Newbe questions

[jamie]

hello i'm new to the world of everything guitar
i've only been playing for about 1 year and a half. I have a wah-wah pedal, a uni - vibe and this goes into a v-amp 2. I really like the sounds, but sometimes i feel the need for more gain, distortion, octives etc. I want to know a few things. How much does a little begginger setup (and parts for the little booster listed) cost? Secondly, how complicated is this, really? i've read some diagrams and it's all hyroglyfics to me. Finally, how much effort does it take to make some effects that i will actually want to use in my little setup?
thanks for your answers

[smoguzbenjamin]

First of all, welcome to the wonderful world of electronics!

The electronic parts (caps, resistors, transistors) are really cheap, but the enclosure, potentiometers, footswitches etc. cost a bit of money. I made the booster from the beginner's forum (without enclosure) for about 10 euros, that's $8,50 or so.

Reading schematics takes practice, you'll get the hang of it.
Get a good 30W or so soldering iron, some 37/63 solder and a DMM and you can get started, although an investment in hte beginning will save you headaches later on.

Oh and one tip when soldering: Never inhale the fumes! They cause cancer and give you a nasty throat-ache

Once you get the hang of it you'll start making FX you really like! (that's the idea right? ) Once I get my EA trem going It'll be on my pedalboard for "commercial use"

[javacody]

A boost is definitely the place to start.  I started with modding a TS5 tubescreamer to TS808 specs because it was a simple matter to unsolder an opamp and two resistors, then solder in a socket and the two new resistors. I even threw in a bass boost switch. My next project was Jack Orman's minibooster with some of RG Keen's tweaks thrown in. I got all of the parts at radio shack. I would recommend either that minibooster or the mosfet boost.

[smoguzbenjamin]

If you plan on working with perfboard, do the PNP boost from the beginner forum, that'll help you along with perf

[zener]

Welcome!

If you'll start from scratch, with no tools at all, it will cost significantly. I started this whole thing almost 2 months from now and I was fortunate because my dad is into electronics and has all the tools (soldering iron, set of wire cutters, multimeter, solder sucker etc.) I will ever need.

Reading a schematic is often mind-boggling for a novice but you'll surely get it after some time. Just read all the info here that may be useful to a newbie like you.

Most of the time, it will cost lower to build your own than to buy commercial pedals. Some even surpasses the quality of commercial ones!

Lastly, this will really need some time, effort and patience (especially if you're a mistake artist, but it's natural). I'm currently piling up projects because I want to make use of the holidays vacation.

Boosters are good beginners' project. Check out other sites like generalguitargadgets.com and you'll find some easy projects there, even for a distortion pedal.

Zener

[petemoore]

Perf should be appreciated for at's ability to confuse, enlighten and teach.
 At first I found it very onfusing trying to keep track of connections on the top AND bottom of a board.
 After doing all but my last two projects on pieces of perfboard, I can say that not using PCB's teaches better...
 The way I did it many times was direct layout to perfboard froma schematic.
 Becoming familiar with the way connections are made on the projects you do' makes it easier to get the 'ckt in yor head' for understanding and quesioning and analysis...this is good. Especially if you want to be creating ckts modifying them combining them with others for even more fun etc.
 You could order PCB's and put them together more quickly.
 You'll probably find as we all do that finding ways to use your multimeter and soldering iron can be invaluable to those of us not inclined to hire a personal engineer.
 around here close is a page about what you'll need, to that I add some way to remove fumes...I use bandaids for larger projects, the cut sides of the perf also irritate my fingertips, and I like to keep my guitars strings, neck and frets in particular as free from any soldering 'traces' as possible. Uh they make that solder out of some stuff...avoid being a possible future complainer till later?
 Other than wanting to rip my hair out a few times..temperance and patience need to go a Long Way more than you would think smantimes, as warnings Against doing this...
 My electronics learning curve took a turn from going along the bottom of the graph pretty much horixontially to shooting up more toward a vertical sweep...I'm about to go see again, what else I can get from transistor and OA application charts...I really need to get a book that explains the math parts, tests me on abbreviations and equations...I think if I could get through a few equations I could start  jumpin hurdles again faster...

[smoguzbenjamin]

As pete says, the learning curve is practically flat at first, and then shoots up at an angle of 80 degrees It took me two weeks to figure out what a capacitor does, now I take that for granted.

[Peter Snowberg]

Welcome Jamie,

I would also recommend going with a booster to start off. It's a useful device and you'll find that it's a building block that's present in many effects.

Stylus has done a couple of really cool 3D layouts, check out his LPB-1 layout here:
http://smallbox.zeonhost.com/projects/lpb1/index.html

When it comes to cost on a project like that, you'll find that the majority of it is in the box, the switch, and the jacks (in that order). The cost of the core circuit is less than $2 (a bit more if you get parts at RadioShack).

As others have mentioned, the learning curve is there, but you'll get the hang of it really quickly once you dig in. A multi-meter is really vital to making it all make sense. And basic $20 meter should be just fine. I've seen some cheaper ones that will also work fine, but the slightly larger ones often have a transistor checker built in which is a real bonus. Somebody stole my expensive Fluke meter a while back, but I'm much happier with its $40 replacement. Sears is apparently a good place to get one as well.

Since you're just starting out, I would suggest letting other people do the board etching and building your effects from ready to go boards. I would recommend http://www.tonepad.com/ and http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/v2/ as great resources there. I gave up on etching boards a long time ago. For most parts, I would recommend Small Bear Electronics http://www.smallbearelec.com . Steve makes it easy to get everything you need in one stop. He has good prices too. As a bonus, all three of these sites are run by people who contribute here in the forums.

When you get into this whole pedal building thing a ways, you may want to also check http://www.mouser.com and http://www.circuitspecialists.com for more parts or higher quantities.

To parrot Ben, Welcome to the wonderful world of electronics!

Take care,
-Peter

[jamie]

thanks everybody
i hope that i can get started on one of these projects soon