DIY Pedals

[dwfender]

Anyone here into building your own pedals? Im building a Ross Compressor right now and I'm running into a few snags, wanted to see if there was a resident expert that could steer this noob in the right direction.

 

[messenger]

IIRC JohnnyToetags has built a bunch.

 

[jonny toetags]

I build quite a bit.
What do you need help with?

 

[dwfender]

Im building the ross compressor. I have almost all of the board populated minus the IC I which i can't seem to find in stores or online yet. My question is this, the schematic does not specify the wiring for the 1/4 inch jacks as well as a DPDT switch and where to place an LED in the circuit. Nor does it say where to place wiring for a power jack and a 9v battery terminal. Just wondering if someone can help me with the finishing details so I dont make a mistake.


http://www.tonepad.com/getFile.asp?id=9

 

[Code001]

Im building the ross compressor. I have almost all of the board populated minus the IC I which i can't seem to find in stores or online yet. My question is this, the schematic does not specify the wiring for the 1/4 inch jacks as well as a DPDT switch and where to place an LED in the circuit. Nor does it say where to place wiring for a power jack and a 9v battery terminal. Just wondering if someone can help me with the finishing details so I dont make a mistake.


http://www.tonepad.com/getFile.asp?id=9

You should really be running a 3PDT switch, assuming you want true bypass + an LED:

http://www.stewmac.com/FreeInfo/Electro ... -1561.html

For more detailed instructions, try this:

http://buildyourownclone.com/compressorinstructions.pdf

 

[dwfender]

Im building the ross compressor. I have almost all of the board populated minus the IC I which i can't seem to find in stores or online yet. My question is this, the schematic does not specify the wiring for the 1/4 inch jacks as well as a DPDT switch and where to place an LED in the circuit. Nor does it say where to place wiring for a power jack and a 9v battery terminal. Just wondering if someone can help me with the finishing details so I dont make a mistake.


http://www.tonepad.com/getFile.asp?id=9

You should really be running a 3PDT switch, assuming you want true bypass + an LED:

http://www.stewmac.com/FreeInfo/Electro ... -1561.html

For more detailed instructions, try this:

http://buildyourownclone.com/compressorinstructions.pdf

Thanks for the reply....

So essentially it's just like you showed in the picture, the ground cable...I'm assuming that attaches to the GND terminal of the PCB and not to say a point on the Chassis, also, to make sure, according to those extra websites the sleeve terminal on both the input and output are bridged correct?

 

[jonny toetags]

Im building the ross compressor. I have almost all of the board populated minus the IC I which i can't seem to find in stores or online yet. My question is this, the schematic does not specify the wiring for the 1/4 inch jacks as well as a DPDT switch and where to place an LED in the circuit. Nor does it say where to place wiring for a power jack and a 9v battery terminal. Just wondering if someone can help me with the finishing details so I dont make a mistake.


http://www.tonepad.com/getFile.asp?id=9

Did you look at Tonepad's offboard wiring?
http://www.tonepad.com/getFileInfo.asp?id=76

There is this as well:
http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/dia ... r_comp.pdf

If not I can draw up the wiring schematic I use and PM it to you. I won't post it here because it was taught to me by a few pedal builder friends of mine and I don't want to get them upset

 

[dwfender]

ahhhh very well. I haven't come across this actually. This looks like it will get me where I need to. Now all I need to do is find a place to buy that damned IC.
<br>
are there a lot of DIY'ers around? I'm definitely amazed by this huge underground that I never knew existed and I really want to get into this stuff on a deeper level.

 

[jonny toetags]

ahhhh very well. I haven't come across this actually. This looks like it will get me where I need to. Now all I need to do is find a place to buy that damned IC.
<br>
are there a lot of DIY'ers around? I'm definitely amazed by this huge underground that I never knew existed and I really want to get into this stuff on a deeper level.

There are a few.
There is a lot more on info on DIYstompboxes, freestomboxes, BYOC forum....
Once you are start, you get hooked.
There is nothing you can't clone.

I still support (and buy from) builders who I respect and who put a decent price tag on a pedal (Paulc/Tim/Timmy is a great example).

 

[Krinkle]

Now all I need to do is find a place to buy that damned IC.

Did you try Small Bear? It's shown as a source for parts on the Tonepad page where you download the compressor files.

http://www.smallbearelec.com/Detail.bok?no=219

I don't know of anywhere else.

 

[dwfender]

to be honest I had a bad taste in my mouth from that site the first time I wanted some parts and kind of refused to go back but I suppose they are worth giving another shot. Are there any builds you guys recomend? I'm looking at maybe a tremolo and a chorus or something of the sorts but I'm interested in building anything for the experience.

 

[scottywompas]

I've done some time on the DIY pedal scene. I haven't built anything in a while although I'm kinda itching to get some solder melting again.

As far as recommended builds. You can't go wrong with a Fuzz Face. There are a million options on mods for those. The kay tremolo seems to be popular as far as trems go. The originals had some bugs but I think you'll find some good info on updated circuits over at DIY stompboxes.

I wrote a post on my blog a while back listing some of the sites that I found useful when I got started.

http://scottfrein.wordpress.com/2008/06 ... made-easy/

Scott

 

[projectx102]

I built a couple of ITS8 TS808 Tubescreamer clones from General Guitar Gadgets using old JRC4558 chips and they sound awesome.

 

[fullscaleonline]

id really like to get into this..i just wish making boards was easier

 

[jonny toetags]

id really like to get into this..i just wish making boards was easier

Ferric Chloride method is very easy