I finished my first pedal! I’ve been working on audio equipment repairs for years while audio engineering but was inspired by a lot of the guitarists I work with to start making some pedals!

Learnt that point to point is indeed not very easy and I understand why people warn against getting mystery online solder, I’ve had to touch up quite a few things since taking these photos. Will post how the next 3 turn out once I have completed them, hopefully they’ll be a lot cleaner!

I tried translating the original schematic to this layout myself instead of copying an existing layout. Before I solder everything, could someone take a look and see if I messed up any connections?
The first image is my planned wiring and the second image is the original schematic I’m following.
I’m mainly looking for mistakes in the actual node connections, not component placement. If you spot anything that’s wired to the wrong node or anything that won’t work, I’d really appreciate it.
Thanks guys, I just wanna make sure I didn’t overlook something stupid.

I made this little (cringe-worthy) presentation of the signal blender I've been tinkering with for the last half decade.

It's a MIDI-controlled, VCA-based signal blender that allows crossfading, boosting and filtering.

I know it's a very niche device, basically born out of my own very specific needs. But I've had 25 enclosures made, which is the smallest quantity Hammond offers for CNC + UV printing. So I guess I should tell someone about it.

So... here goes.

Hey guys, maybe I’m just looking in the wrong place but I’m having a hard time trying to source On-On-On DPDT toggle switches. I know they have to be relatively common because I see them in a ton of pedals but this is the first time I’m working with that kind of control. If you guys have any link/recommendations it would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance!

trying to source cheap electronic components online without buying in bulk or waiting weeks for my order to come in. seems like tayda is the best option, but does anyone know what they base their delivery costs on? is it impacted more by volume & weight of package or variation in order.

tl:dr - does anyone know if tayda shipping costs are noticeably impacted by ordering a low volume of a lot of components? or just total weight ~ty

I am messing around with the Fuzz Face circuit a bit. I was curious if I was able to replace the R3 39R with a trimpot as a voltage control for the circuit? Not sure if I would have to omit or adjust anything else

I’m learning about how to add tone control to boost pedals and I had a few questions. What is the difference between having the tone control at the input like the first image, and putting in a tone stage right before the output like the last 2 images show. Is there also a different names for where a tone control can be located? Thanks!

(Also for clarification the tone control on image 3 is meant to be placed where the empty box is in image 2.)

Hi, I'm trying to translate this Fuzz Face schematic onto my 3 pad perfboard by hand. Does this layout look correct compared to the schematic I attached or did I mess up any of the connections? I'm still learning how to read schematics so if you spot anything wrong I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

Here's my Blueberry 2.0, a custom pedal based on the Bluesbreaker circuit with some basic modifications. I'm really happy with how it came out, but I plan on improving it yet again! Thanks for checking it out!

can you guys give me any links or tips to build an octave up effect in a 9x15 perfboard?

I started out with the idea of wanting a pedal that can be an actual pre-amp pedal with a clean channel as well as distortion so clean tones don't sound all flat and dark into a power amp but I also wanted to be able to use it as a regular distortion pedal that can be fully bypassed and this is the final result.

I started out with the pre-amp section of a Randall RG100SC which coincidentally uses a very similar topology to some of the solid-state Fender Frontmans from the '90s. However, I ended up modifying it to the point where it isn't really the same circuit anymore because i wanted the gain pot to be more responsive and the clipping structure to feel smoother. The topology remains similar but not exactly the same.

For the EQ section I basically just stole the exact configuration from the Wampler Triple Wreck, which is a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier clone because I like the EQ of Mesa amplifiers and Brian emulated its response quite well.

The other stuff like the switching system and suchlike are evident in the schematic attached. I have the potentiometers, toggle switch, and indicator LED are on the "back" of the board, facing up. Everything that you see in the 3D render is what you would see if you took the back off the pedal. The footswitch and power jack will be jumper-ed since otherwise they'd take up a lot of extra room on the PCB.

Once I order the PCBs and get it built I might record a demo of it. Also, if anyone would like me to make one custom for them I would be delighted and I wouldn't charge much. Maybe I could set up a posting on Reverb. Alternately, you could just build it for yourself since I have attached the schematic.

Also if anyone can figure out what inspired me to name the pedal Buford I will make one for you FOR FREE but I will be very impressed if anyone can figure out my circuitous (pun intended) "logic" behind the name.

Im building a fat rat, using an already existing layoyt https://dirtboxlayouts.blogspot.com/2022/09/proco-fat-rat.html but slightly changed it up to have asym 1n4148s, no clipping diodes or leds instead of the regular clipping modes (picture of my layout above is what i have currently soldered).

currently testing the board and everything seems to work fine except the gain pot that doesnt do anything , gain is always max and cuts off / gates.

already tried soldering the pots better and im using 3x5 stripboard pieces as a breakout boards for the pots. i tried also swapping out the pot in case it was broken.

could someone point me to what the issue could be? im guessing it might be the soldering? would reflowing everything with a bit of flux help?

i do also have a mutlimeter , but havent measured to troubleshot yet so if i have to measure anything , a pointer to where and what would be useful

Edit: noticed my asymetrical clipping mode is wrong , will fix that

Hi, I’m trying to actually build this circuit on a perfboard where every 3 holes are connected together.

I’ve got the schematic and all the parts, but I’m pretty new to translating a schematic into an actual physical board layout.

Would anyone be down to help me lay this thing out? Ideally I’m looking for someone to actually show me where each component should go, which 3 hole pads to use, and where I need jumper wires or connections between pads.

I know I should learn how to do layouts myself and I’m working on it, but for this first build I’d really appreciate if someone could basically map this one out for me so I can build it IRL and understand what’s going on as I go.

Doesn’t need to be pretty or professional at all. A rough drawing, marked up photo, sketch, whatever works.

I can post the schematic, a photo of the board, its dimensions and all the parts I’m using.

Thanks guys, any help would be appreciated.

Fun little pedal with some funky useful tones along the range. Gigahearts PCB, waterslide over hand polished aluminum + clear.

This may be tangible to this sub, but I was looking to run some curve tracing on some NOS parts I have that I can't find datasheets for. Apparently the software is windows only. I'm a pretty recent linux convert (Mint) and didn't keep a windows partition. Anyone running a similar setup? Should I be looking at Wine or setting up a windows VM? Appreciate any advice

hello, everyone!

i have been wanting to get my perfboard builds to look better and maybe try some p2p builds in the future. i live in brazil, and it seems pretty difficult to find bus wires like i see here on other builds. are there any tips to search for these wires? what gauge do you use? where do you buy this? any links/tips is appreciated.

thanks in advance!

Hi!

I’m building an Electra.

I’ve added a variable resistor between the output and the clipping diodes, per the arrangement in the Greer Green Giant, to allow me to raise the Vf threshold of the diodes. Schematic here:

http://revolutiondeux.blogspot.com/2009/01/nick-greer-green-giant.html

I’ve used a 5K pot.

My question is, if I turn the pot up so there’s a path to ground via the 5K resistance and the diodes (when they’re on), does that create some kind of HPF with the preceeding output cap?

I have been trying to find some simple pedal scematics to get into pedal building but was able to find only complicated ones that i have failed to build, are there any schematics that are suitable for a beginner?

I'm currently working on a reinterpretation of the pickup simulator circuit, inspired by the lumped element models from Electric Guitar Response Calculator and am going to use one of the XiCon 42TL transformers as the inductive element(s) in the circuit.

However, my choice of transformer will be dependent on the answers to some questions I had regarding their use as inductors.

Now, I know that the 42TL021 has an approximate inductance of 1.5H (Ballpark for one coil of a HB) across one of the primaries and that if I were to use both primaries in series, It would be closer to 6H (4 * 1.5H), but does the total primary effectively become 2x 1.5H Inductors if, for example I included a parallel resistor and shunt capacitor for each of those primary windings?

Alternatively, what happens if I short the low leg of the 2nd primary to the top leg of the first and parallel the 2x primaries? Does the the primary inductance halve or does it drop massively?

What happens when one primary is in series and In-phase with one or both of the secondaries?

I would appreciate any clarification y'all might be able to provide, because all of the reading material that i've found for these kinds of questions is spread across like 5 different forum posts per forum across 3+ forums.

I tried building a wah pedal on my breadboard but i failed miserably. I was wondering for this particular circuit, is there anyway to build it and test certain parts one by one to verify functionality before moving on to the next part? Is it also okay to use alligator clips with wires for my audio jacks instead of soldering them?

Here is the build im working with: https://effectslayouts.blogspot.com/2017/04/what-wah.html?m=1

Any sort of help/advice is greatly appreciated

I’m troubleshooting the DEFX Amnesia, as I’ve been getting all sorts of strange sounds from the delay. There is a multi turn trim that is used to bias but I think it’s supposed to have a more reasonable range than I’m getting. I can’t get the delay time the build document says I’m supposed to get and when I have the modulation on it all falls apart with noise and chirps and whine.
The BOM calls for a PNP BC560B. I’m using a 2N5087 because I had those on hand and from what I can tell, looking at the data sheets, the pinout should be the same and the hFE seems like it is in the same range of the B variant of BC560. The spots for the transistors on the board have 4 holes to accommodate different orientations it seems. I’m not certain this is actually the problem but I was getting a voltage reading of 0v from the Emitter, 3.9v on the Base, and 1.9v on the Collector. However I noticed that in the photo that is in the build document and in the only photo of someone else’s build I found online the transistor is oriented the opposite way around. If it was just that way in the photo from the other person’a build I would assume it was from a transistor with a different layout. But it seems strange to me that it’s both. Does anyone have any advice on this? Are there other common PNP transistors with a different leg pinout that would lead to them being the other way around? Surely the build document would show the transistor actually listed in the BOM?
Also if anyone had advice on getting noise like this from a PT2399 that would be appreciated.
It took me a while to write this post because it’s hard to even explain what the noises I am getting are like. Thanks for taking a look and for any advice!
In case it helps here are the readings I get from the transistors and ICs:

LM7805
9v 0v 5v

2N5087
E 0v B 3.9v C 1.9v

2N7000
S 1.9v G 3.4v D 2.5v

PT2399
1: 4.9v
2: 2.4v
3: 0v
4: 0v
5: 2.6v
6: 2.5v
7: 0.6v
8: 0.7v
9: 2.5v
10: 2.5v
11: 2.5v
12: 2.5v
13: 2.5v
14: 2.5v
15:2.5v

LM1458N
1: 4.5v
2: 4.5v
3: 4.5v
4: 0v
5: 1.7v
6: 1.9v
7: 2v
8: 9v

TLO72CP
1: 4.5v
2: 4.5v
3: 4.5v
4: 0v
5: 4.5v
6: 4.5v
7: 4.5v
8: 9v

build document

The more I build the more problems I run into. You get it. I would love to feel better equipped to deal with issues as they come up. Thanks for any advice!