Hey, everyone, I decided to start making my own pedals because I think it will probably be fun. I don't want to use a kit because I think it would probably give me a better understanding of the construction of the pedals. Now my first question is what exactly do all the parts(resistors, capacitators, transistors, etc) do and how do they effect the overall outcome? Second is where can I get some blank circuit boards? I have looked places and for all I know could have come across exactly what I needed and didn't know(I'm 14 and don't know ANYTHING about circuitry or anything so go easy on me). Well thats all for right now. All help is appreciated, thanks.
If you don't know what capacitors, resistors, transistors do you'll be better off learning the basics from the kit.
Once you do that, knock yourself out and build from scratch.
http://www.buildyourownclone.com/index1.html
Anyway, at my basic non-engineer level of understanding
a resistor resists the flow of electrons in varying degrees based on the resistor
a transistor is used to amplify weak signals
a capacitor stores electrons
a diode allows electricity to flow in one direction
One of the guys in the band builds his own pedals I'll see if I can find out where he gets the circuit boards from.
I talked to him and he buys blanks from Radio Shack or Cables and Connectors.
But if you want to order a board, go to http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/ . They have boards already made for a bunch of good pedals
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
My suggestion for a first project is to get the BYOC "Confidence Boost" kit and learn how to modify it; there are many posts on their forum on ways to improve it by replacing certain components. Might be a good way to learn what the different pieces do.
I have a college degree in Electrical Engineering Technology, so I think might be able to field some of these questions. That being said, I pretty much spent my first year of college just learning how resistors, capacitors and transistors work and I still believe that I've only scratched the surface.
In terms of how each component works, that's really hard to say because you could write entire textbooks on any of them, but in a nutshell, in a guitar pedal, the transistor amplifies the guitar signal and with the help of resistors, helps control and shape the sound of that amplification (for example, alot of distortion pedals have the same amount of transistors, and the transistors are similar, but the different values of resistance creates a difference in sound).
Capacitors can help shape the tone of the pedal, making more treble or bass tones present. Ever open up an electric guitar and take a look at the electronics? The tone control is nothing more than a variable resistance and a capacitor.
Anyways, that's a little bit of info, there's ALOT more things that can be done with capacitors, resistors and transistors but I think those are the basics, especially in terms of guitar pedals.
Steve-0
