Hey first post!

[VeridisQuo]

So I'm going to be buying parts for a super hard on this week, so that I can make one over next week or the weekend.

I have little experience with DIY guitar stuff. I've made a BYOC Tonebender clone, with success, that was fun. That was a kit and I'd like to venture into more "true diy" territory by ordering parts individually.

I'm trying to order them all from one site like Pedal Parts Plus or Smallbear. Can someone help me find the specific parts from this image?



I understand that the brown round guys are resistors, and that the yellow and blue guys are capacitors.
But what are those red squares?
What's that "DGS" business?

Which website is better and cheaper for DIY stuff? Small Bear or PPP (pedal parts plus) Any suggestions?

All help is appreciated!
Where do I buy a "9V1 Zener" diode (or at least what does that look like on one of those buying websites)?
Is soldering on a "perf/veroboard" more difficult than soldering on a PCB.

[LucifersTrip]

So I'm going to be buying parts for a super hard on this week, so that I can make one over next week or the weekend.

I have little experience with DIY guitar stuff. I've made a BYOC Tonebender clone, with success, that was fun. That was a kit and I'd like to venture into more "true diy" territory by ordering parts individually.

I'm trying to order them all from one site like Pedal Parts Plus or Smallbear. Can someone help me find the specific parts from this image?



I understand that the brown round guys are resistors, and that the yellow and blue guys are capacitors.
But what are those red squares?

a trace cut where's there's no connection

What's that "DGS" business?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JFET

Which website is better and cheaper for DIY stuff? Small Bear or PPP (pedal parts plus) Any suggestions?

http://www.taydaelectronics.com/servlet/StoreFront

All help is appreciated!
Where do I buy a "9V1 Zener" diode (or at least what does that look like on one of those buying websites)?

same place as above

Is soldering on a "perf/veroboard" more difficult than soldering on a PCB

probably, since pcb is more paint by numbers

My suggestion would be to skim numerous FAQs, like:
http://www.diystompboxes.com/wiki/index.php?title=DIY_FAQ

and definitely try to learn how to read schematics:
[not exactly the same as your layout]


welcome & good luck

[markeebee]

Welcome aboard!

I would really really really recommend that for your first build you have a go at the Beginner Project:
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?board=6.0

It's perfect. All your questions will be answered in the excellent build instructions. When you've done it you'll have a very useful pedal, plus all the knowledge and skills you'll need to take on the SHO, or pretty much any other pedal you want to do next.

I'd also recommend that you take a look at the Beavis Audio website - Dano has a gift foe explaining stuff very clearly.

Be prepared for many hours of solitude, poverty and poor personal hygiene. Have fun.

[robmdall]

Welcome. Great advice from both memebers above.

+1 for the Beginner Project. It makes for a nice transition from Kits to 'true' DIY.

bob

[VeridisQuo]

I just skimmed through the build pictorial for the beginner project and I have a few questions.

How do you know where to connect one part to the next and so forth?

How would you know where to connect the wires going to the off board parts? (switch, potentiometers, etc)

How do different part values translate?  like what does 100nf convert into? 10.uf?

What are UF's and what are NF's?

Why do websites list them differently and what is the most common measurement to see capacitors and resistors under? UF or NF?

[twabelljr]

Here is one conversion chart with other info. You can google more up that will tell you what the marking on the cap will be. For instance a 0.1uf cap will have 104 on it, a 0.01uf will be 103 etc.
http://www.justradios.com/uFnFpF.html
I can't find my favorite chart right now. Someone here linked to it a while ago and I had it printed out. It had all the conversions and markings. You will get used to figuring it in your head with practice! Good luck and enjoy.

[petemoore]

  "Beginner'' is a funny word, there's nothing 'beginner' about it except that it has the distinct advantage to beginners [or anyone who would happen to notice] of having been chosen for the introduction/instruction spot here at the forum.
  There is nothing 'beginner' about the design or performance of the NPNboost. Afaics it is based on 'unique' circuit topology. 

[VeridisQuo]

Resistors are labeled differently as well. Some people label them as 10k or 10m.

Does the "m" in "10m" stand for miliohm? Or just ohm?

Is there a conversion chart for this as well?

[mattthegamer463]

Resistors are labeled differently as well. Some people label them as 10k or 10m.

Does the "m" in "10m" stand for miliohm? Or just ohm?

Is there a conversion chart for this as well?

miliohm-range resistors don't really exist in the real world, a piece of wire has miliohms of resistance, or more.  if it is an m they probably mean mega, 10^6.  Conversion charts aren't necessary but there are lots of resistor colour code charts on the internet.  Google will find you infinity charts, and calculators.

There's rarely a reason to not just think in ohms, kohms, mohms (since it's not like feet and inches, its all the same unit) but obviously its just add or subtract 3 zeroes to go from one level to the next.

[twabelljr]

10m (mega) = 10million ohms. 10k (kilo) = 10 thousand ohms. Also, 2.2k ohms and 2k2 ohms are the same thing, both 2,200 ohms. The letter represents the unit and the decimal point when seen as 3k9 and such. There are tons of sites. Google up "decoding resistor color bands" or something along those lines. One calculator that comes in handy is when you use resistors in parallel.
Here is a great one for caps: http://www.muzique.com/schem/caps.htm
Resistor color codes: http://www.elexp.com/t_resist.htm
Resistors in parallel: http://www.1728.com/resistrs.htm
The links at the top of the page are your friend  

[dcjim]

I get confused by caps too. I started a thread over at the SOS forum that you might find helpful

http://www.soundonsound.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=908081&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1#908081

and I found this calculator that I've been using

http://www.calculator.org/property.aspx?name=capacitance

also i found soldering to vero harder than pcb

i really really recommend getting into etching your own boards early on, it's masses of fun and actually pretty easy (for single sided boards anyway) after a few attempts

i can do it in my sleep now, it's like putting the washing on or something

[twabelljr]

Here is my favorite capacitor chart. Conversions and codes. I could not find it last post. Print it and keep it handy.
http://www.em.avnet.com/ctf_shared/pgw/df2df2usa/Ceramic%20Cap%20Codes.pdf

[VeridisQuo]

thank you so much everyone for your help!

Another question..........

Does 5K Rev log mean an audio taper potentiometer with 5k? or something else? What does the rev stand for? Reverse?

Will this potentiometer do?
http://www.pedalpartsplus.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=PPP&Product_Code=7007&Category_Code=POT24

[BoxOfSnoo]

thank you so much everyone for your help!

Another question..........

Does 5K Rev log mean an audio taper potentiometer with 5k? or something else? What does the rev stand for? Reverse?

Yep you got it, reverse.

Will this potentiometer do?
http://www.pedalpartsplus.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=PPP&Product_Code=7007&Category_Code=POT24

Nope, that's linear.  You want something like this: http://www.smallbearelec.com/Detail.bok?no=116

It all comes down to where the sensitivity is on the dial.  If you used linear for this application it might have a really really fine sweet spot in the upper end that you have to adjust millimeters at a time and loads of useless travel on the bottom end... reverse log (or reverse audio) takes that sweet spot and stretches it out for the top 2/3 of the pot's travel and minimizes the bottom travel to a small percentage.  It makes for a much more natural sweep.

Pots are usually marked A5K for audio (or log) B5K for linear, and C5K for reverse log.

[VeridisQuo]

thank you again for that. Is there a technical term for a 9.v zener diode? I can't seem to find one but is it something like 1n4148? What would the "robotic" term for a 9.1v zener diode because I can't find one on pedalpartsplus or smallbear

this layout has 1n4148 diodes in it but I'm not sure if I should go by it even though it has all the same parts as mine.

[BoxOfSnoo]

thank you again for that. Is there a technical term for a 9.v zener diode? I can't seem to find one but is it something like 1n4148? What would the "robotic" term for a 9.1v zener diode because I can't find one on pedalpartsplus or smallbear

Nope, those aren't zeners.  Here it is: http://www.smallbearelec.com/Detail.bok?no=330 I found that with the search on the site.

You should read through something like this thread: http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=91399.msg779753  Try as hard as you can to understand what a schematic is telling you - it's really important.

Oh and I recommend getting extra BS170s for that project, they can get fried if you're not careful (that's the big reason the zener is there)

[VeridisQuo]

your first link is broken

[VeridisQuo]

will this work for my pedal?

http://www.pedalpartsplus.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=PPP&Product_Code=4001&Category_Code=DIO

[BoxOfSnoo]

your first link is broken

Fixed (the board messed that up).  And that's not a zener.  Use a zener.  Read the second link.

[VeridisQuo]

Is it alright that I'm using this kind of board? Because it's what I bought.