This is a work in progress. I should probably stage it but I like to have information available.
Introduction
I’ve seen this come up a few times from beginners about where to start. Since I have only been at this since March of 2020 I thought I would put together a list of what I had found useful. I will try to organize is as best I can and I will continue to update this page as I find more useful things. If a section gets too big I may break it out and make it its own page.
The best thing you can do is explore and read. I will put up a few sites here but I am sure there are others. Another great resource is youtube. I use it to give me tutorials on soldering and using equipment.
Information
Read the forums on the side bar. It is also nice to buy PCB boards from places that have forums as well. PedalPCB has a really good forum and they are very responsive. Rullywow got back to me right away when I had questions. Aion Electronics and Mad Bean Pedals both have very informative documentation. And watch Wampler’s youtube channel, he goes over a lot of stuff about the circuits and how they work. I just started in March, 2020 and have read a lot.
You can also learn a lot from Guitar FX Layouts and Effects Layouts. Other good sites for learning are
Blogs
- amzfx
- beavis audio research
- Carcharias Effects
- DIY Fever
- Electrosmash - Electronics for Audio Circuits
- Fuzzdog Pedals - Thermionic Studios
- GEO - Guitar Effects Oriented Web Page
- Guitar Pedal X - News
- Runoffgroove
- Small Bear Electronics
- SabroTone – A DIY guitar electronics diary
- VFE Pedals
Forums
- PedalPCB Community Forum
- FreeStompBoxes.org
- madbeanpedals::forum - Index
- DIYstompboxes.com
- Aron Nelson Gallery
- B.Y.O.C. Messag Board
- r/diypedals
Tagboard & Schematics
- Dirtbox Layouts
- Effects Heaven Effect Schematics
- Tagboard Effects
- Guitar FX Layouts
- Effects Layouts
- PARASIT STUDIO
- Turretboard.org
Facebook Groups
Learning
Classic Circuits
There are many morem the blogs above go over many different circuits.
Electronics & Circuits
- All About Circuits - Electrical Engineering & Electronics Community
- Basic Electronics Tutorials Sitemap Page - I really like this site for explaining what is going on with different parts of a circuit
- Components101 - Electronic Components Pinouts, Details & Datasheets
- Electrical Circuits & Filter Calculators
- Electronic Components: Details Summaries Tutorials » Electronics Notes
- Equivalent Transistors
- Voltage, Current, Resistance, and Ohm’s Law - learn.sparkfun.com
Pedal Building
- How to Solder: Through-Hole Soldering - learn.sparkfun.com
- Technical Help - General Guitar Gadgets
- Vero Layout Guide
- Stompbox Wiring
- Switches
- How BBDs Sample Audio
- Counterfeit Parts and Vintage Effects
- Germanium transistors for Fuzz
- TMB Tone Stack
- Baxandall EQ with Semi-Parametric Mids
- Coda Effects - Best capacitors for guitar pedals: which one to choose?
- Coda Effects - All you need to know about resistors in guitar pedals
- Guitar Fx Electronics: Learn electronics via Guitar Pedals!
- Where to Buy What - Aion Electronics
- OC 71, Tube OC71; Röhre OC 71 ID33679, Transistor
- Transistor Equivalents for the substitution of modern transistors in elderly projects
Finishing Enclosures
- How I DO Etching - DIY Guitar Effects - Some of the nicest etched enclosures I’ve seen. I really like his stuff.
- Finish Him! (5) Hand-painting and clear coating enclosures summary
- Spray Painting metal enclosures (Hammer Tone)
- UV Printing Service
- Waterslide Decals – Planet Z
- No Film Waterslide Tutorial on PedalPCB Forum - [March 14, 2021] Just saw this one on the forum and thought is was super informative. I may have to give this a try.
DSP
- The Scientist and Engineer’s Guide to Digital Signal Processing
- Electrosmith - Github
- Sonic_Daisy - Github
- FV-1 Programs - This is a great resource put together by MAS effects. I have a few of these on my Mimir’s Well and they sound great. I love when people put the effort into sharing knowledge with others.
- SpinCAD-DesignerSpinCAD Designer is - an open source Java project which allows creation of patches for the Spin FV-1 audio DSP chip.
Pedal Boards
- How to Set up a Pedal Board for Bassists
- Pedalboards: How to Build the Perfect System from Start to Finish - GuitarPlayer.com
- Guitar Pedal Order Matters! - The Signal Chain & Effects Loop Guide - LN
Software
Circuit Design
Artwork
Youtube
These are some of the youtube channels I subscribe to. There are many others that have to do with music and guitars but these are the pedal focused sites.
DIY
Pedal Companies
Reviews and Demos
Electronics
Projects
These are things I have built or want to build
- AMZ - Guitar Effects & JFET Splitter
- MXR Flanger Clone - Shredaholic.com
- Darkglass - Vintage Microtubes
- Darkglass VMT!
- Building A Pocket Sized Arduino Oscilloscope - Hackaday
- Oscilloscope in a Matchbox - Arduino : 14 Steps (with Pictures) - Instructables
- Make Your Own Simple Theremin : 4 Steps (with Pictures) - Instructables
- DIY Chewie Monsta (Ed Sheeran) Loop Pedal : 5 Steps - Instructables
JFET Matching
- Testing and Matching JFETS – Stompville
- www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/fetmatch/fetmatch.htm
- Guitar FX Layouts: Germanium Transistor Tester
- Guitar FX Layouts: Greatly Improved JFET Matcher
LM386 Amp
I want to create a timy amp with a 3 inch speaker just for testing on the bench. This is my research so far.
- Guitar FX Layouts: Gem Toaster amp
- Build a Great Sounding Audio Amplifier (with Bass Boost) from the LM386
- LM386 Audio Amplifier Circuit
- Tales From the Chip: LM386 Audio Amplifier : 6 Steps (with Pictures) - Instructables
- How to Build Small, Simple Audio Amplifiers Using IC LM386 - Bright Hub Engineering
- ElectroSmash - 1Wamp Electroc Guitar Amplifier.
Wave Gen
These are all the links I visited when I was trying to design the TestBox with the wave generator.
- DIY Arduino Waveform Generator or Function Generator
- How to Build a Simple Function Generator Circuit with an LM324 Op Amp Chip
- How to Build a Triangle Wave Generator Circuit
- How to Build a Clock Circuit with a 555 Timer
- How to Build an Astable Multivibrator Circuit with Transistors
- How to Build a Multivibrator Circuit with a 4047 Chip
- How to Build a Voltage-controlled Oscillator (VCO) Circuit with a 4046 Chip
- How to Build a Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO) with a 555 Timer Chip
- How to Build a Square Wave to Triangle Wave Converter Circuit
- How to Build a Square Wave to Sine Wave Converter Circuit
- How to Build a Sine Wave Generator with a 555 Timer Chip
PCB Etching
This is my research on PCB etching.
- Take Your PCBs From Good To Great: Toner Transfer - Hackaday
- Stop Using Ferric Chloride Etchant! (A Better Etching Solution.) : 6 Steps (with Pictures) - Instructables
- PCB Laminator Is Its Own Project - Hackaday
- PCB "Fab-In-A-Box" … The 8min circuit board system
- DIY Through Hole Plating Like A Boss - Hackaday
- How to Etch a PCB : 10 Steps - Instructables
- T³: Etching your own circuit boards - News - SparkFun Electronics
ReAmp Box
- You Can DIY! Reamplification Revisited - audioXpress
- LINE2AMP RevC v3 Assembly Guide – DIY Recording Equipment
- Slutty DIY DI/Reamp Box - Gearslutz
- You Can DIY! Reamplification Revisited - audioXpress
- DIY reamp box - Gearslutz
- How To Build DIY DI Recording Boxes & Re-Amp With DIYRE : Ask.Audio
- L2A (LINE2AMP) Passive Re-Amplifier Kit – DIY Recording Equipment