What order of difficulty...

[mattwells]

First off, hello and thanks for all the great info!  I came across the site quite by accident, but am intrigued.  I am hoping my lack of electrical experience can be overcome (I can really follow directions well ).

I only want to make pedals I would use, but am thinking I will make the beginner project to start (even though I don't need a gain boost).

I want to make:

Mu-Tron/Q-tron type filter
Very simple Tube preamp/DI (one tube, just to use to warm the tone)
Maybe a delay
Octave Pedal

Which of these projects will be easiest to do (i.e. what order should I do them in)?

Also, since I will be using them for a bass guitar, will any of the components needed to be changed for the different frequencies?
Thanks,
If this is in the wrong spot, please move it.
Matt

[nordine]

mm,

well, i'd take out of sight first the mutron/Q, delay and tube thing... because i'f you're a begginer, these projects could cause you frustration/harm/etc for their complexity

we have left the octave,
i suggest you to build the bazz fuss (stereotypical begginer project ), green ringer, and Tim Escobedo's pushme pullyou

now, if you want a great envelope filter for bass, try the phuncgnosis... i'm myself a bass player, and don't have any complain w/the original circuit, works GREAT and gives fat liquid sweeps, you'll see.. good luck!

[petemoore]

  Very Difficult
  Major undertaking and dangerous
  Can't recommend it as a first project
  Not 'super hard, can't recommend as a 1rst or for bass
  Maybe your amp would like a distorter or preamp/boost stage?...it's a good idea to do one of these up as a first shot at circuit building/debugging.

[mattwells]

Okay, all of my pedal desires are too difficult for a first time (I figured), but how about a second?  I was going to try and build the gain boost first (from the beginner section here).

Where can I find the schematics for the bazz fuss, green ringer, or pushme pullyou?  Or the funcgnosis?  There seems to be so much information about DIY pedals that I am a little overwhelmed at this point.

Also, where is the best place to buy parts and to get a very basic setup for building?

[MartyMart]

http://www.geocities.com/tpe123/folkurban/fuzz/snippets.html
- for "push me pull you"
www.runoffgroove.com   - for loads of nice and some simple fx projects

www.home-wrecker.com  - for bazz fuzz etc

www.smallbearelec.com  - for parts galore !

Marty.

[Mark Hammer]

Although people here, myself among them, would be quite willing to talk you through such projects, I suppose it boils down to a couple of things:

1) What do you have in the way of supplies?  In some respects, one needs to have MORE than the parts listed to build a lot of things.  With time, I think a great many of us here take the approach that we'll change component values until something sounds right to our own ears.  People will write in and say "I built such and such, and it sounds good but I wish it had more X".  As well, projects that either have a lot of components or else have lots of dissimilar components (i.e., no resistor value repeated) can cost a lot more than you'd think as startups.  Plus, even though there are lots of inexpensive sources for parts, I'm sure you'd prefer to be able to have everything you need ASAP, instead of having to split your needs up over several sources, and find yourself waiting for things before you can fire it up.  This is not meant to discourageyou,but rather to redirect you to some projects where the time between the very firststep and the finished product is short enough to keep you pumped and happy.

2) What do you have in the way of tools?  Some sorts of projects require certain measurement or construction tools to be on standby for debugging things that don't fire up immediately.  If you don't own those things already or can't access them somewhere, there are projects you should likely avoid for a little while.  Again, not because you're too stupid, but because some things require certain information to get working properly, and if you can't obtain that information, you end up getting frustrated.  That being said, if you have $50 to piss away, get yourself a meter if you don't already have one.  Ideally it should be able to measure diodes and transistors as well as resistances up to at least 20megohms, capacitance up to at least 20 microfarads, AC voltages in the 0-2v range with some precision, as well as DC voltages.  Frequency and inductance measures are helpful but not essential, so save yourself some money for now.  Much of the help you receive from here will be of the sort "Did you check the resistance from here to there?", "Is there any measurable signal output at point B?", "Did you check for continuity to and from the pot/switch?", and so on.  If you can't measure, you can't play.

3) If you are game for buying printed circuit boards from people, fine.  If you were thinking of making your own, fine, but those take a little while and some money to perfect your technique on.  Poorly done PCB's can be a source of relentless heartache when troubleshooting complex circuits.  Far better to start with simple things that can be built on perfboard with lots of room around each component.  There are some layouts for some common and simple-but-dependable projects if you click on the "layout Gallery" link at the top of the screen.

4) From the things you've listed as desired pedals, I'd say the octave down (in the form of Joe Davison's much appreciated Shocktave circuit) is probably the safest bet.  It uses the least obscure components, involves nothing that is static sensitive, is pretty cheap to build, and I believe there are stripboard or perfboard layouts already worked out by your colleagues here.  Working with tubes will necessitate developing some construction chops first (and safety considerations).  Working with delay chips will involve more money and construction chops as well (though they ARE getting cheaper and simpler, you can't perf them easily).  The Mutron/Q-Tron/Neutron filter pedal *may* be a reasonable second project, but there is still a whole whack of things to troubleshoot if it doesn't fire up immediately.  If swept filters are your thing, I'd recommend starting with the Nurse Quacky or Doctor Quack.  The component cost/count is less, and there is less likely to go wrong during building.  They sound pretty good for what they do and are easily modded for other sounds.