What you have learned

[aron]

Along with what matters what doesn't... here's the followup... what you have learned.

[aron]

It's nearly impossibly to make your pedal sound perfect across different systems. What sounds incredible on your system with your guitar could sound horrible on another system.

Even if your pedal sounds incredible with you, someone else could play through your stuff and due to their touch, make it sound bad.

Voltage does matter so if possible run your overdrive pedals (that you have biased so right) with regulated power.

Switchcraft (or other high quality) jacks are worth it.

Always make sure you have enough room in your enclosures. Do not cram things in.

[vanhansen]

When building a circuit, you can use values that are close enough to the actual value on the schematic with good results (ex: 1k vs. 1.5k, 2.2k vs. 2.7k, 0.47uf vs. 0.68uf or even 1uf vs. 0.68uf).

An audio probe is a "MUST HAVE" tool right next to the DMM.

The "Search" function is your friend.

Taking notes when troubleshooting makes things easier (you eliminate repeating yourself).

Breadboarding is fun.....and really helps with learning how things behave when components are changed.

[MartyMart]

I've learned to "take my time" and return to a "non worker" with a clear
head !!
I've learned to use my "ears" and a few different amps/gtrs when deciding how my new "must have" sounds !!
I've learned to use "data sheets" .... to check pinouts etc ....

Man, I've learned sooo much here in the last 18 months .... I can't thank
you all enough ... seriously  

If any of you are ever near west London, please PM/Email me, we can at
least have a beer and a few laughs  ??

Marty.

[dv8]

...Mistakes will happen.  If your new creation does not sound or sound right, you probably made a mistake.  Usually the mistake is small, but easily fixable, and will go un-noticed for during any panic attacks and frantic searching.  Probably some form of solder domentia.

...DIY isn't always pretty. It doesn't always have to look pretty, I'm not selling these things.  So what if a copper trace doesn't etch, just drill some holes, solder a jumper and go for it.  Some people have awesome enclosures.  My boxes are lucky to have paint and labels on them.

...Proper planning makes all the difference.  It's hard to fit all those wires, pots, jacks, pcb, 3PDT, and batteries in a Hammond 1590B box, sometimes it's hard to fit it all in a 1590BB box.

[LoudGreg]

Don't let the wife know how much money your spending on this stuff.



Unless she actually asks.............................  :oops:

[WGTP]

Ditto the above.  Aron should get some sort of Nobel prize.  

A butt load about distortions and guitar playing and music in general.  :roll:

Also, you can make stuff that sounds as MAGICAL as most $300 pedals and since they are tweaked to your ears with your amp and your guitar played by you, they are probably even better.   :shock:

That this is a great bunch of folks that hang out here.  

That one bread board isn't enough.  

[ezanker]

When you start to debug because there is no sound, make sure the volume pot is not all the way down :oops:

Think and measure before you start drilling an enclosure.

Pay close attention to any notes the designer provided with the schematic.

[Apehouse]

...that mothernature always sides with the hidden flaw :roll:

[petemoore]

Never Dismiss Anything, Because Everything Counts.
 An effect circuit is 1 [important] piece of Your Puzzle.

[jmusser]

Patients I'd say is number one. I have no idea when you go from newby, to the next level, but I figure I'm at least that far. I still have a soft spot in my heart for newbies, because there are so many things now that I just "know", as compared to when I first started. For example it used to horribly frustrate me when the schematic didn't come with the switch and jack wiring, because I had no idea how to do it and would have to consult another site for the info. It bothered me when Steve would send me an order without tagged parts, because I'd have to go through all kinds of song and dance to figure out a 104 was actually the .1uf that I thought he'd forgotten to send. Just little things like that, are now something I could write out for someone off the top of my head. Troubleshooting was a nightmare. Now, if I do make a miswire, it takes me maybe 10 minutes to find it with a fresh schematic and a highlighter (like I did tonight with the "Whisker Biscuit"). There's just a lot of little things that tell me I have graduated somewhat (maybe to step 2?). Since stompboxaholics are automatically in a 12 step program, I still have the other 10 to go!

[puretube]

Never (blindly) trust a schem/layout on the web...

[lovekraft0]

• Simulators lie (they don't mean to - it's simply their nature).
  
• Long flying leads cause problems that aren't discovered until time to box things up.
  
• Inputs and outputs don't make good neighbors.
  
• One end of the soldering iron is very hot - handle it by the other end.
  
• The more you know, the more likely you are to make stupid mistakes, and then have trouble finding them.
  
• Ground isn't always.
  
• If youv'e already checked that section and you're sure it's right, chances are that's where the problem is.
  
• Finally, if you think you've had a new, totally original idea, wait a week - chances are puretube will find a patent from the '40s that describes your gadget perfectly but uses tubes.  :lol:
  [/list:u]
  Thanks to all you guys for a great (and ongoing) education, and Aron, thanks for everything!

[puretube]

don`t always believe everything in a patent file...

(sometimes lawyers re-write what the inventor described with other words... also the print changes formulae from time to time... and not always the inventor knows what exactly is going on...)

[Melanhead]

I learned:

- Phasers are very finicky and not easy to troublshoot! ... but this THE place to learn how and get it working.

- A ton about the Tubescreamer/SD-1/DS1 circuits ...

- it's bad to use your workshop as a spray booth .... big headache!

- Rust-o-leum is great for spraying aluminum boxes

- some Viloet LED's are UV!

- Schematics DO occationally have errors

- tweaking with my ears, tone is relative to the amp, pedal, and guitar

- musicians love any other color LED other than red.

- quality parts do make a difference.

- Vero rules!

- Smallbear is an amazing palce to shop...

- let your wife know how much you spend but offer her the same amount to buy cloths ...

[petemoore]

Take some time printing stuff out the 'heavy' stuff. Having *extra reference texts handy [not everything can fit on one page] can seriously speed the upload/learning process.  
 I carried the Rangemaster 'pamphlet' I printed around for reading while waiting...there have been more than a few times when having more than one article or sheet in front of me [schematic, reference text, circuit board, transistor pinout[s etc. was what made the light bulb light. :idea: .
 I pinned up cap conversion reminder slips, transistor pinout sheets I'd drawn up, other stuff. If you have the right little piece of paper in front of you for a while, it's image 'burns in'.
 I'm pretty certain for those with comprehension and analytical skills, that reading is still the most powerful learning tool.

[Mark Hammer]

1) Don't trust cheap pots.

2) Always use a bigger piece of pefboard than you think you need, and trim away the excess when you're done.  Perfboard is cheap, your time for correcting errors isn't.

3) Just because it's simple doesn't mean it can't be interesting or sound wonderful.

4) After a while, ALL fuzzes start to sound the same.

5) The resistor value you need is always the one you don't have.

6) People all over the world learn English with such ease.  How come the rest of us can't learn their languages as well?

7) The desire to sound just like someone never really goes away.

Digital does some things as well as analog, some things better than analog, and some things never really QUITE as good (for now).

9) Ge transistors are like pearl oysters, not every one of them contains a prize.

10) There is no substitute for a decent clear explanation.

11) A little patience goes a long way.  So does a little respect and dignity.

12) Every minute of every day, there is one more person starting from scratch, who needs to ask all the same questions all over again. (Hence #11)

13) Keep your soldering tip clean.

14) Stop being so damn stingy and replace the etchant!

15) Step-drills are a wonderful thing, as are spring-loaded centre-punches.

16) You can make a case/chassis out of just about anything.

17) There is no bypass system/approach that is perfect for all contexts/uses.

18) Be kind to other people's I.P. and they'll be kind to you.

19) There is no end to the generosity people here are willing to extend.

20) Just because a subject has come up before again and again doesn't mean that you can't learn something new or piece together stuff you knew before but never *really* understood.

21) Save schematics you run across and LABEL THEM CLEARLY!

22) Trust what puretube says about not trusting schems - even the official ones from the manufacturer.

23) If it says Anderton, Penfold, Henry, Marston, or Rykebusch on the outside, there's quality on the inside.

24) Stompbox people have much to learn from synth people, and vice versa.

25) Knowing why something sounds the way it does in your brain is just as important as knowing why it produces the sounds it does in the circuit.

26) Many people go "Ewww!!" when they see math.  Of course, many people also went "Ewww!!" the first time they heard about sticking your pee-pee in someone else's pee-pee.  Some skills are a lot more interesting and useful to acquire than they would first appear.

27) Memory is the best tool a builder has.

[Hal]

petemoore: what rangemaster pamphlet?

1.  Don't trust futurlec :-D
2.  No matter how hard I try, I can't impress girls with guitar effects
3.  Its all about the RACOs.
4.  It IS possible to to a hobey (like this one) on a limited budget.  See #3.

and most importantly,

There is more to electronics than guitar effects!

stompboxes have introduced me to the wonderful worlds of microcontroller programming (even though nothing I do works...), BEAM robots, and electronics hacking in general...

[scratch]

To add to Mark's #21, let's call it #21a ... If it's in soft copy, make a backup !!!

I'm rebuilding a third system, I am NOT a happy camper, and I should know better!

[petemoore]

The Rangemaster 'Article' ...many pages I stapled together,
 ...Like a great album, every read through for many revealed something new to me, having it printed allowed me to see the schematic and read the text at nearly the same time.
 I also used to draw FF schematics by hand, or paste a printed schematic on a board, then follow it and place parts through holes drilled where nodes are, after a while the ability to call up the FF schematic without having to look for the paper for reference made what others had typed about it start to fall into place and make sense.
 I have printed and linked to the technology of the FF article [Thanks again to RG Keen at GEO] and read it countless times, gaining another tidbit or ten upon rereads.
 Sometimes having an equation, a schematic and some texts all in front of you at the same time will let the 'other' light come on  :idea: .
 Maybe a newbie can gain necessary information from Not reading texts, but I haven't seen any/much sign of it, so I just say 'read', because it is known to help more than anything except thinking about the reads.
 Sometimes I'll spend a half hour trying to comprehend a paragraph...sometimes this helps me to understand.