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Intro to DIY Pedal Building

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Speed Racer Overdrive InternalsThis is the first post in a series on building guitar effects pedals.  It’s going to be a bit out of order- I’ll be starting with what is usually considered the finishing touches- putting the pedal in an enclosure,  modeling and laying out an enclosure in Google/Trimble Sketchup, drilling the enclosure, painting and finishing it.

Then hopefully later, I’ll go back and do a project showing how to build a simple boost pedal from scratch.

Here’s the table of contents for the whole DIY pedal building series:

  1. Intro to DIY Pedal Building
  2. Beginner’s Course in Sketchup, Modeling a 125B Guitar Pedal Enclosure
  3. Drilling a 125B Guitar Effects Pedal Enclosure
  4. Pedal Enclosure Finishing: Surface Prep, Priming and Painting
  5. Using GIMP to Create Pedal Artwork
  6. Printing and Applying Waterslide Decal to Pedal Enclosure

This first video is the motivational intro: here are some of the things I’ve done, and yes, you can too!   If you have some interest in electronics and guitars, what better way to improve your knowledge?  You can get started with little or no electronics experience, and you’ll learn a bunch along the way. More

Setting up for the gig

Current Pedalboard Rig

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Setting up for the gig

My pedalboard for the recent Summer Music Project gig was a a bit of a compromise.  I couldn’t fit the JamMan Delay on the pedal board so it was hanging off to one side, and I had no space for my fuzz and chorus.

I’ve been planning to build a new larger PedalTrain-inspired pedalboard, and make some new correct-length cables.

Meanwhile, some of this pedal order is dependent on the short cables I had on hand. I would prefer to wire the tuner before the volume pedal, and the compressor before the wah, but that will have to wait for the redo. More

Summer Music Project - SOL Food Festival gig

April and the Summer Music Project Gig

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Summer Music Project - SOL Food Festival gigWell, April just came and went, didn’t it?

It’s been a super busy month at work, and what free time I had was filled with preparing for a gig with my band, The Summer Music Project.

The set list ranged from some classic rock, right up to the present:

  1. Shine On – Peter Frampton
  2. Get Back – Beatles
  3. Penny On The Train Track – Ben Kweller
  4. Taste of Danger – Jonatha Brooke
  5. Stop – Joe Henry
  6. Wonderwall – Oasis
  7. Animal – Neon Trees
  8. Cough Syrup – Young the Giant
  9. Perfect Situation – Weezer
  10. I’m Sorry – Charles Besocke (original)
  11. Don’t Take It Easy – Laura Whitmore (original)
  12. The Only Exception – Paramore
  13. Help Me (She’s Out of Her Mind) – Stereophonics
  14. Level – Raconteurs
  15. Revelry – Kings of Leon
  16. Chocolate – Snow Patrol
  17. Loving Cup – Rolling Stones
  18. Had Me A Real Good Time – The Faces

I’m playing lead guitar on all of these, and some definitely push the limits of my abilities- so it’s been a great challenge.  Also, and rather more nerve-wrackingly, I sing on most of the songs- mostly harmony with our lead singer Laura Whitmore, but I also had to sing lead parts on a couple songs.   I’ve never been thrilled with the timbre and range of my voice, so I spent a lot of time working on the songs. As with anything, it’s definitely true that the more you practice, the better you get, but I have a looooong way to go.  I’ll be writing more about voice training in another post.

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Treble and Bass

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G&L S-500 Schematic closeupIn my tone capacitor video, I demonstrated the typical use of the capacitor as a low-pass filter in a guitar tone control.   On a home stereo, this would be called a treble control, as it is used to roll off the high-end treble frequencies.

But what if you also want a bass control- a high-pass filter to roll off the low bass frequencies?

In the circuit diagram shown here, from the G&L S-500 guitar, you’ll find both a treble and bass control.  They call it their PTB system (which presumably stands for passive treble bass, but I’m just guessing here).

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