I see hundreds of stomp boxes here, but which should I choose as a first?

[ask4tristan]

I've been dying to get into stomp box building but I get to this page and see that everything is way over my head. I searched and I cannot find a simple project to start on. What do I do?

Id like to start with a nice sounding little distortion box. Maybe Something like SR&D did but simpler. Can someone point me to a good one?

[ubersam]

the beginner project is a good starting point, look here: http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?board=6.0 nice bosster to boot..

[ask4tristan]

I saw that but I dont really need a boost. On second thought, Ive got all of the parts... Why the hell not?

Any other projects you can think of?

[guitarmageddon]

For distortion, try the classic OD 250/Distortion+, it sounds good and is quite a simple build.
It's probably considered a rite of passage by many builders 
There are plenty of layouts, HERE is a nice one.

[markeebee]

The Electra is a super-simple build and sounds excellent. Plus there are loads of pedals that use exactly the same layout, but change some of the component values. It's fun/interesting/educational to swap components and hear the differences.

Good layout here:

http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/main.php/v/DRAGONFLY-LAYOUTS_0/album17/album06/ELECTRA_DISTORTION_001.gif.html

[LucifersTrip]

welcome...

If this is your first, why not start with a couple of the simplest classics:

The Smokey...just use an output jack* instead of speaker..3 parts on board:
*you may have to put an 8ohm resistor across the output jack to bring it up to 4 parts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=og_RiEB-74U

The Bazz Fuss...5 parts on board:

http://home-wrecker.com/bazz.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zT7uGPdy_Eo

whatever you decide, you'll get loads of help here


good luck

[petemoore]

  Let's start where they all basically start with boost.
 BMP is good example of schematic, but all the 'modern effect' bypasses all have boost as 1rst stage [+a few caveats].
  Stage 1: Boost, this gets the signal voltage swings of the 'guitar AC signal' to be 'big' [the peaks and valleys will have greater voltage potential between them, and the current output will be huge compared to a wimpy guitar PU coil which produces...very little current.
   So...the boost input senses the voltage swings without drawing hardly any current [from the PU which is little or none to spare] and the output lets say the voltage swings between the peaks and valleys are 10x bigger.
   The teeny-weak pulses from the PU coil which are produced when the steel string wiggles around the magnet cause current to flow [very very little] as the voltage swings +/- in unicen with the string [ie a very weak electronic analog of the strings movement enters....
  The first active stage  ! ?> how much current is already lost from the tiny pulses the guitar PU output >? The cable eats signal, say we have a relatively short/stout cable [low capacitence/losses] and the input is 'high impedance' [doesn't take hardly any current, ie doesn't drain anything from the electronic analog AC voltage swings of the PU/Vol/TC/Guitar-Output/Cable]. The signal has made a relatively 'pure' transition during transport from the guitar to the active input.
   Active outputs can be and are [why not...] able to produce much more current than what comes out of a guitar PU, this means cable losses after an active stage will tend to be insignifigant, and much lower impedance inputs [that draw current] won't drain so much that the voltage peaks/valleys will be distorted. [impedance distortiion can be had but is ugly in generally].

[Mark Hammer]

This question comes up several times a year.  My response has ended up being the same: make yourself a loop selector.

1) Everybody wants one eventually.
2) If you have jacks, a stompswitch or two, and a box, then yuo have all the parts.
3) There is no circuit board to be concerned with (i.e., to etch, to bugger up, to order, to troubleshoot).
4) There are no parts that have to be selected, and no pinout confusions.
5) You are pretty much guaranteed it will work first time out, and if not the troubleshooting is dead easy.
6) You won't need to be able to read voltages or have a meter, etc., to make one.
7) You won't be disappointed with the tone, given how much time you put into it.
8 ) It will pretty much always remain a useful part of your arsenal, no matter how much your tastes change.
9) You will NEVER have to ask "How do I true bypass a [[insert pedal name here]]?"
10) You'll learn the basics of how to plan out the location of things in the box, how to machine, etc., without having to also think about wiring quite as much.

Loop selector boxes can be built in powered and unpowered versions.  The nice thing is that they work whether the battery/power is available or not.  The only difference is that you won't have status LEDs working.

[petemoore]

  Loop selector...why not ! !
   Play with an active stage while reading about active stages:
  Component data sheets, explainations about BJT or opamp or Jfet or other devices.
   Understand what 'amplification' means in terms of voltage and current amplification.
  Many of us are still finding new information about 'boost', a simple active stage build helps demonstrate what understanding 'boost' and working with active components is like...seems complicated and is quite abstract, but there's an analog for everything...including the electronic analog a coil produces when a guitar string wiggles near it's magnet..an AC voltage of peak/valley shapes is created, very little current/voltage...generally we and 'they' boost as a first priority of processing signal business [super common 1rst stage'd be boost in commercial effects, current is boosted by Jfet buffers that also do the bypass switching].
   Caveats apply but patch cables and bypass switches make them very easy to get around...even easier with a looper.

[ask4tristan]

My only passive guitar happens to be my main one. Soooo... I guess Ill need a boost. Those noiseless Strat pickups dont do much, you know.

Ill make a boost first. Whats next?


Thanks for all of the help!

[R.G.]

If you decide you like building pedals, it is very unlikely you will keep your first build(s) forever. You will move to more sophisticated and elaborate pedals as you develop the skills.

It helps to consider that the finished product is the garbage of the work. Your first few/several/ten/hundred pedals are primarily done to develop YOU so you are more skilled at the many things to understand and do. You're actually building YOU, much more than a pedal.

If you can approach it that way, you will get hugely more out of it, and as a byproduct, build better pedals.

[harmonic]

Great advice from Mark, Pete & R.G. — thanks guys!

[Bill Mountain]

If you decide you like building pedals, it is very unlikely you will keep your first build(s) forever. You will move to more sophisticated and elaborate pedals as you develop the skills.

It helps to consider that the finished product is the garbage of the work. Your first few/several/ten/hundred pedals are primarily done to develop YOU so you are more skilled at the many things to understand and do. You're actually building YOU, much more than a pedal.

If you can approach it that way, you will get hugely more out of it, and as a byproduct, build better pedals.

I like this a lot.  Very inspirational.  I actually only have one of my builds still working.  Most of them have been scrapped, subject to mods not yet completed, or completely forgot when a new design comes across my work bench.  I like to think I've built knowledge instead of pedals.  If I never work on a pedal again I can at least understand the hows and whys of the designs I see.  I don't have a deep theoretical understanding of electronics but I'm happy where I'm at.

[ask4tristan]

That was poetry.

Thanks!

[pinkjimiphoton]

really hard to go wrong with a fuzzface. make sure it's silicon, trimmable, and get lo gain transistors, and it'll sound great and you can build it in a couple hours and fall in love with the whole project man. it's cool, and to me, the classic cool king of all distortions...i play whole gigs where i never turn it off.

[CynicalMan]

really hard to go wrong with a fuzzface. make sure it's silicon, trimmable, and get lo gain transistors, and it'll sound great and you can build it in a couple hours and fall in love with the whole project man. it's cool, and to me, the classic cool king of all distortions...i play whole gigs where i never turn it off.

I have to disagree: http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=93268.0

[nomorebetts]

+1 for the Bazz Fuss

[pinkjimiphoton]

that's why i said silicon...every variant i ever built fired right up.

add ge, and that's where the nitemares start. imho

[LucifersTrip]

that's why i said silicon...every variant i ever built fired right up.

add ge, and that's where the nitemares start. imho

I think the biggest problem beginners have with ge's is that they don't have/buy/build the proper tools to measure them.

[ask4tristan]

Alrighty, as soon as the store opens on Friday, Ill be there to order parts for my boost and DOD250.

Thanks for all of the help!