Create Your Own Guitar Effects Pedal

This is a general instructable about how to build your own pedal clones. It's not hard to do, just take care that you read up on some info beforehand. There's numerous schematics and layouts on tonepad. If it's the first build you're doing it's best to start with the easier stuff, like a simple fuzz or overdrive. In this instructable I'll be building an Electro Harmonix Pulsar clone, and a TychoBrahe Octavia clone.

Step 1: Equipment Needed:

Necessary equipent:''
General:
Soldering Iron with a small tip.
Thin solder
Blank copper PCB board
Iron (preferably an older one, as it might get a bit dirty and scratched)
etchant (I used Ammoniumpersufate)
Drill with a 1.0 or smaller head (I used a Column Drill of some old east german fashion to prevent breaking to many heads, it might be good to see if it's possible to gain acces to a similar drill.)
Acces to a laser printer
Glossy photo paper.
Some plastic or glass trays to perform the etching ceremony in. (do not use any metal object during the etching process, the etching fluid burns through any sort of metal.)
One stereo and one mono jack input
A 3DPT footswitch button, it is advised to get one of these, even though they're expensive, they save you from making a millenium bypass or something similar, unless ofcourse, you can't stand a good true bypass)
Thin wire.
A case to put the end result in.

Other parts:
The specific parts you need to depend on what pedal you want to make. D'OH
In this case I decided to make a two in one pedal. One side is a clone of the EHX Pulsar tremolo pedal. The other side is an octave up pedal, based on the Octavia. I got both the schematics, layouts and directly printable PCB etching drawing from www.tonepad.com. This is a very helpfull site, tons of layouts and schematics and some helpfull tutorials. Other good sites to check are: www.diystompboxes.com and (...)
Lots of components can be gotten from electronics shops, but most shops don'st stock the more effect pedal specific parts, so it is advised to buy everything online. I used the store www.newtone-online.com, but it's based in holland, americans and other could use smallbearelectronics and the like.

Comments

[pherjasp]

so wheres the layout, and components instruction.

[marksteve600]

Pedal Power 2 Plus is hand made in the U.S.A., comes complete with cables, detachable AC power cord, a 5-year warranty, and simply makes you sound better!
****************
http://www.discountacparts.com/

[ollelolle]

You can get a 3PDT stomp box switch off eBay for 2 dollars including transport :)

[Insonicbloom]

for those of you who just want to make stripboard based guitar stuff check the guitar section of this blog

[blinkyblinky]

Do you have a schematic?

[nickgc123]

Where is the parts list and plans for this?

[redrooster424]

"I got both the schematics, layouts and directly printable PCB etching drawing from www.tonepad.com", this was where i believe he got his schematic, should probably be a parts list there too. I personally like General Guitar Gadgets. they have kits you can buy or you can do like i did with some of mine and use Digikey Mouser or Small Bear Electronics to buy the parts and put it on perf board.

[mindlesscoolguy789]

year i find it wierd that u have to be a pro mem 4 seeing the parts list

[bricabracwizard]

There is no parts list..he's suggesting using some of the sites he's listed.

[djluis48]

Ok....i have a question...hm...is that case made of wood? O.o What about the ground? I tought that the case must be made of metal for the sake of the ground....???

[redrooster424]

it can be made of wood, you could use aluminum or copper tape to coat the inside. this is usually done so outside interference like radio signals will be picked up. as for the grounding, thats usually all done on the soldering and properly running your ground to all mounted components IE: the pots and plugs.

[nikhilym55]

wat is the electronic part list ??? where is circuit diagram????plz upload....

[Coffeinated]

No no no. When you have something with high voltages, all outer metalparts which COULD have contact with the high voltage cables and contacts have to be grounded for safety, so you don't have 230 Volts on the outside of the case. If all your high voltage stuff is inside, you don't even need that extra-ground. Here in Germany we have three cables, one is +, one null (the normal ground) and one called "Erde" or what you could mean with ground. Don't know how it is elsewhere. Found out they don't take grounding too serious in Danmark for example. Buuuut, if you don't have high voltage, you don't need a metal case nor ground on it.
ooops, you wrote your comment a year ago... well, someone else could read it. :D

[rkr]

Why does it have to be a laser printer? Just curious, somewhat because I don't have one.

[Orchestrapit]

the actual reason it has to be a laser printer is because laser printers do not use ink, instead, they use powdered plastic, which a galvanometer aimed laser melts it on to a piece of paper. this plastic when transferred to a pcb, will resist the chemicals used to etch copper.

[gingerninja102]

it has something to do with the type of inks used in them i think certain amount carbon i think so if u iron the design onto your board it will stick easier then wont etch away at least thats what the tell me at school

[Joanassie]

In my electronics class I use a permanent marker and precise hand movements instead of ironing on toner from a piece of paper so you don't need a printer at all if you're good with your hands.

[rkr]

Also because I didn't think you could put glossy paper in a laser printer, it says on the package that it could damage it.

[13dwarf]

you need to get the step by step for putting together the circuit board. some ppl will not know how

[scientificshiv]

what other things i can use else than printing and then pressing the design......

will it work exactly if i use a permanent pen.?

[Jt7hm7]

Coppersulfate aka in-pipe rootkiller can also be used to etch copper and brass with a car battery or sufficently powerful wallwart power addapter.

[rkr]

Where can you purchase ammoniumpersulfate?

[mistermarchman]

Ive found that www.effectsconnection.com is a great place to order unusual parts for effects pedals. They are pretty well priced, too.

[themakeclass]

Will follow shortly, my camera crapped out.

[crapflinger]

more pictures would be nice....like pictures of the wiring..etc... as well as a picture of the actual device when it's finished