Relating Circuit "Specs" to Sound

[fastbreak78]

Greetings,

I am currently taking a circuits class at college right now, so I'm starting to understand the technical side of circuits. I'd like to be able to apply that knowledge to guitar pedals, but I'm not quite sure how it relates. Do you guys have any advice on how I can advance my ability to analyze effects based on schematics?

[PBE6]

Check out GeoFEX's "Technology of..." online articles, especially the ones on the Tubescreamer and the Fuzz Face. I've also found similar articles on www.electrosmash.com, obviously inspired by GeoFEX's approach. Jack Orman has lots of information on circuit building blocks and a few designs on his www.muzique.com site.

This forum is an invaluable resource as well, just keep an eye out for interesting threads and you'll be a certified circuitbender in no time!

[induction]

1. Breadboard
2. Building blocks (subcircuits, not legos)

The breadboard is where you relate component changes to sound. Build well-known circuits and start swapping components. Which components should you play with? That's where the building blocks come in. Study high and low pass filters, common emitters, common collectors (and their fet counterparts), mu-amps, inverting and non-inverting op-amp stages. (Whether these circuits are taught in your class or not, read the Wikipedia pages and other online resources about them.) Then look at the schematics and see if you can spot them. Once you see them often enough, you'll start to remember what sonic effect the individual component values have. After a while, they become second nature.

Analogy time: Learning subcircuits is like learning how to construct scales and chords. Playing on the breadboard is like practicing scales and chords on the instrument.

Depending on what you're learning in your class, a lot of it may not apply directly to pedals.

[Mark Hammer]

Most of the electronics hobbyist mags from "the golden era" (let's say 1975-1990) would carry audio/music projects, and the construction articles would often provide a block-by-block analysis ofthe circuits.  Here's a link to some scanned back issues of Electronics Today.  Follow some of the links along the top of the screen to lead you to Radio Electronics, Popular Electronics, and others, for similar content.
http://www.americanradiohistory.com/ETI_Magazine.htm

[fastbreak78]

Thanks for all the advice! I will be looking into all of those links for sure. I'm bummed that my circuits class probably directly help in my endeavor, but at least I know what resources to look at now!

[induction]

Don't get me wrong, your class will probably help a lot. Not all of the circuits you study will apply directly to pedal building, but if you work hard you'll learn plenty that will ultimately be very useful.