Ever wanted an effects pedal for your guitar or bass and came up just short of the cash to pay for one yourself?
Why not BUILD YOUR OWN! I came across a website,
http://www.buildyourownclone.com/index.html , which features a wide variety of FX pedals, Amp kits and other cool information towards building your own clone! Now you may be thinking, oh god this seems really difficult why would I wanna do this? Each kit comes with their own PDF of step by step instructions for installation filled with diagrams, parts checklist and even trouble shooting techniques if you run into any problems.
This sounds fun what do I need? A SOLDERING IRON! If you don't know what a soldering iron is,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soldering_iron . Soldering irons range from 15 to 30 watts, I personally have a 25watt soldering iron but 15 watt should serve enough power to heat up the components to be soldered. You can buy soldering irons at any building supply store ranging from $25 to who knows! (I got mine for 25 dollars and it works great!)
Warning: Soldering Irons generate heat of 700 degrees farenheit! Which is really freakin' hot so it's important to handle with concentrated safety! You will also need some solder to melt the components into place, there are a few techniques you want to consider before soldering. For example, when heating up the COMPONENT you are soldering into place it is imperative that heat up the component and not the solder itself! The solder works almost like a paint, once the component is hot enough the solder should spread with little effort. All of this takes patience and practice, it can be very frustrating working with such small components on a tiny circuit board so practicing with spare wire will help you.
Basically I've ordered a Digital Delay & Ping Pong fx kit and it should be here any day. It cost me $112 with shipping which is roughly $40 dollars cheaper than buying a brand name pre-wired pedal. Apparently the Delay kit is one of the most difficult to build (due to the complexity of the circuit) but I am currently enrolled in electrical engineering in college so I've worked with this kind of stuff before. I'm going to take my time and build this pedal step by step while giving feedback here to people who may be considering building their own fx pedal. I personally would recommend this to anyone interested as it is a skill that you will carry with you the rest of your life!
Wish me luck!
