new to the hobby

[nightmare-ending]

i am new to this although my dad is a mechanic and brothers an electrician and im always curious so i know alot. ive been wanting to get into building stompboxes and amps for a while, but i dont understand any of this. my soldering skills are top notch, im a very fast learner and good at math. ive also been looking all over the place for like a run down of how effects pedals work from input to output, and i would be very appreciative if someone would go over this for me. i could do these pedals off the schematics but i dont understand what would be the point if i dont know how to tweak it to get the sound i want. sorry for the long post.

[niftydog]

how effects pedals work from input to output

head over to RG's site, //www.geofex.com and read the "technology of the..." series of articles. Most useful.

Then, you want to look at the theory behind the individual building blocks of effects. Amplifiers, filters, oscillators etc. All of this and much more is covered by many online articles. A quick forum search using something like "beginners tutorial" in the search field will reveal many many posts containing many many links that will be helpful to you.

[Alex C]

R.G. Keen has written many wonderful articles in a series called "The Technology Of..."  These include an "input-to-output" run-through of what makes each circuit work, what each component or stage does, etc.  It's pretty much required reading around here.

Try going here: http://www.geofex.com/fxtech.htm

Alex

EDIT: Beat me to it, nifty!

[Gilles C]

I would also suggest that you check  Jack Orman' site, which is very informative.

http://www.muzique.com/

A lot of the info is free, but for a little money, you can get more information.

Gilles C

[petemoore]

Click on some of the stuff at teh top of your page, scroll and link around.
 THis IS the best way to learn most of what you can use.
 Reads...tons of good info around.

[bwanasonic]

Another good source of *ground up* info is the "Cook Your Own Distortion" article:

http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/richardo/distortion/index.html



Kerry M