DIY Guitar FX

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It seems there's lots of guitar players on this board, and lots of guys into DIY... surely you guys are doing guitar pedals too?

Here's a couple of recent ones:

Super hard on clone:

11.jpg

Footswitch for my amp:

Footswitch.jpg

[Ben M]

Vedy nice.

I like your big knob on your super hard on... I mean I like the fact that with Viagra II you get a big knob... oooh forget it.
There's no way around that one Nick.

Did you make the second one for a fender twin?

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The footswitch is for my Ratajczyk Supreme Reverb, which is a sort of fender reverb-ish sort of amp made by a guy in Brisbane. I think the footswitch configuration is similar.

Feel free to keep the jokes flowing regarding that pedal!

[Hookemeister]

Nice work Nick.

How did you apply the artwork... looks very professional.

Are they nylon washers on the foot switches?

It's all good

Greg

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Hi Greg,

The artwork is done with a product called lazertran, which is a thin film that can be printed on with a laser printer. With a few coats of clear over the top you can't see the edges any more.

Of course, not as durable as screen printing, but for one-off stuff like this I can't afford to get them screened!

Yes, they're nylon washers. These footswitches come with them for some reason. There is a locking (serated) washer on the inside.

Anyone else rolling their own pedals?

Nick.

[toddd]

how come the footswitch needs 9v?

i thought those things were 'passive' or somethin.?

[Gian]

Yeah, but you need to power those LEDs

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Yeah the 9V is just for the LEDs. The LEDs aren't necessary of course, but they help with "shit, is that reverb on or off?" scenarios on noisy stages.

[Futureman]

I've made a bunch of pedals in the past.. Very rewarding.. I think it's a great way to cut your teeth on DIY. It's cheap, and you end up with something usable and unique.. And 9v, so you ain't going to die making it.

Most recently I built 2 Univibe clones (NeoVibe) and a bunch of Fuzz Face's.. The Fuzz Faces with the NKT Transistors sound dope... I was honestly damn impressed.. especially when listening to someone who knows how to play guitar use them through a nice valve amp.. So much room to play with that simple circuit. From Nice creamy 60's fuzz to Commodore-64 arcade sounds.

With friends who want to learn about electronics, I generally help em make a nice germanium distortion (Kinda based on the MXR distortion) which is a great simple circuit, but sounds very good.

The "Electronic Projects for musicians" book was my first real proper foray into building audio stuff, and still is a great book that I occasionally pick up for reference..

I'd like to build a Tychobrae Octave Divider clone next.. the schematics just look like it means business with it's little audio transformer in there.

Mike.

[Hookemeister]

Hey Nick thanks for the explanation on the artwork.

Yes, they're nylon washers. These footswitches come with them for some reason. There is a locking (serated) washer on the inside.

Great idea... when I was making pedals the metal washers would cut into the paintwork when you tightened the nut, in the end I started using fibre washers.

Keep up the good work, nothing better than rolling your own pedals, specially when they turn out looking like yours do.

Greg

[GlennS]

I'm working on a Hotcake type pedal at the moment as a springboard to a different kind of opamp overdrive that I have in mind loosely based on the same concept. Slow progress though as I have so many other commitments. I've avoided the cosmetic issue by sharing the project with a friend who's job it is to do the enclosures, and we'll build two of them.

I've also modded a Boss Super Overdrive & Tube Works Tube Driver, both I've which I felt were close to the mark but not right on the money. Now I love 'em. Actually, all I did with the Tube Driver was change the tube & up the power supply to 12V. The Super Overdrive was a lot more involved.

Love the amp footswitch Nick. I need something like that for my Musicman. Could you have fit it into a smaller enclosure?

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Love the amp footswitch Nick. I need something like that for my Musicman. Could you have fit it into a smaller enclosure?

Definitely could fit in a smaller enclosure, Glenn. Literally all that's in the box is the switches, 2 LEDs, 2 resistors, the jacks and some wire. I just used that sized enclosure because I've got them lying around.

Nick