quality kits?

[baguitar]

building my own stompboxes is something vie been looking into for a while now, can anyone give me advice, where to buy where they are good quality and affordable, I'm on a fixed income which is part of the reason for me pursuing this activity , the other, is I love working on electronics. thank you in advance.

[Zoot]

Hi baguitar,
I have built my first and my 15th stompbox in the last year(ish). The first one was a gift for my son, and then... I got addicted.
Only 2 of them were kits, most of the times I bought the PCBs and parts, as I like the part of ordering all the small parts, getting to know them, making mistakes....

The builds were:
1. BYOC   5-knob Compressor (KIT)
2. BYOC   Mega Chorus & Vibrato
3. GGG   Green Ringer
4. MADBEAN   Pastiface
5. BYOC   Analog Vibrato
6. BYOC   Crown Jewel (KIT)
7. GGG   Tube Screamer
8. GGG   Treble Booster
9. MADBEAN   Karate Shop
10. BYOC   Spring Reverb
11. MUSICPCB   Tap Tempo Tremolo
12. MUSICPCB   Christine
13. MUSICPCB   Meat Sphere
14. MADBEAN   Total Recall
15. MADBEAN   Wavelord (ordered PCB, didn't build yet)

I still consider myself very new to this, and my main job in it is debugging . I'm really glad about the forums, this one in particular. They are the reason I didn't give up on some builds. I'm also glad about SmallBear, Banzai, and Musikding... Less mistakes occur through shopping in the right places.

All that said, and opinions are subjective, my main concerns have been, and it is reflected below, the quality of PCBs, and especially quality of building instructions.

So, regarding kits/PCBs:

BYOC are very nice, PCB quality is fine, instructions are good, sometimes having some update issues. Crown Jewel is the sweetest. In general the 4 builds were super worthwhile and rewarding.

GGG (at least the ones I bought) were super simple and good PCB quality, but I bought the most basic pedals. All worked in the first try.

MusicPCB are the hardest ones to build as instructions are minimal. They are for experienced builders. I'm still debugging them (my fault though). They are some of the craziest sounding and use crazy chips. They have the Meatsphere, which IS something.

Madbean are the most thought off, well done instructions and PCBs. The instructions contain all the details, the expected voltages, how to bias in detail, enclosure templates, etc. The PCBs are constantly renewed and redesigned. They also have a forum for their builds. Pro stuff, really. Great for newbies like me.

Have order PCBs and kits always from their respective sites.
Hope you find this useful.

[Sooner Boomer]

I've built several kits from GGG. Very nice kits. You need a bit of kit building experience, or be able to figure out logical steps for construction as some parts need to be installed/wired up before other parts. This is because the space inside the box can be quite close, and parts will interfere with each other, or you just can't get to them to solder, if you don't go in the right order. But once learned, this process is the same for all of their kits. I'll be buying/building more of their kits!

[bluebunny]

Welcome.  Also check out Aion where Kevin offers full kits in addition to PCBs.  (If you're in Europe, Musikding carries these kits too.)

[patrick398]

I've used PCB Mania and Fuzz Dog a few times, their pcbs seem pretty good. If you are in this for the long haul at some point it might be worth looking into building on vero/strip board. There's thousands of layouts over at tagboardeffects.blogspot.com, some of which you can't buy pcbs for

[roseblood11]

I use vero board whenever it is possible. For more complex circuits, I buy the pcb's from Aion Electronics, Madbean, 1776 effects, musicpcb.com, uk-electronic.de or musikding.de
The parts are very cheap, when you buy larger numbers. I often support a local company (uk-electronic), but sometimes I buy from the asian shops directly (search for hongkongsuperseller on ebay... that's where the small shops buy their 3pdt footswitches...). It's very rare that the parts value of a pedal is above $15.

[fuzz guy]

I've built all mine from Fuzz Dog kits, about 8-10 pedals so far. They're great kits at a good price and the instructions are very thorough. I especially like getting fuzz kits from him as you get the matched transistors. I get all my enclosures, knobs and other bits and pieces from Tayda.

[Mark Hammer]

My sense is that they are all good, though as some here have noted, one needs to differentiate between the kit and the accompanying instructions.  As a person on a limited income, having all the required parts provided to you can actually be a savings.  Myself, I've accumulated drawers and drawers of parts over the years (some are over 40 years old!), so any new circuit is using materials I already have, making them inexpensive.  But if you're starting from zero, ordering parts would be expensive.  Eventually, you'll likely begin acquiring parts for future use, rather than simply things on a list for a current build.  But for now, ordering a kit is probably a good idea.

Just remember that: a) the folks here can substitute for whatever the included instructions do not make crystal clear, and b) your soldering skill and tools are every bit as critical as what comes in the kit.

[StephenGiles]

Talking of parts, I found a chip just now and the markings on it are: on top N823-0M and underneath RH324 3. Now my memory has gone calypso collapso this afternoon but I'm wondering if it's that longer delay Philips BBD used in a Maplin Magazine Chorus project  -  was it? (voice goes up at the end of the sentence!!)

[StephenGiles]

I think I solved it - TDA 1097, as James McMurtry sang - "what am I s'posed to do with that"??