Build Your Own Clone Message Board

Hey everybody, I'm the new guy here. Just signed up last night I think.

I'm new to playing the bass guitar (had some previous experience, but took a 20 year break), I started playing again a few months ago. I'm having fun and enjoying it.

I'm in Salem Oregon, and the other day at the local music store, River City Rockstar Academy, they held a class on pedals for guitar and bass. While in the class, the guy teaching recommended if you were interested in making your own pedals, read Electronic Projects for Musicians by Craig Anderton. He also recommended going to the Build Your Own Clone website to get kits to build.

I found a copy of Electronic Projects for Musicians, and I started checking out the BYOC website. Some pretty cool stuff! I hope to get a kit soon and see what I can do. Today I've been going through the forums here and reading sticky posts. Seems like a lot of helpful people here, thank you for being awesome!

Hope to see you around.
Chuck

Hi, Chuck. Welcome. BYOC is located in TriCities, WA, so we're not that far from you. We're not really that close either. The PNW is a big place. Anyhow...let us know if you have any questions.

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*patience is a virtue*

Please do not PM me. email is prefered. keith@buildyourownclone.com

You're in the TriCities?! Right on! Yeah... not far, but not too close either. LOL. I have a buddy I served with in the Marines that lives in the TriCities area. Small world.

I'm starting to get acquainted with the site, I'll let you know if I run into any issues!

Welcome to the forum, Chuck! We'd be happy to recommend some good "first-time builder" kits, if you wish, and will answer any questions to the best of our ability.

BTW, I answer to "DVM", 'cuz it saves some typing.

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“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

DVM,

Thanks! I am a newbie to soldering and electronics or whatnot. I would love some recommendations. So far I don't have any pedals, however I am extremely interested in the Helix LT or Helix Floor unit. (I realize those are a completely different story to the pedals on BYOC or whatnot)

I think the two pedal types I am interested in currently, are a noise gate and a compressor (for bass obviously). I saw someone mention the optical compressor in another thread... is that one capable of handing a bass? I'm just playing a standard 4-string, mostly in standard tuning, sometimes in Drop-D tuning.

I see your posts all over the place! If it's cool with you, I might send you a message every now and then... well... as a post anyways. That way in case someone else has a similar question or comment, they can learn from my mistakes. Also, I'll do my best to search before I ask the question. (didn't find the answer to the Optical Compressor in my search).

Welcome, Chuck! It maybe was an old-school guy who recommended reading EPFM but that was what got me started in this stuff all those years ago. It is dated from several points of view but Anderton does give some good practical ideas about the non-electronics side of building (even though with modern kits most of that is all sorted out, esp. if enclosures are available, as they are with these BYOC kits). There is also useful info in EPFM about how the circuits work in there, though he doesn't go into great depth. Unfortunately some of the key components for many of the projects are long obsolete. I've built many of the projects in there for which the parts were still available circa 1990 so can give you a bit of commentary if you like. Meanwhile I'm in double digits in BYOC kits and there are still many more that need building. Jump in!

Greetings from NY!

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Everyone likes sausage. Nobody wants to see how it's made.

Hey cool username!

I’m totally hooked. Used to build some very simple pedals 20-some years ago with parts from Radio Shack and my local shop, but I never had very many resources and gave up in lieu of woodworking.

I found my old supply box (with hundreds of resistors) and thought I’d try it again. Wow, I didn’t expect all of the fantastic resources available and I don’t have to etch my own boards anymore!

DVM,

Hey man, I checked out your page that you have linked in your signature... some pretty cool stuff on there! Thank you for sharing that stuff. How many of those 6-stringed piccolo basses do you own?

I've seen you and others recommend some good "first-time builder" kits. Please correct me if I am over-simplifying it... Isn't it just a matter of making good solder connections, and placing the components in the correct places (and sometimes orientation)? I am in no way, shape, or form trying to insult or be argumentative here. Shouldn't I just learn how to make a proper solder connection, and then follow the road map?

The fact that people can make pedals like this is really exciting to me, and I'm eager to get started. I have my eye on the Parametric EQ on Build Your Own Clone's website. Am I thinking too highly of myself by choosing that one? (I have very very very little soldering experience)
Chuck

Thanks. Those pages represent a LOT of pedal work--not just the various pedal builds shown there, but the fact that quite a few of the guitars and amps were financed by pedals I built & sold, as well as a fair amount of pedal repair work. Current count on the instruments is 29 electrics, 2 acoustics and one bass. The vast majority are inexpensive instruments, $500 or less. But I do have some really good ones, notably this, this, this, this, this and this.


You're not oversimplifying but I think you are underestimating the difficulty involved. BY FAR, the most common cause of problems we see here is POOR SOLDER QUALITY. Once you have a good handle on that, then taking your time and carefully following the instructions (including correctly identifying all the components so that they end up where they should be) will take you 98% of the way there. Ask questions here if you're unsure about something. The reason that we recommend the simpler kits for novice builders is that every solder joint, component placement, switch or pot mounting, etc. is an opportunity for error, so it makes sense to start out with the simpler kits and work up to the complicated ones. The Parametric EQ requires over 250 individual solder joints, so you'll want to be sure that your soldering technique is solid before tackling it. I'd point you toward one of the low parts-count boosts, overdrives or fuzz pedals as a first kit build--easier to get right the first time and simpler to find & fix the problem, if you don't. And be sure to read through the many useful informational posts in the DIY Discussion sub-forum before firing up the soldering iron., particularly these:

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=6401

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=52211

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=52188

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“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

You're quite right that it's just a matter of putting the right parts in the right places with good solder joints... but if something goes wrong in that process, troubleshooting is a much simpler process when you have a lower part count -- there are fewer components that might have been misplaced or oriented incorrectly, and fewer solder joints that might need improvement.

I'm a software guy by profession, and we often say: Debugging is harder than programming, so if you write a program as complex as you know how to write it, by definition you aren't smart enough to debug it.

Best of luck for your new adventure -- it's really satisfying to play through something you've assembled yourself, and even more so when you can start tweaking them to your taste... It can be just a little addictive, though

I like that one! OK if I use it?

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“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

Absolutely!

The original version is:

Hey @Homebrewski,

I'm just up in Portland, so am pretty close. Hard to believe pedla building started out as a "pandemic hobby", and I just finished my sixth pedal.

A few recommendations from my experience - get some decent tools and a decent workspace.

1. Headband magnifier (unless your eyes are way better than mine)
2. A good soldering iron
3. Pcb holder
4. Soldering fan(I found a neat lamp/fan combo)
4. Multimeter
5. Desoldering pump
6. Tweezers, clippers, pliers, etc..

Having all these things has made working much better. I couldn't imagine trying together a kit without most of those things now.

And when you run into issues, this forum has been great. Have gotten really fast with great advice and tips about my pedals.

Josh

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Josh,

Thank you for the recommendations! I appreciate it! I think the only two that I don't have so far are the magnifiers and the desoldering pump. I think I have a few small fans I can use to blow away fumes, unless there is something special about an actual soldering fan.

Any recommendations on resources on learning how to solder? I've seen quite a few videos on what people are looking for (i.e. small "mole hill" and no clumps).
Chuck

One other item to add to your tools & supplies list is good quality desoldering braid. Here's my favorite: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008O9VLA2/

And here's a good solder sucker: https://www.amazon.com/TBBSC-Desolderin ... B08XQF9WYV



There are numerous soldering "how to" videos on YouTube, so definitely watch a few of those, if you haven't already. But there's no substitute for personal experience, so we often recommend buying yourself a couple of pieces of perf board or vero board (types of generic PCBs) and a bag of cheap diodes (1N914 or 1N4148 silicon diodes fit this description) and dive in. What you're shooting for is those shiny, smooth, conical joints that you'll find pictured in THIS THREAD. Incidentally, any good soldering iron should have heat control--avoid those "always on full" irons, which run excessively hot and go through tips like kids go through Halloween candy.

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“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

I really appreciate the feedback I'm getting from you all. It means a lot to me. Thank you.

The soldering iron I have is a Weller W100P (I need to get a different tip, my dad had a wide one on there for stained glass windows). And I have a "Mini-Phaser" controller for dialing up and down the heat. Hopefully those will work? They are what I was planning on using.

There is a local electronics shop here in town, I'll have to fun down there and check out the perf board or vero board... and cheap diodes.

That is a VERY BIG iron, really more suited for heavy-duty commercial soldering jobs. Apparently, the tips have a method of temp. control built in--you would want the 700F tip for pedal work. But I'm concerned that the tip will still be too large to handle the fine soldering work required on pedals.

Fortunately, you don't need to spend very much to get a very serviceable temp. controlled unit well suited for pedal building. BYOC (and other places) sells this one specifically for this kind of duty, and it works very well: https://buildyourownclone.com/collectio ... er-station

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“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

If you are absolutely new to soldering electronics then one suggestion I would make is: after you have obtained some de-soldering gear (such as a solder sucker and/or braid) practice desoldering on some old circuit board. Better to know how to do it before you need to do it on *something important.* In fact, if you're brand new to soldering, you could consider doing this first thing.

You might even be able to harvest some re-usable parts that way.

More good advice! Sooner or later--and it's sooner for most novice builders--you'll install something incorrectly and need to desolder it and move it a different spot without damaging it or (worse!) the PCB.

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“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

I just did this on a foot switch board. Without thinking, I attached the switch to the wrong side. I could’ve made it work, but I wanted to do it correctly, so I took my time desoldering the damn switch. And it did take me a while, but I eventually got it off and didn’t mess up the board.

Late to the party but, nevertheless, welcome to the forum!

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Bikers have more fun that people do.

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