My 1st Pedal Kit

[redman]

I went on StewMac's site this morning to order some scratch remover I've tried several brands over the years and I always come back to StewMac to me it's simply the best. I saw they were having a pedal kit sale and today is the last day. Like most everyone else I always wanted to try a KLON Centaur but prices are just a little to rich for my blood. Anyway I've wanted to build a pedal for a long time just never did, StewMac has a kit that is supposed to be a pretty dead on "KLON/CLONE" and with $25 off making it $99.99 I ordered one. The sale ends today but over the years I've found 2 things about StewMac
1. for the most part everything they sell is pretty much top shelf
2. everything they sell is pretty darn expensive

So @mozz and @andrewsrea and any of you guys that build pedals what do you think about kits next up I want to build a delay and may try designing and building one on my own.
THIS IS IT
https://www.stewmac.com/kits-and-projec ... -pedal-kit

[mozz]

Not a bad price with everything included. Not a beginners build though, don't know how much experience you have with soldering.

Not to burst your bubble ( 1 of my forward qualities) but Ali Express has kits for $40 and completed ones for $45. Quality of the pots and switches may be less than Stew Mac. Also they lack instructions.

As to delay pedals, some in kit form use a PT2399 chip and those are faked, mine in a Ali kit barely worked. That build got regulated to the " maybe I'll fix it later" pile.

[toomanycats]

Last year I bought a used Klon Clone called the Silver Pony that somebody else had already assembled. They're sold at BYOP (Build Your Own Pedal). They sell all kinds of kits. There's lots of Klon talk in the thread I posted about the pedal and some gut shots so you'll have an idea of what you're getting into. @andrewsrea contributes a wealth of knowledge about the Klon in that thread.

https://www.aguitarforum.net/viewtopic. ... one#p27277\

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[peskypesky]

this is a great video for people who can't afford a Klon

[BatUtilityBelt]

I agree it looks daunting as a first pedal build. Yet, as pedals go, what a great one. I have no religion over any particular iteration, but will add that if you don't already have a Klon clone, you probably want one. Even though it's one of my cheapest pedals, my clone is my absolute favorite pedal by far. Note however, I don't think it's very usable without an EQ pedal to dial it in.

[mozz]

Here's a link to Aion pedals, he sells boards and kits. $88 for the clone. I've bought many boards from him , top quality and always good instructions.
https://aionfx.com/project/refractor-pr ... overdrive/

[redman]

I don't think I'll have much trouble with the build it seems so long ago but 46 years ago I graduated from AB Tech (Asheville Buncombe Technical Institute) it's AB Technical College now-a-days and I crossed the stage with an AAS degree in electronics. Started my work life as a bench tech for RCA transitioned to cable TV in 82 because the pay scale was much higher than that for a bench tech then.
So all that just to say I've spent a great deal of my life with a soldering iron in my hand and I can read a schematic as well as the color bands on resistors. This thread has caused me to think back to my days as a TV Repairman so for any of you that repaired TV's back in the day remember Sams Photofacts 5U4 rectfiers 6GH8's, flyback transformers degausing coils and the list goes on.
I'm not stepping in blind but I definitely don't have the expertise that @mozz and @andrewsrea and I'm sure I've missed some others so if I get stuck on something you guys are going to get a message or 2

@mozz I've never bought anything from Ali Express or DH Gate I was under the impression they were just rip off sites maybe I should take another look.

[mozz]

I may order the Ali klon kit myself. 42 years since I've been in electronics tech school/ fixed TV's after that so we are in the same boat.

[Partscaster]

I just saw an add from Strymon about pedal building. Seems to be getting more popular.

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Nope, sorry. Its about building pedal boards...of course.

[jtcnj]

Good luck on your build!!

[andrewsrea]

@redman - cool that you are venturing into this!

I've been making pedals point-to--point or using terroboard, until recently I used a couple of PCB which others have designed. The latter is what you'll get in a kit and the few I've come across are well laid-out.

Measure twice - cut once! My only problem with the prefab PCB's are, their components are jammed in to limit size and they use double sided circuit runs with solder tubes in the holes. These are made not to ever come apart and once you solder a mistake, undoing it is a total chore. Accordingly, TAKE YOUR TIME! I say to myself: "I have all the time in the world to complete this right" on almost every pedal I build.

Since I experiment with components vs the kit plan, the solder holes have been an occasional irritation. Related, use sockets for ICs, transistors and clipping diodes.

As far as digital effect pedal kits and builds, I've personally shied away from building them. Here is why:

The easy ones use karaoke machine ICs like @mozz pointed out, which you will have to get from reputable sources and will only do very simple reverb, delay and modulation effects. You'll spend $70 to $150 building a pedal that you can purchase a mini version with equal sonic results for $30 to $50 on Amazon. Either way, these are usable basic effects. You are not going to fool anyone into thinking you have a real spring reverb or tape echo, but the common listener probably won't know or care.

IMHO, the delays, reverbs and modulation that have serious wow factor and take your playing to '11' cannot be built by the amateur digital pedal builder. They require EPROMs (software programmable ICs which aer 'flash' programmed, like your computer BIOS) and require a programmer to define and set parameters for pre-sets. This requires an EPROM burner, plus programming tools and skills I do not possess. All things considered, the cost of the pedal brand who make fantastic sounding digital pedals are a value for what you get.

I am jonesing for a Keeley Halo myself. You can get awesome new and used very powerful and intuitive digital effects for $60 to $300. The TC Electronic Hall of Fame, or Flashback 2 are great examples of effects that you can easily create your own pre-sets. I recently saw a used Flashback mini for $70.

My advice is stay in the analog realm, which has a wide variety of things you could build.

My favorite utility overdrive right now is my take on a Nobles ODR-1, where I added a pre-gain bass control, a gain boost (I found the perfect frequency to boost) and have modified the clipping sections which increases the 'bloom.' It has low self-noise, can do transparent light to medium, or all out hot-rod amp style gain. If you ever decide to do one, I can walk you through the changes from the original design.