# What happens when you run out of pedals to build?



## xefned (Jan 26, 2022)

I love building pedals, but I'm running out of things that interest me and I find that disturbing.

When you've already built 4 overdrives, 6 fuzzes, a chorus, a flanger, a phaser, a couple of compressors, what's left to try?? Help!!


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## BuddytheReow (Jan 26, 2022)

Have you considered designing your own circuit? The test kitchen has a lot of good resources to push you in the right direction


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## Barry (Jan 26, 2022)

Only 4 Overdrives?


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## carlinb17 (Jan 26, 2022)

Is this a real question?


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## carlinb17 (Jan 26, 2022)

Delay? Pre-amp? An actual amp? Rainbow machine? Reverb?


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## phi1 (Jan 26, 2022)

Probably should say good for you!  But instead I’ll suggest in  addition to what others have said. harmonic tremolo is nice. Fv-1 stuff is fun. Never a shortage of overdrive flavors to try. 

Also, if you know any other guitar folks building for others can be fun and open up new creative directions. You can certainly have them reimburse your parts and maybe even pay a small fee if it’s suits both parties, but anyway you get to try new stuff and see it get put to good use.


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## DAJE (Jan 26, 2022)

I see no tremolo in your list. Also, I have a few bass-oriented pedals on the way. And also this because who wouldn't want a dedicated octave pedal to stack with, you know, every other kind of pedal?


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## fig (Jan 26, 2022)

Simple. You start building amps. More amps means more pedals...You'll get the swing of it after awhile.


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## Username123 (Jan 26, 2022)

Spend time practicing and invest the money you would build pedals with into a good amp. It doesn't have to be the nicest most expensive tube amps. If you like building pedals, you might like building a tube amp kit which is very rewarding, especially because some of those circuits are impossible to buy new unless you got like 2000 dollars. Like a fender 5e3 deluxe. Plus it will likely will be cheaper than a new reissue if there is one, and it will last much longer. Fender now uses cheap caps and not always reliable pcbs, so if you want something for the long haul a kit could be a great option. Plus since you wired the circuit, you can easily change out caps. Just make sure you learn the proper safety precautions though.


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## Username123 (Jan 26, 2022)

By the way, check out psionic audio on YouTube. Plenty of modern amp horror stories.


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## Username123 (Jan 26, 2022)

By the way @jjjimi84 has a good post on good tube amps kits.


jjjimi84 said:


> I can speak quite a bit about the subject, my first amp kit was way back in 2009 from Metro Amps and was a JTM 45, since then I have done an Allen Accomplice, JMP 50 using the metro guide and parts from Valvestorm, a Trinity Amps 18 watt SIII and I just finished a Trinity Amps Tweed Deluxe and filmed the whole thing and am editing the videos right now.
> 
> Depending on your knowledge of how amps work is how you should look at buying a kit, I feel like the kits I have built were all very detailed and lead to a successful build. I know the mojotone and weber kits are a little less detailed, they are pretty much a schematic and layout which is still super helpful.
> 
> ...


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## Stickman393 (Jan 26, 2022)

Man...that list is like...

Only one flanger, huh? One chorus?  One phaser?

Hell, fuzz alone has a whole realm of weird shit that gets super synth-y.  Envelope filters, ring mods, "bit crushers", not to mention the slew of cool fv-1 based FX.

I made a few pedals, then I decided that I wanted to challenge myself.  Microcontrollers, tube builds, stuff with oddball, weird components.  Lots of offboard wiring.

Hell, try something in a wah shell.

Build an amp.  Dig into electrical theory.  Learn, learn, learn.  Get into decorating your own enclosures.  Powder coating, CNC, etching.

Or...I mean...you can just play your guitar.


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## gheorge77 (Jan 27, 2022)

Username123 said:


> By the way @jjjimi84 has a good post on good tube amps kits.


This has been where I went back in late 2018 or so. I got bored after building pedals for about 3 years and moved to amps. 3 years later I've built the following:

BYOC Classic Brit 50
Hoffman Ab763 vibroverb
Matamp GT120 from scratch
Boothill 5E3
Rebuild of the Brit 50 after discovering it was not a real 1987 clone
Boothill 5F1
Rebuild of the 5E3 with a Mojotone fiberboard
Mojotone 18 Watt Tmb modded after Trinity and other build corrections

I'd recommend the Boothill 5F1 to start but source your own components. Definitely a nice easy and awesome amp to start with. Valvestorm has all of the parts you would need for most Marshall builds and have the original build instructions for Metropolous versions of each.

Just recently got back into pedals after running out of amps I wanted to build.

Also NOS tubes are a dangerous rabbit hole to go down once you start building your own amps. I now have NOS preamp and power tubes in everything after collecting for some time.


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## Mentaltossflycoon (Jan 27, 2022)

Ocelot, Daydream, Roboto, VIIB, Electro Vibe, Hydra, double tracker, low tide. All amazing. Pretty much everything at parasit studios but my favorites are the arcadiator, sonic reducer, and 8bitar. You should probably poke around at dead end fx too.  I very much enjoy my floop, fuglyface and have high hopes for a ring stringer that's waiting for some trouble shooting attention. 

I also talk up the Crowther prunes and custard a lot which can be found at fuzzdog or dead end.


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## jimilee (Jan 27, 2022)

If you run out of stuff to build, you’re just not trying hard enough.


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## vigilante398 (Jan 27, 2022)

You can do what I did and start modding cheap power supplies 

Or what I actually did, keep building the same things over and over improving your process and build quality to the point where you can start selling them.


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## EGRENIER (Jan 27, 2022)

"What happens when you run out of pedals to build?"

I just start drinking, then usually 3 or 4 weeks later I receive 4 new PCBs that I bought while drunk and forget I did... Problem solved !


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## spi (Jan 27, 2022)

good troll post


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## Paradox916 (Jan 27, 2022)

I keep trying meth but it’s just not ruining my life like I hoped it would….


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## Robert (Jan 27, 2022)

Paradox916 said:


> I keep trying meth but it’s just not ruining my life like I hoped it would….



Dude, for the last time.... that _isn't _meth, I just put it in there to keep your order dry.   🤦‍♂️







_On the bright side, you probably wont have a runny nose for weeks._


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## peccary (Jan 27, 2022)

thewintersoldier said:


> Pedals are fiscally safe and responsible, but amps...I don't know that my marriage or retirement funds could survive that rabbit hole. Besides, I'd end up with a bunch of amps I don't play just like pedals. I prefer prescription drugs. Cheap, plentiful and legal.


I can hardly play my guitar but that hasn't stopped me from repeatedly viewing the Mojotone 5E3 kit. I've gone through the build docs on that thing multiple times. I'm just waiting for the late Saturday night after that extra glass of wine slip of the finger $900 "mistake."


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## jeffwhitfield (Jan 27, 2022)

How about writing done music? Take three different pedals, put them in a chain, and get inspired. 👍😁


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## chongmagic (Jan 27, 2022)

I have built over 200 pedals and I have slowed down a bunch, but I have never ran out of circuits that I have wanted to build. I caught the amp bug and have built four amps thus far. Pedal building is a much cheaper addiction!


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## Stickman393 (Jan 27, 2022)

thewintersoldier said:


> Pedals are fiscally safe and responsible, but amps...I don't know that my marriage or retirement funds could survive that rabbit hole. Besides, I'd end up with a bunch of amps I don't play just like pedals. I prefer prescription drugs. Cheap, plentiful and legal.


Bruh, you got retirement funds?  Lucky...

I mean...building an amp ain't that expensive if ya go superman DIY.

Yes...break into a sheet metal shop late at night, fab your own chassis.

Steal wire from abandoned buildings.  Enamel that shit.  Wind your own transformers.

Kill a mesa/boogie employee.  Take their credentials.  Grab tubes in a bindle and run like hell.

Theres always a way to shave a little off manufacturing costs.


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## Harry Klippton (Jan 27, 2022)

Stickman393 said:


> Bruh, you got retirement funds?  Lucky...


I consider myself retired but I actively started planning for it at 17. Working sucks


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## jimilee (Jan 27, 2022)

Why do you guys keep suggesting we play these builds?? That’s insanity!


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## vigilante398 (Jan 27, 2022)

jimilee said:


> Why do you guys keep suggesting we play these builds?? That’s insanity!


I put input/output jacks on mine for testing purposes only. The fact that an "instrument" cable fits there is mere coincidence.


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## xefned (Jan 27, 2022)

You guys are the best (worst?) kind of enablers. Seriously, thank you. I was in a funk. Now I'm back to feeling like I can conquer the world. 

I swear this wasn't a troll post, I was about to order yet another MIAB PCB and thought, _do I really need a 3rd Marshall variation_?

Truthfully, Flangers all sound the same to me. Although, I haven't tried the Lovetone. It's questionable if that's even a flanger¿ Phasers seem pretty samey too. 

I will try everything in this thread, including amp building, circuit design, modding cheap power supplies, building for sales, alcoholism, murdering a Mesa/Boogie employee, and snorting silica gel. 

Thanks for all the recommendations of pedals to investigate, phi1 for suggesting the harmonic tremolo, carlin for the rainbow machine, and stickman for fv-1. Although I have to get over my 90's prejudice against digital effects. And Mentaltoss for sending me down a 2-hour YouTube rabbit hole. 🐇



DAJE said:


> I see no tremolo in your list. Also, I have a few bass-oriented pedals on the way. And also this because who wouldn't want a dedicated octave pedal to stack with, you know, every other kind of pedal?


I didn't fully come clean. I built a Woodpecker tremolo. I liked it so much, I sold my Voodoo Labs trem.
Then, I liked it so much again, that I built a 2nd Woodpecker, just in case the first one breaks? I dunno. Maybe I've lost my f**king mind.



Stickman393 said:


> Or...I mean...you can just play your guitar.


The electric guitar is merely a diagnostic tool for troubleshooting pedals.
Seriously though, I'm taking Chord Studies: Rock and Pop Progressions vol. 1 at Truefire.com right now. I've been playing the same riffs for 20 years. Time to learn some new shit.



jeffwhitfield said:


> How about writing some music? Take three different pedals, put them in a chain, and get inspired. 👍😁


This is what I _should_ be doing. I fear that I'm sublimating my desire to make music into adjacent, related hobbies. It's probably fear of failure. Or fear of success. Or fear of hearing my own recorded voice. Or laziness. Or a combination of all of the above.


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## Dan M (Jan 27, 2022)

I thought I was done (yeah, right) but now I’m obsessed with wahs and filters.


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## EGRENIER (Jan 27, 2022)

xefned said:


> The electric guitar is merely a diagnostic tool for troubleshooting pedals.


Wait what ? you can plug a guitar in this pedal ? 

 Dang, I thought they were shelf decoration. No wonder all my builds works at first try.

Now I understand what all those troubleshooting thread are about…. I think I’ve been missing out, maybe now I can fail a build !


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## jeffwhitfield (Jan 28, 2022)

xefned said:


> This is what I _should_ be doing. I fear that I'm sublimating my desire to make music into adjacent, related hobbies. It's probably fear of failure. Or fear of success. Or fear of hearing my own recorded voice. Or laziness. Or a combination of all of the above.


I’ve written a ton of riffs while building a bunch of pedals. Time to put them together into some songs. 😁


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## djmiyta (Jan 28, 2022)

Paradox916 said:


> I keep trying meth but it’s just not ruining my life like I hoped it would….


Don’t give up


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## Chuck D. Bones (Jan 28, 2022)

Do you own a breadboard?


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## xefned (Jan 28, 2022)

Dan M said:


> I thought I was done (yeah, right) but now I’m obsessed with wahs and filters.


We should exchange notes sometime. I've built 5 different autowahs with more on the way. 🙃
(VFE MiniMu, Meatsphere, DOD440, DOD FX25, & Agent 00Funk.)



jeffwhitfield said:


> I’ve written a ton of riffs while building a bunch of pedals. Time to put them together into some songs. 😁


I love all my pedals more now that I've started actually chaining them together. I was intrigued by the Parenthesis until I realized I could probably just chain an Octave to a Rat to and Overdrive and accomplish pretty much the same thing. 



Chuck D. Bones said:


> Do you own a breadboard?


No, but it's *next on my list* of things to get. There's simply no excuse at this point. 
This place has been super inspiring, especially your circuit mods.


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## Flying (Jan 28, 2022)

Maybe it's time to cultivate an interest in synths


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## Stickman393 (Jan 28, 2022)

xefned said:


> I will try everything in this thread, including amp building, circuit design, modding cheap power supplies, building for sales, alcoholism, *murdering a Mesa/Boogie employee*, and snorting silica gel.



The entity known as Stickman393 disavows all legal and financial liability for any advice given in this thread.


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## Chuck D. Bones (Jan 28, 2022)

xefned said:


> We should exchange notes sometime. I've built 5 different autowahs with more on the way. 🙃
> (VFE MiniMu, Meatsphere, DOD440, DOD FX25, & Agent 00Funk.)


I am going to check those out.  I have an optical auto-wah breadboard around here somewhere...


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