do?

File: tmp_10151-Cz3yRBaUQAAh3nI.png_large40678080.png (581KB, 1024x640px) Image search: [Google]

581KB, 1024x640px

I'm bretty good with electronics but I know nothing about pedals or guitars. Is there a "must have" or "good for everything" circuit design?
I have some friends who play the guitar/bass and I would like to gift them some usable effect pedals.

>>1107475
Do you design them yourself or do you just copy existing products?

File: IMG_20161212_171657098.jpg (518KB, 2688x1520px) Image search: [Google]

518KB, 2688x1520px

What can I sell this for? Zvex wooly mammoth I made a week ago

File: IMG_20161213_224032232.jpg (465KB, 2688x1520px) Image search: [Google]

465KB, 2688x1520px

>>1107488
Check out tagboardeffects (Google it) the website makes it fucking easy. Then I source parts mainly from Mammoth electronics

File: 00S0S_47caX1p7ndQ_600x450.jpg (20KB, 253x450px) Image search: [Google]

20KB, 253x450px

>>1107475
I have this problem where the power draw on some pedals I've made affects the tone of the chain, the tone is still strange if the pedal is off (true pass... I don't understand)

>>1107483
fuzzes and modulations mostly. delays too. repairs and mods.

>>1107488
>Is there a "must have" or "good for everything" circuit design?

a line buffer for avoiding tonesucking. or a clean boost for a volume boost for solos or for overdriving pedals/amps. both will work on bass and guitars.

>>1107490
some are heavily modded pre existing effects, some are subtly modded effects. no point reinventing the wheel. however ive designed some fuzzes from scratch. and a chorus with an original LFO, but chorus structure is always the same, so itll always be more or less a variation of the classics, like boss ce1,2 and small clone.

>>1107496
$20

unfinished pedals in bare metal are very unappealing.

>>1107499
if tone is affected then you wired it wrong. do a test pedal by pedal until you finde the culprit. a tbp loop box with help isolating problematic areas too.

>>1107504
I've built around 12-15 pedals and 3 guitar tube amps.
how do you monetize this hobby? etzy hipster shops with retarded mojo hype?

I've built a few customs for friends, but for the money to be worth the actual work the price would be prohibitive.
so i charge them little to nothing.

mostly I do it for fun, though my electronics time is now devoted to modular synth stuff instead.
i do want a Swedish chainsaw pedal though...

What is best box for pedal use? Tough is good. I want to make a TIG welder foot control. I'm familiar with everything else but not currently available boxes.

I always wanted to get into tube amp and pedal building, i know the most basic stuff aboit electronics, know how to solder and have acess to cheap materials and free soviet tubes
>where do i start?

>>1108168
ax84.com
valvewizard.co.uk

that's where I learned my tube stuff for the most part.

>>1108176
though, if you haven't gotten into pedal building i would start there.

smaller simpler projects, more info available, cheaper parts (transformers are expensive).
less risk of injury is also a pluss

>>1107964
>how do you monetize this hobby?
charging a lot (my formula is to charge about 7X the materials cost. if it takes me more than 5 minutes to fix a broken pedal, then i charge the max fee) and focusing on wanna be pro musicians. real pros are cheap when dealing with small brands, but wanna be ones want to pay the big bucks for custom shit.

>>1107986
hammond ones. typical 1590BB boxes. i like their sloped console boxes, but theyre expensive to bring to my country.

>>1108168
i started in diystompboxes. dunno how alive is that community anymore.

>>1107475
Where can I get empty, bare Boss-style hinged pedals?

>>1107475
How profitable is this? How hard is it to get into?

Did my first stripboard build the otherday. Swollen Pickle mk1. All it does is click every second, no sound otherwise. True bypass works, the problem is the board.

Weird part, volume works(not so weird), but the filter/tone knob changes the sound of the click.

Any ideas? I think i put a little too much solder somewhere, either bridging strips or bridging a cut, making a short to ground.

Im at work now so cant post it.

do you sometimes build pedals for a dead?

Whats your company name?

>>1108307
>focusing on wanna be pro musicians
>real pros are cheap when dealing with small brands, but wanna be ones want to pay the big bucks for custom shit.

Is this a shot at /gg/? >>>/mu/70101668

>>1107475
What country?

>>1108307
not >>1107964
but I have also built a few pedals & cost is a big killer.
>(my formula is to charge about 7X the materials cost
is someone really going to pay $150-200 for a simple diode clipper, when the DOD Overdrive its clones is $70? Even with custom artwork on the pedal, are people that stupid?

foot switches I can see because they can be made small and the Boss FS-5, FS-6 are fuckhuge

>>1109061
>are people that stupid?
>are guitarists that stupid?
ftfy

>>1108323

recall seeing some on ebay. looked rad, it was polished metal. but that shits gonna rust eventually.

>>1108511
yo can profit a small margin for mindless spending, or you can build huge empires like electro harmonix. or mid sizes empires ike earthquaker devices.

go to pedal forums. lurk a lot, ask a lot. learn to solder like a pro from the start.

>>1108590
>Weird part, volume works(not so weird), but the filter/tone knob changes the sound of the click.

means the pedal is almost healthy. there must be a single solder bridge that shouldnt be that is causing the circuit to self isolate. if you play the instrument and it doesnt disturb the oscillation, then you are shorting the signal to ground somewhere.

i hate stripboards.

>>1109020
wut.

>>1109040
afraid i cant share that info, pal.

>>1109046
>Is this a shot at /gg/? >>>/mu/70101668

i dont frequent /mu/ at all. but its what it is, aspirational people will pay more because paying more makes you better, youre acquiring handmade quality shit.

>>1109061
>is someone really going to pay $150-200 for a simple diode clipper, when the DOD Overdrive its clones is $70?

if the pedal is cheaper outside i tell people. i tel them exactly what theyre getting. almost never build stock, always include exclusive mods. also eternal support from the guy that built it is huge. chain stores are ass.

>>1109070
>isolate

*oscillate, damn.

is there difference in soud between a 1uf mylar capacitor and a 1uf ceramic one?

>>1109165

cocksniffing.

>>1109175
>cocksniffing
what?

>>1109180
lol

>>1109070
>not building pedals for the dead.
Do you not want motorcycle skeletons?

>>1109070
I went through hell with it but i got it working. Vero looks better than point to point, but after im out of vero im going to start making my own boards.

>>1110349
>I went through hell with it but i got it working.

cool.

>>1108323
Rixen makes some but you'll pay $40, might ass well buy broken boss pedals

I do this as a hobby. Im thinking about starting to sell them just cause Im getting to a point where i can turn 1 out in less than a day, from unectehed board to fully assembled in an enclosure. I dont even want to make money off it, i just enjoy doing it and have no use for the dozens I have. Sorry for the list of questions, and Id understand if you dont want to help me out so theres less competition out there(though I doubt ill ever compete woth anyone) So...

Do you use smd components? What about board mounted jacks and pots?

Do you pay someone to make boards for you?

Do you make them when someone buys one or do you have them sitting on a shelf ready?

How many do you turn out a week?

Do you have anyone helping you, like employees or partners?

What do you charge on average per pedal?

Do you offer other services like mods or repairs?

Do you maintain a full website or just some kind of e shop?

How many hours do you spend a day working?

Any helpful advice?

Like I said, I dont intend to make a living off this, but Ive learned by watching others fail that the worst thing you can do is not keep up with demand. Its one thing if youre already established and people felt ot was worth the wait, but it would kill my growth if all of a sudden 20 people ordered the same pedal and it took me a month or so to fill the orders.

>>1110699
> if you dont want to help me out so theres less competition out there
i have no competition because im the best.


>Do you use smd components? What about board mounted jacks and pots?
no and no. i have bad sight. i dont like doing board mounted shit because it causes mechanical strain. big companies do that, i profit from that.

>Do you pay someone to make boards for you?
yes. a friend, i pay him in pizzas and booze.

>Do you make them when someone buys one or do you have them sitting on a shelf ready?
all on demand. i dont have stocks.

>How many do you turn out a week?
im building less and less. focusing in big projects only. building pedals can get very boring if you make too many of them, too much time waste too.

>Do you have anyone helping you, like employees or partners?
no, im a loner.

>What do you charge on average per pedal?
$150. but there are $500 projects too. small shit like a line buffer costs $90.

>Do you offer other services like mods or repairs?
yup.

>Do you maintain a full website or just some kind of e shop?
e-shop.

>How many hours do you spend a day working?
varies a lot. some repairs are tough. i challenge myself to do repairs in 5 minutes, so, sometimes i do 3 repairs in a day, and thats $150 a day for about 20 min of work and im cool with it. i can build a full pedal in 2 hours, including clearcoating.

>Any helpful advice?
be the best.

>and it took me a month or so to fill the orders.
wuut. thats what i tell them, a month MORE OR LESS. some take 3 or 4 months, and i tell them in advance.

>>1110710
Youre the man, couple more if you dont mind.

Whats the best way to learn what part of a circuit does what? Do you just start recognizing them on schematics? Is there a be all end all book on this? Im starting to recognize filters and gain stages and what not, but in seen people look at something and say "r3 sets minimum gain" or "c14 sets the filter range." Asking because after i finish my next to i want a take an existing schematic and make it sound completely different. Is best option at this point to just breadboard it and swap things around?

What enclosures do you use? Just hammond boxes?

Probably the most important thing though, legality. Im not going to be selling absolute clones if it gets to that point, but do i have to worry about a C&D or lawyers? What about rohs compliance? Do i need to use compliant or exempt components and lead free solder? I remember reading a couple years ago that small battery powered electronics need special approval now by the fcc(amercant) but if it could only be connected to a mains(either with or without a transformer) then it was ok.

Do you do digital effects or just analog?

Finally, whats your favorite pedal.

>>1107475
I've got an old crybaby gcb-95 which sucks my trebles.
Can I take a random chinese stomp DPDT from aliexpress, or do I have to be cautious about something?

>>1111601
dunno why or how, but the cheap chinese parts are extra shitty on aliexpress. get china 3pdt from ebay, did already, worked a charm.

>>1111652
Alright, thanks.
Could you indicate me how should I proceed with this 3DPT
I don't want to do the led mod atm.
Probably let unused the part where I should do the led thingy and it'll work regardless?

What do you use to cut the holes in the die-cast aluminum cases?

Hi, I have been reading this thread and it gives me motivation. I want to build a octave down "clean" to make some DOOM/SLUDGE guitare sound.

1) OP are you still there?
2) OP, what clone, model, copy would you think of first?
3) Don't you want to cut some strings when you hear some guitare pedal demo?
4) thank

>>1112881
build the uboat pedal by valvewizard

>>1111652
I always buy capacitors from aliexpress. Is this bad?

>>1107499
If your chain becomes too long, you can cause signal degradation even with true bypass pedals. Say you have a board with 15 pedals and no buffers.

Also you may have power supply issues if you're drawing too much.

>>1112237

a multi drill bit, duno whats called. but it has all measures from 3 to 15.

>>1112881
>Hi, I have been reading this thread and it gives me motivation. I want to build a octave down "clean" to make some DOOM/SLUDGE guitare sound.
>1) OP are you still there?
ya.
>2) OP, what clone, model, copy would you think of first?
there is no clean analog octave down. there is this cmos/flip flop trick used in a lot of pedals, but thats a monophonic squarewave filtered down. will glitch. get behringer harmonizer for quick and cheap octaves.

>3) Don't you want to cut some strings when you hear some guitare pedal demo?
whaaaat.

>4) thank
np.

>>1112967
i dont think one could get cheap capacitors wrong. but who knows. i just dont trust aliexpress.

>>1107504
How would you recommend trying to get into designing / making modulation pedals like choruses and Flangers and phasers? I've built a few dirt boxes before but I've always been interested in making or modifying a mod pedal to do some whack ass shit
>>1107964
Also semi interested in building tube amps, did you just build a kit or design something?

>>1114911
This is me but a general question, I built a semi clone of a Color Sound One Knob Fuzz, super messed up and dumb sounding, gated as fuck. I love the sound, but I have no clue how to go about selling the two that I've made. How do you come into contact with people to sell to, especially if the pedal is just generally kind of whack and not really conventional

>>1114911
cornerstones for modulation:
small clone / chorus
phase 90 / phaser

flangers are a bit more complicated, leave that one for when you are more skilled.

>>1114914
>How do you come into contact with people to sell to

people just come to you if you do cool shit.

now i remember: when i started i had a friend tell every one of his musician friends (like 200 people) about me. that shit helped me a lot, lots of clients. borrowed trust is no joke. you gotta have that extra bit of good luck/good friends/good star whatever.

>>1112237
OP is describing a step drill. Ideal for round holes in thin metal.

File: image.jpg (2MB, 3264x2448px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 3264x2448px

>>1114945
This is basically what I got going, it's just a really really loud and stupid/ugly/probably bad sounding fuzz

Are there any good textbooks that demonstrate the mathematics of common effects? Something involving transforms and transfer functions?

Where are you from?

>>1116276
looks pretty decent and straight forward. congrats.

>>1116291
dunno about that. maybe boscorellis stompbox cookbook has some of that. never bothered with the text, only the schematics.

>>1116349
southamerica.

>>1107475
Why are guitar people so fucking dumb?

I was given a Sovtek Big Muff in 2009 because my buddy couldnt sell the fucking thing.
It has crappy reversed inputs, no DC jack, and in general is a shit sounding pedal.

Now that we are a few years removed from them being unavailable people are paying 200 bucks for em?

I sold an old beat to fuck maestro FZ-1 in 2009 for $150. It also sounded like ass. Looks like people are still after them today.

It just blows my mind.

>>1116381
For someone claiming to be smart you sure managed to sound dumb about a lot of things in a single post.

>>>/mu/70406365

>>1116388
>you sure managed to sound dumb about a lot of things in a single post.

Go on, enlighten me
How does the russian muff that was built way shittier and was universally considered to sound way worse than the American muff suddenly get a gigantic following a few years after its production ceases?

Did it suddenly get a "boutique" or "aged" sound the second they stopped production?

>>1116381

lots of guitar guys think you can sound like your heros if you buy their pedals. nothing farther from the truth. recorded sound comes from lots of sources, specially mics and amps, room plays a big part too. good recording techniques and a good tube amp can make a boss ds1 sound godly.

i think the sovtek sounds alright, but is a very crappy pedal, if you try to tighten the jacks nuts, they just collapse and fall apart. russian technology.

never heard the maestro one, but saw the schematic once. 3V power supply and primitive fuzz design sounds like some gated piece of shit in my head. went to corroborate on youtube, and it was true: ass sound. but it gives you the "satisfaction" sound.

>>1116393
>i think the sovtek sounds alright, but is a very crappy pedal,

You should look on the inside of it
Its a very poorly built pedal

>>1116391
It gets used by someone good and people chase their tone rather than replicate their technique.

>>1116394
>>1116393

Yeah, the Sovteks got super cheap during the later years of manufacture. That's part of the reason production ceased. I love when people say they were made from "tank parts"...

They can sound good though. I also build pedals, as of now just for myself pretty rarely, and my first one from like 2012 was a green russian big muff. Sounds excellent.

>>1107475
What's your recommended reading material on analog circuits?

>>1117258
honestly dunno, learnt all intuitively. the cookbook i mentioned seems to be pretty great.

File: EHX BASS MICROSYNYH.jpg (521KB, 591x768px) Image search: [Google]

521KB, 591x768px

bumping this $hit.