An aspiring circuit board designer who needs 2 know what does what.

[kimanistar]

I'm brand new 2 the world of diy stomp boxes.I don't plan on being a pedal builder I just want 2 design some circuit boards 4 mods 4 my own personal use.I have a guy who can do my building 4 me I've done research on diodes,capacitors,resistors,potentiometer and op amps.I'm pretty sure I understand how they all work but I can't seem 2 figure how they relate 2 pedal design.I'm not trying 2 reinvent the wheel I'd simply like 2 have some pedals I can call my own.Can anyone give me some direction?

[markeebee]

My advice: Read the replies in your other thread.

[anchovie]

1) decide what the end results should sound like
2) abstractly define the blocks needed to change a dry guitar sound into the final result
3) work out how to create the function of each abstract blocks electronically

There'll be a good chance that anything you could want to do to a guitar signal has been done already. If it hasn't, it's probably an incredibly impractical or actually useless idea.

[seedlings]

Excellent read 

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=96482.0

CHAD

[kimanistar]

1) decide what the end results should sound like
2) abstractly define the blocks needed to change a dry guitar sound into the final result
3) work out how to create the function of each abstract blocks electronically

There'll be a good chance that anything you could want to do to a guitar signal has been done already. If it hasn't, it's probably an incredibly impractical or actually useless idea.

i know what u mean.2 b honest i've heard some stuff very close 2 what i want 2 hear.the problem is,live in germany and it would b next 2 impossible 2 get pedals i want so i figured modding would b the way 2 go.not 2 mention i'd also like the feeling of playing a pedal i created.but again u r correct.if i had the means i know exactly which pedals i would get.if i could find the specs 4 these i would just give them 2 my builder.

[Vince_b]

I don't want to sound rude but try to make an effort to not use numbers to abbreviate words when you write on this forum.

If you want to learn about which parts does what in a distortion pedal, those are some really good articles:
http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/richardo/distortion/index.html
http://www.geofex.com/article_folders/fuzzface/fffram.htm
http://www.geofex.com/article_folders/tstech/tsxtech.htm

Good reading!

[kimanistar]

I don't want to sound rude but try to make an effort to not use numbers to abbreviate words when you write on this forum.

If you want to learn about which parts does what in a distortion pedal, those are some really good articles:
http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/richardo/distortion/index.html
http://www.geofex.com/article_folders/fuzzface/fffram.htm
http://www.geofex.com/article_folders/tstech/tsxtech.htm

Good reading!

thanx

[Ice-9]

one of your questions is .
What does a potentiometer do ?

Well mine all go to 11
You need to understand what your asking to be honest.

[Ice-9]

OK, As was mentioned above, read the replies in your first post. One way not to get any help of forum members is to start making cross posts with the same questions, it's like spam.

To your question, you think you know what components do, well to be honest you need to research a bit more as a potentiometer is just that, a potentiometer. What it does depends on what the rest of the circuit around it is set up for, for instance a Pot can be a volume control where it controls the volume from 0-100%. Of course a pot can do many other things and as an example it could be the control to adjust the temperature of a soldering iron or a bass  or treble control in an amp. Pot's do many things and those things are determined by the associated circuitry around the pot.

Capacitors also do different things, for example a cap in a signal path can be used with other components to make a filter for audio as in a low pass or high pass filter. A cap can also be used to filter 60Hz mains frequency out of a power supply and in AC voltages it can be used to smooth the supply.

Diodes can be used to allow voltage in one direction only and are used this way for polarity protection of DC voltages and rectification of AC voltages. They can also be used along with caps in voltage doubling circuits.

you will get lots of help on this forum if you ask the question if you think it out first. ie. I have this schematic (see attached pic) and it has for example a input to a10k resistor then a 2n2 cap to ground and an output at the junction of the resistor and the cap. It would then be easy for people to look at your schematic and description and say what you have there would be a 72Hz low pass filter.

You can only help yourself by helping us to understand what your asking.

[Minion]

Before you can start designing your own pedals and other curcuits you have to start building and experimenting with allready established basic curcuits so you can actually learn in a hands on way , reading will only get you so far , doing will allways teach you faster and better than reading .......

Start building something like a one Transistor fuzz or booster curcuit and when you get that working experiment with changing the values of the parts and see how it effects the opperation of the curcuit ......

[J0K3RX]

1) decide what the end results should sound like
2) abstractly define the blocks needed to change a dry guitar sound into the final result
3) work out how to create the function of each abstract blocks electronically

There'll be a good chance that anything you could want to do to a guitar signal has been done already. If it hasn't, it's probably an incredibly impractical or actually useless idea.

i know what u mean.2 b honest i've heard some stuff very close 2 what i want 2 hear.the problem is,live in germany and it would b next 2 impossible 2 get pedals i want so i figured modding would b the way 2 go.not 2 mention i'd also like the feeling of playing a pedal i created.but again u r correct.if i had the means i know exactly which pedals i would get.if i could find the specs 4 these i would just give them 2 my builder.

To be honest what you are asking has been very vague up to this point...  Modding pedals is not necessarily going to get you the pedal that you may be wanting. If you tell us what pedals interest you like the "name - brand - model" then you can either search the forum for the schematics and board layouts or a member may be able to point/link you to the designs that you request. Then you could give them to the person that you say can build them for you... Just saying that you want to learn electronics and build pedals or design them is not enough pieces to the puzzle for anybody to give you straight answers. We need more info... what do you want to build? It's good that you ask questions and that's a start but keep in mind that this can take years to learn and a lot of trial and error goes along with it even for people who are trained in electronics...  Ok, so you say "you know exactly which pedals you would get" What are they?

By the way, these guys are located in Germany and they have some very good pedal kits and very well documented, diagrams, schematics etc... good to learn with!
http://uk-electronic.de/onlineshop/index.php/cPath/105?osCsid=1d531e244fa2739287036c669d25c37f