Step by step for beginner distortion pedal

Wormwood

I saw this a little while ago

http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/21291-build-your-own-stompbox

Whats cool about is an in depth tutorial on how to build pedals, what everything means and why you do certain things as opposed to just parrot the instructions and not understand why you are using certain caps ect

Here is the very detailed pdf download:

http://www.premierguitar.com/ext/resources/files/DIY-PDFs/Oct14_PGDistortion_BuildGuide_Final_R2.pdf

I have yet to try this, but i will..........i will

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Squonk

Thanks

petercornell

Maybe we should do a tag strip layout for this? Makes things a bit easier and gives it that extra bit of MOJO?

There is also Joe Gores' Fuzz Face document at tonefiend.com

There was a post here a while ago to start a Fuzz Club, which is an excellent idea, maybe post Xmas.

Peter

guitarboy2828

That's super cool, thanks for sharing.

I have been reading an only "indyguitarist" book which is very similar to what you shared. Takes a bunch of popular pedals and explains what each part does and what to change to change the sound. I sat last night with a simple circuit and added a smaller resistor or a bigger cap. Amazing the difference in sound you get by changing one component or adding another. Really had fun doing it! ?

guitarboy2828

petercornell wrote: Maybe we should do a tag strip layout for this? Makes things a bit easier and gives it that extra bit of MOJO?

There is also Joe Gores' Fuzz Face document at tonefiend.com

There was a post here a while ago to start a Fuzz Club, which is an excellent idea, maybe post Xmas.

Peter

Peter,

Possibly you could help me understand, what do people mean by "mojo?" I'm seeing that word pop up more and more in DIY forums.

I'm happy to work on the tagboard layout. Will post something a little later to be checked.

Brastep

Paul E wrote:
petercornell wrote: Maybe we should do a tag strip layout for this? Makes things a bit easier and gives it that extra bit of MOJO?

There is also Joe Gores' Fuzz Face document at tonefiend.com

There was a post here a while ago to start a Fuzz Club, which is an excellent idea, maybe post Xmas.

Peter
Peter,

Possibly you could help me understand, what do people mean by "mojo?" I'm seeing that word pop up more and more in DIY forums.

I'm happy to work on the tagboard layout. Will post something a little later to be checked.

Never mind MOJO, what's a "tagstrip / tagboard" ???

Brastep

Thanks for this.

guitarboy2828

I have made a tagboard (aka veroboard) layout. This is the first veroboard I've actually ever laid out on the computer. So, this is definitely not verified, although I've double checked it a few times.

Brastep, it is board with copper strips, allowing one to build electronic circuits.

Here is the layout:

Here is the schematic (so it's on one page):

Brastep

Ahh... Tagstrip = Veroboard

Nice and simple circuit. What transistor are you using?

guitarboy2828

They suggest trying 2N3904 or 2N5088 or 2N5089.

Psean

Wormwood wrote: I saw this a little while ago

http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/21291-build-your-own-stompbox

Whats cool about is an in depth tutorial on how to build pedals, what everything means and why you do certain things as opposed to just parrot the instructions and not understand why you are using certain caps ect

Here is the very detailed pdf download:

http://www.premierguitar.com/ext/resources/files/DIY-PDFs/Oct14_PGDistortion_BuildGuide_Final_R2.pdf

I have yet to try this, but i will..........i will

=

Thanks. I started building some pedals a while back using Joe Gore's resources on the Tonefiend archives. His stuff seems pretty good.

Psean

Paul E wrote: I have made a tagboard (aka veroboard) layout. This is the first veroboard I've actually ever laid out on the computer. So, this is definitely not verified, although I've double checked it a few times.

Brastep, it is board with copper strips, allowing one to build electronic circuits.

I always thought tagboard is something different:

guitarboy2828

Psean wrote:
Paul E wrote: I have made a tagboard (aka veroboard) layout. This is the first veroboard I've actually ever laid out on the computer. So, this is definitely not verified, although I've double checked it a few times.

Brastep, it is board with copper strips, allowing one to build electronic circuits.

I always thought tagboard is something different:

Oh, it may be? I always thought of that as turretboard. http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.de/ is probably the most comprehensive vero layout site, so that is why I thought vero and tagboard were the same ?

guitarboy2828

So, I breadboarded this circuit last night. I definitely won't be boxing it up. I found it was too harsh and "sqaure-wavey" for my liking. With the 3904 it was more of a distortion, but still too harsh for my liking. The 2n5088 was hardcore fuzz, definitely not what I like, haha.

Interestingly, I came across this today: http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/2014/03/earthquaker-devices-speaker-cranker.html

Also uses the same transistor. Nice simple circuit, more like an overdrive though.

Then there's this guy: http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.fr/2011/02/zvex-woolly-mammoth-vero.html

which also uses the 2n3904 x2. I think I'm going to breadboard this tonight to check it out. It has more controls so it'll be more versatile, which may make it more useful. It sounds super similar to a fuzz factory which I've already built.

Wormwood

Its great to have all these circuits in a handy place ?