Professional Background In Electronics?

[Adji]

Hey guys, just curious as to how many of you had, or have, a professional background in electronics before starting with effects pedals. Just curious is all.

Me, I have absolutely no professional , or amateur, background in electronics so I am essentially starting right from scratch, and it is a very difficult and daunting thing.

[captntasty]

I don't have a background either professional or amateur.  I started with a kit from PAIA, Craig Anderton's book EPFM and the desire.  One successful kit and one horrible attempt at his phaser...  it's been a few years and alot of reading, searching this forum and all the other sites and slowly but surely I have gained knowledge and am pretty competent.  It was a process though - and that's what I love about it - I'm never done, there is always more to learn, I don't and never will know all there is... there is no "graduation", no papers or degree, just the learning process.

By the way, it was probably 4 or 5 years later after many other projects and I finally had the chops to finish that phaser!

Thanks to all who have helped along the way...

[oldrocker]

Well I only had 2 years of vocational electronics in High School.  It was fairly extensive considering it was 3 hours a day and 5 days a week.  
That was in 1978-79 and I fixed alot of radios, TV's and CB's.  Ironically though my first etching PCB was a Jimi Hendrix fuzz pedal I found in an old electronics magazine.  To make the traces I used black sticky tape.  It had straight lines and round pads that you stuck on the copper clad.  Some etching got under the tape as u might expect but I soldered over it and it worked.  I got an A even though the fuzz sounded like crap.  But since then I had done nothing electronically until 2006 when I stumbled accross this site thanks to Paul's site diyguitarist.  I made my first buffer / boost for my guitar and the rest is history.

[R.G.]

Started taking apart TV sets (this was back when that yielded useful parts and TVs had tubes in them) when I was 14. Learned to solder with a Weller soldering iron on the back steps. Built my own guitar amp at 16. BSEE. MSEE. 37 years now employed as an EE. Built audio stuff for fun along the way as a kind of bussman's holiday.

[frequencycentral]

I read this from cover to cover.

[Paul Marossy]

I have none. Like many other things in my life, I am self-taught. I seem to learn best by "OJT". (On-The-Job-Training)

[punkin]

24 years employed in one form or another working with electronics equipment but not down in the audio spectrum.

[mattthegamer463]

I'm in my 2nd year of a 3 year Electronics Engineering program at college... it really only gives me 50% of what I need to do this stuff though.  Thank god for this forum.

[markeebee]

I read this from cover to cover.

This made me chuckle to myself at least six times today.

[frequencycentral]

I read this from cover to cover.

This made me chuckle to myself at least six times today.

You've read it? Excellent book, I refer to it daily. I also blame it for everything.

[Skruffyhound]

I read this from cover to cover.

Yeah, I read it too, haha, I think I still have it. Must look it out, as I remember, it was quite a difficult read at the time (1973) but yielded lots of useful projects like the bent coathanger/wire loop/buzzer project that astounded my Mum. If only I had had the next in the series I might have been a working EE now.

[tommy.genes]

I have a BSEE and PE licenses in two states...

...but I still couldn't bias a transistor out of a wet paper bag.

(Analog just wasn't my academic specialty nor my line of work. The latter is digital voice/data networks and control systems.)

-- T. G. --

[amptramp]

B.A.Sc. (Bachelor of Applied Science) in Electrical Engineering from University of Toronto, equivalent to a BSEE elsewhere.  My daughter is a pretty good guitarist and I got her her first two electric guitars and a Vox Crybaby.  I usually only comment on the electrical issues since I do not play myself.  It does seem like a good hobby business to get into - low overhead and relatively low-cost products.  Like most things, it's what I knew before going to class that got me through, so don't feel intimidated by anyone else's degrees and certifications.

[StereoKills]

I'm the electrical tech for the small bio-tech company I work for. I had no prior experience when I was hired, but the electrical engineer showed me the basics. Shortly afterwords, I got interested in building stompboxes and learned a ton on my own, which really helped out at work alot.

[gtudoran]

Information Tehnology....no EE background but a lot of plesure to build stuff

[davidallancole]

I am an Electronics Engineering Technologist.  I spent a few years working in a coal fired power plant fixing control systems and the like.  Then I moved to a desk job procuring equipment and the boring things that go along with that.  I didn't learn anything about anything until I started playing around with parts.  Some how I passed school, but I never learned how to bias a transistor until a few years out of school.

[Pedal love]

Studied it some in college. Learned it by reading a lot of material. The eduaction is good but searching things out is great as well. My proudest moment, I think, was going to Harris Corporation, years ago in California. Harris Corporation had an entrance test for entering techs. I think it still does along with many other companies? I took the test and got a 93, but I didn't get hired because of eoe and hiring practices brought on by affirmative action. So I ended up going into my dad's business. Still it gives me a kick everytime I think of how I did on that test. I have my parts website, but I don't have any pro credentials.

[Mugshot]

a degree in secondary education, that's all.   

[Rectangular]

I come from an arts background, and have no engineering education. took some audio tech classes in highschool, that's about it. started cloning stompboxes and synth modules about 4-5 years ago... and now I'm building vacuum tube synthesizers. 

I've learned that as long as you stay with it, focus on your goals,  and have an honest passion to learn, you can build almost anything you set your mind to.

[Cliff Schecht]

I grew up learning tidbits from my dad, an EE specializing in power supplies, and was constantly surrounded by electronics and tubes. My childhood was filled with hamfests and junk stores, that's for sure. I started building effects sophomore year of high school before I knew what I was doing and progressed as I moved through high school. I can't say I really knew what I was doing until college though, where even then school itself didn't teach me what I wanted to know (books are your friend, and I have a lot of em!). Luckily I progressed quickly enough and was able to get a job at PAiA doing design work on new 9700 series synthesizer modules. It's funny though, I had never even touched a synth (knowingly) before working at PAiA, but it's mostly straightforward stuff and I learn quickly .

I'm also pretty excited that I just got into a masters EE program working under a teacher who specializes in IC-based VCO's and PLL's. I'm hoping to do my masters and eventually doctorates over some sort of music-focused VCO IC like the old Curtis chips that are now impossible to find and bloody expensive. We are even talking about figuring out how to reissue the actual Curtis chips at PAiA, although this is just table talk as of now..