Brian Wampler's videos on distortion circuits and clipping types was what gave me confidence to try modding some pedals that I was already thinking of just throwing away. Then followed by a lot of googling on gain, low- and high-pass filters, graphic EQ... And many months of trial and error swapping components on my pedals. Also Electrosmash has some good analyses of popular pedals that can help figure out how things work. A good piece of advice would be to get yourself a breadboard and a bunch of assorted electronics components, instead of repeatedly soldering/unsoldering components directly onto a PCB which will damage the PCB sooner or later.
Hands down one of the most informative and useful videos I've seen all round on YT. Nice one man, thanks for sharing all this. Gonna write down your notes and work through them.
You really under estimate your self you have a lot of knowledge in this stuff I have been watching your videos for years and I enjoy them thank you for all your help and information
Also I'd like to add that having a simple electronics understanding can help you in any stage of life at any age … in my case I'm a maintenance man and I run across PCBs and electronic components all the time especially in the HVAC aspect of my job… thanks again… this is great!
In addition to circuits, people also really need to understand the signals side of things. Learning about sinusoids, phasors and frequency response is essential. Understanding how to split your signal into DC and AC components is the most important tool that I use to analyze transistor sub-circuits. I've been watching a lot of your videos lately and I really enjoy them; keep up the great work!
I made a few modifications to a small 9 volt amp years ago that produced the best distortion I ever heard, everything you played made you sound like a super star and it gave endless sustain. But the thing blew up after a couple hours and I threw it away. I wish I'd kept it because I've never been able to reproduce the unbelievable gain and tone it had.
I wasn't a genius in school either, but i wouldn't say that it made me regret it when i started making pedals. And personally i haven't learned much through just reading theoretical stuff, i started with a basic idea of building a pedal i wanted to have on my board, i found the simpliest schematic of this pedal, made it work, still didn't know a thing of what i did exactly, then i thought "hmm i also want a tremolo", found the simpliest schematic that could be built around components i had on hands, done, but now i started getting a sense of what i've done and i moved to the next project, and just like that, by building more and more stuff it got me from being completely blind, to being able to see schematic with my mind, and within this builds i had questions, and by answering them i learned a ton of stuff. So it is not necessary to know something before you start, just try to make it work in any way you can, and the more you do the better you get, or at least i works for me, and i keep learning.
Thanks for your video! I watched 3, including yours, today and learned something different from each. The question with regards to all electronics is how one goes from an idea/concept to final outcome. While watching you video you described “band pass” or frequency like filtering and a bulb went off in my head on how to achieve an idea that simultaneously also popped into my brain. I find that texts on any given subject are short on experiential knowledge and listening to pedals for which the circuits are given, schematic or layout, can eat a lot of time and internet bandwidth. However, this is looking a lot more like a viable way to supplement a retirement income!
I watched this channel recently and it has a different sounding voice on the video , have you expanded still very interested channel thanks again for showing us how to do electronics
Just to say I've enjoyed watching your videos so far, very informative! Keep up the good work! I started building guitar pedals as a hobby in the early 2000's, wish I had this resource available to me then.
I tried educating myself with an "Electronics Demystified" for dummies type book but couldn't even get through chapter 1. I found it pretty discouraging so I went back to breadboarding from Beavis Audio layouts and basic fuzz schematics. My advice to beginners would be: Ask around on forums (especially Madbean), people are super helpful and never intimidating. Read up on modding a favourite circuit. Try simple mods with switches and pots for tweaking perameters or switching between different diodes or caps. Try breadboarding basic circuits and swapping cap values, trannies, etc. Try socketing parts of a circuit board so you can experiment with swapping different values to your liking
For anyone wanting to get a good, but fairly simple understanding of electronics, try US Navy NEETS (Navy Electricity/ Electronics Training Series) Modules. Available on NavyBMR.com for free. Or you can google “Navy NEETS” There are 24 Volumes, Ranging From DC Theory (Module 1) to Fiber Optics (Module 24).
Thank u sooo so so much i started into the pedalsmith making my own fuzz face but i wanted to learn how it worked and didn't know where to start, keep doing vids mate
Thanks a million, great video! I'm still at the level of figuring out Ohm's law, however you're a good teacher and your videos make me want to learn a lot more. I'd also like, if i may, to leave a suggestion, or a request, for when you find the time: a video or playlist dedicated to modding specifically for bass or other low frequency instruments, like keyboards and such. Not so much on how to do everything you already usually cover, but more focused on how the components behave regarding those frequencies. Like wich components could / should be modified for low frequencies and even go a bit on why the replaced components work differently. I think it would be great, thanks again for your awesome work!
Hi would you like in time add a discussion or quite a bit of explanation to the basic circuitry or how is a simple delay circuit works. Appreciate a lot thanks more videos from your channel.
+Rex Himself (BjornAgainst) Thanks Rex. These videos are sort of a topic specific FAQ I often refer people to them when im asked questions. Good idea to have something like a Q&A though. Thanks for the suggestion!
+Rex Himself (BjornAgainst) PCBS are currently being fabbed, have to tweak the project file. Should be 1-2 weeks. If you have them, try it with germanium NPNs sounds killer!
Hi Paul, I hope your doing good. Just a few channel suggestions that you would benefit from would be: All American Five Radio, Richard 'Rick' McWhorter, lots of various electronics topics. ' Uncle Doug & Rusty' are RUclips Legends, with most excellent explanations of electronic circuits, and, Classic tube/valve amplifiers. Lastly would be, 'Mr. Carlson's Lab', a really good tech with great video tutorials. I'll suggest a few more another time. I found an MPSA13 (Darlington) transistor in my stash of parts for a scratch build Bazz Fuzz. Most high gain, NPN general purpose, BJT would probably work o.k.. Take care, C.
Good news... the Beavis Audio site is back online at beavisaudio.com/. Just had a quick look, and it looks like there's some great resources for people who want to learn this stuff.
My tip is just be curious, I design schematics, I am no electro-technitian, or electro physicist of any kind but my tip would be to be curious (just do google searches and try and understand why this happens) don't listen to what I said in the brackets you could but because this limits what you must do so I just say to be curious and now you have a diverse way of learning about electronics
Nice You Tube Channel. I'm subscribed. I Googled cook your own distortion and never found the article. Same thing with cook your own op amp distortion.
I'm sure you're probably not interested anymore but I'm putting this here for anyone else coming across your comment: the "Cook Your Own Distortion" article can be found on the Wayback machine: web.archive.org/web/20140219073752/www.generalguitargadgets.com:80/richardo/distortion/index.html
Hey, you know that 7 minute fuzz pedal on your website, What do I need for everything to make it (excluding solder etc), you know the right electronics as it will be my first pedal. Also what extra gear will I need?
+Junk Morgan Hi Junk, if you order all the kit components all you will need is an enclosure and a 3pdt to finish the pedal. Good luck with your first pedal!
+DIY Guitar Pedals I made my third pedal and this was the first time I painted and put graphics on it myself! Really stoked!! I'd like for you to see it and give me your opinion. Is there a way I can send a pic to you?
The scary thing is that the success of many effects has been some simple serendipity, and a proper education in electronics is actually going to hinder one in these 'lucky finds'. Case in point for 'theory over practical' resulting in a loss of perspective is the bubbling argument that has been going on for several years in Silicon Chip magazine over valve amplifiers. :)
greaser5691 as an electronic Engineering student I agree to disagree, although I can do the maths and analyse schematics nothing beats dicking around with a breadboard, particularly when it all goes bang!
greaser5691 as an electronic Engineering student I agree to disagree, although I can do the maths and analyse schematics nothing beats dicking around with a breadboard, particularly when it all goes bang!
ok. Amend that to say "for everybody except T3RRA_BITE_" :) What I am suggesting is that the theoretical education is going to change one's perspective, there are many blind alleys that will just not be explored, simply because they're patently foolish to explore for someone versed in theory (and some particular magic might be missed as a result).
It's also worth considering a lot of effects do require theoretical education for design to be even possible, pitch shifters, reverb, delays for example. But as you said anyone can take the basic building blocks of a drive pedal and then fuck with it and you may get lucky. I've found some pretty cool sounds back in my early diy designs but I still go back to the odd designs to "fix" issues.
definitely don't need to go to college to understand how to do basic design of a pedal, an amplifier or a preamp..you just need to focus on a few things, how a transistor works, and how an opamp works, ohms law and how to properly read a parts spec sheet, how to read a schematic and how to breadboard . Where people go wrong is they get stuck in pedals only, as they are fixated on athat only. No shortcuts with electronics , you can't design a pedal until you understand the basics. Pedal forums can be confusing places, because there are many members with limited knowledge, love to give out advice, sifting through the good from the bad info is hard to do. There's no need to guess and blindly stumbling trying this part and that..and not really understanding the why and wherefores etc..I've found that a good crowd to learn from are the ham radio crew. They are much more knowledgeable about analogue design for audio, than the pedal crowd. there are plenty of great websites and channels on youtube..you just need to search..its all there.
Just in case someone wants to check the old Beavis Audio website, you can use the Wayback machine: web.archive.org/web/20140528083348/www.beavisaudio.com/
I'm a bit like you, I have been bashing my head intermitently for 10 years with audio electronics. I know enough to know how to design a small jfet based amp circuits, some basic frankensteining of other circuits and patching pretty much anything together..but, to design something from the ground up 100% original is still difficult and outside my scope. If you can find them..get copies of the wampler books..unbeleivable resource..but they not in print these days..i don't think..may find on ebay or amazon 2nd hand?? Here's another that could change your life..certainly helped mine..these amateur radio are electronics dudes wizards.. www.rason.org/Projects/jfetamp/jfetamp.htm
Brian Wampler's videos on distortion circuits and clipping types was what gave me confidence to try modding some pedals that I was already thinking of just throwing away. Then followed by a lot of googling on gain, low- and high-pass filters, graphic EQ... And many months of trial and error swapping components on my pedals. Also Electrosmash has some good analyses of popular pedals that can help figure out how things work.
A good piece of advice would be to get yourself a breadboard and a bunch of assorted electronics components, instead of repeatedly soldering/unsoldering components directly onto a PCB which will damage the PCB sooner or later.
Hands down one of the most informative and useful videos I've seen all round on YT. Nice one man, thanks for sharing all this. Gonna write down your notes and work through them.
You really under estimate your self you have a lot of knowledge in this stuff I have been watching your videos for years and I enjoy them thank you for all your help and information
Also I'd like to add that having a simple electronics understanding can help you in any stage of life at any age … in my case I'm a maintenance man and I run across PCBs and electronic components all the time especially in the HVAC aspect of my job… thanks again… this is great!
You're very kind to share like this. Thanks for posting!
In addition to circuits, people also really need to understand the signals side of things. Learning about sinusoids, phasors and frequency response is essential. Understanding how to split your signal into DC and AC components is the most important tool that I use to analyze transistor sub-circuits.
I've been watching a lot of your videos lately and I really enjoy them; keep up the great work!
I made a few modifications to a small 9 volt amp years ago that produced the best distortion I ever heard, everything you played made you sound like a super star and it gave endless sustain. But the thing blew up after a couple hours and I threw it away. I wish I'd kept it because I've never been able to reproduce the unbelievable gain and tone it had.
Pedals with disposable capacitor cartridges is my new business idea 🤣
I wasn't a genius in school either, but i wouldn't say that it made me regret it when i started making pedals. And personally i haven't learned much through just reading theoretical stuff, i started with a basic idea of building a pedal i wanted to have on my board, i found the simpliest schematic of this pedal, made it work, still didn't know a thing of what i did exactly, then i thought "hmm i also want a tremolo", found the simpliest schematic that could be built around components i had on hands, done, but now i started getting a sense of what i've done and i moved to the next project, and just like that, by building more and more stuff it got me from being completely blind, to being able to see schematic with my mind, and within this builds i had questions, and by answering them i learned a ton of stuff. So it is not necessary to know something before you start, just try to make it work in any way you can, and the more you do the better you get, or at least i works for me, and i keep learning.
Very nice directions.. congratulations for your honesty and objectivity!
Thanks Thiago, hope it helped.
Thanks for your video! I watched 3, including yours, today and learned something different from each. The question with regards to all electronics is how one goes from an idea/concept to final outcome. While watching you video you described “band pass” or frequency like filtering and a bulb went off in my head on how to achieve an idea that simultaneously also popped into my brain. I find that texts on any given subject are short on experiential knowledge and listening to pedals for which the circuits are given, schematic or layout, can eat a lot of time and internet bandwidth. However, this is looking a lot more like a viable way to supplement a retirement income!
I watched this channel recently and it has a different sounding voice on the video , have you expanded still very interested channel thanks again for showing us how to do electronics
Just to say I've enjoyed watching your videos so far, very informative! Keep up the good work! I started building guitar pedals as a hobby in the early 2000's, wish I had this resource available to me then.
+Daniel Bull +Subscribed
+Daniel Bull Thank you Daniel!
I tried educating myself with an "Electronics Demystified" for dummies type book but couldn't even get through chapter 1. I found it pretty discouraging so I went back to breadboarding from Beavis Audio layouts and basic fuzz schematics.
My advice to beginners would be: Ask around on forums (especially Madbean), people are super helpful and never intimidating. Read up on modding a favourite circuit. Try simple mods with switches and pots for tweaking perameters or switching between different diodes or caps. Try breadboarding basic circuits and swapping cap values, trannies, etc. Try socketing parts of a circuit board so you can experiment with swapping different values to your liking
+FandangleTechery Good advice Fandangle, I agree!
Thank you for all this useful information. Your videos are so helpful.
You’re a good bloke. Cheers 🤙
Thank you for this … I'm going to read and look up everything you've mentioned...
+Jesse Pedroza Thanks Jesse, hope you like the info
Thanks so much for this! I have a background in electronics, but designing circuits like these was not something I learned in my formal education.
+AlasPoorJordan np thanks Alas!
For anyone wanting to get a good, but fairly simple understanding of electronics, try US Navy NEETS (Navy Electricity/ Electronics Training Series) Modules. Available on NavyBMR.com for free.
Or you can google “Navy NEETS” There are 24 Volumes, Ranging From DC Theory (Module 1) to Fiber Optics (Module 24).
Basic Mathematics is included in the volumes as well...
Thank u sooo so so much i started into the pedalsmith making my own fuzz face but i wanted to learn how it worked and didn't know where to start, keep doing vids mate
Thanks Fernando, appreciate your comment. Good luck!
Thanks a million, great video! I'm still at the level of figuring out Ohm's law, however you're a good teacher and your videos make me want to learn a lot more.
I'd also like, if i may, to leave a suggestion, or a request, for when you find the time:
a video or playlist dedicated to modding specifically for bass or other low frequency instruments, like keyboards and such.
Not so much on how to do everything you already usually cover, but more focused on how the components behave regarding those frequencies. Like wich components could / should be modified for low frequencies and even go a bit on why the replaced components work differently.
I think it would be great, thanks again for your awesome work!
Thanks for the link. It's Muzique by the way.
Hi would you like in time add a discussion or quite a bit of explanation to the basic circuitry or how is a simple delay circuit works. Appreciate a lot thanks more videos from your channel.
Great source of information as always Paul. Have you ever thought about doing an FAQ/Viewers comments video, even if it's every couple of months?
+Rex Himself (BjornAgainst) Thanks Rex. These videos are sort of a topic specific FAQ I often refer people to them when im asked questions. Good idea to have something like a Q&A though. Thanks for the suggestion!
Also as a side note, when is the new one knob fuzz going to be available? looking forward to giving that one a go!
+Rex Himself (BjornAgainst) PCBS are currently being fabbed, have to tweak the project file. Should be 1-2 weeks. If you have them, try it with germanium NPNs sounds killer!
Hi Paul, I hope your doing good. Just a few channel suggestions that you would benefit from would be: All American Five Radio, Richard 'Rick' McWhorter, lots of various electronics topics. ' Uncle Doug & Rusty' are RUclips Legends, with most excellent explanations of electronic circuits, and, Classic tube/valve amplifiers. Lastly would be, 'Mr. Carlson's Lab', a really good tech with great video tutorials. I'll suggest a few more another time. I found an MPSA13 (Darlington) transistor in my stash of parts for a scratch build Bazz Fuzz. Most high gain, NPN general purpose, BJT would probably work o.k.. Take care, C.
Really great channel. Thanks.
Good news... the Beavis Audio site is back online at beavisaudio.com/.
Just had a quick look, and it looks like there's some great resources for people who want to learn this stuff.
My tip is just be curious, I design schematics, I am no electro-technitian, or electro physicist of any kind but my tip would be to be curious (just do google searches and try and understand why this happens) don't listen to what I said in the brackets you could but because this limits what you must do so I just say to be curious and now you have a diverse way of learning about electronics
Is there any chance building pedal on perfboard can cause noise and pedal circuit not working??
Great vid thanks. And cheers for the resource links.
+seansher Thanks Seansher
Video starts at 5:39
Is the *Zombie* *II* schematic available?
Nice You Tube Channel. I'm subscribed.
I Googled cook your own distortion and never found the article. Same thing with cook your own op amp distortion.
I'm sure you're probably not interested anymore but I'm putting this here for anyone else coming across your comment: the "Cook Your Own Distortion" article can be found on the Wayback machine: web.archive.org/web/20140219073752/www.generalguitargadgets.com:80/richardo/distortion/index.html
@@pwoolcoc Actually... I really appreciate the link
dude,, you know enough about enough.... and i for one a'm truthfully great full :)
Hey, you know that 7 minute fuzz pedal on your website, What do I need for everything to make it (excluding solder etc), you know the right electronics as it will be my first pedal. Also what extra gear will I need?
+Junk Morgan Hi Junk, if you order all the kit components all you will need is an enclosure and a 3pdt to finish the pedal. Good luck with your first pedal!
DIY Guitar Pedals but do I need solder and stuff like that?
+Junk Morgan Hi Junk, you will need solder but not wire, wire is in the kit. cheers.
DIY Guitar Pedals thanks.
Coda effects is also good one for begginers
Il y a des français?
+DIY Guitar Pedals I made my third pedal and this was the first time I painted and put graphics on it myself! Really stoked!! I'd like for you to see it and give me your opinion. Is there a way I can send a pic to you?
+Joshua Robinson Hi Joshua, sure thing! Do you want to post in on my facebook page visitor section? facebook.com/diyguitarpedalscomau
+DIY Guitar Pedals I would except that I don't have a Facebook right now. :( Maybe I can make short video of it and give you the link? :)
+Joshua Robinson Sure no problem Joshua
+DIY Guitar Pedals Hey Paul! Were you able to see the pedal? :)
+Joshua Robinson Hi Joshua. No, Nothing came up?
The scary thing is that the success of many effects has been some simple serendipity, and a proper education in electronics is actually going to hinder one in these 'lucky finds'. Case in point for 'theory over practical' resulting in a loss of perspective is the bubbling argument that has been going on for several years in Silicon Chip magazine over valve amplifiers. :)
greaser5691 as an electronic Engineering student I agree to disagree, although I can do the maths and analyse schematics nothing beats dicking around with a breadboard, particularly when it all goes bang!
greaser5691 as an electronic Engineering student I agree to disagree, although I can do the maths and analyse schematics nothing beats dicking around with a breadboard, particularly when it all goes bang!
ok. Amend that to say "for everybody except T3RRA_BITE_" :) What I am suggesting is that the theoretical education is going to change one's perspective, there are many blind alleys that will just not be explored, simply because they're patently foolish to explore for someone versed in theory (and some particular magic might be missed as a result).
It's also worth considering a lot of effects do require theoretical education for design to be even possible, pitch shifters, reverb, delays for example. But as you said anyone can take the basic building blocks of a drive pedal and then fuck with it and you may get lucky. I've found some pretty cool sounds back in my early diy designs but I still go back to the odd designs to "fix" issues.
Where do you get your parts?
diyguitarpedals.com.au? Sorry couldn't resist :)
No worries, didn't realize you sold parts! thanks!
definitely don't need to go to college to understand how to do basic design of a pedal, an amplifier or a preamp..you just need to focus on a few things, how a transistor works, and how an opamp works, ohms law and how to properly read a parts spec sheet, how to read a schematic and how to breadboard . Where people go wrong is they get stuck in pedals only, as they are fixated on athat only. No shortcuts with electronics , you can't design a pedal until you understand the basics. Pedal forums can be confusing places, because there are many members with limited knowledge, love to give out advice, sifting through the good from the bad info is hard to do. There's no need to guess and blindly stumbling trying this part and that..and not really understanding the why and wherefores etc..I've found that a good crowd to learn from are the ham radio crew. They are much more knowledgeable about analogue design for audio, than the pedal crowd. there are plenty of great websites and channels on youtube..you just need to search..its all there.
Just in case someone wants to check the old Beavis Audio website, you can use the Wayback machine: web.archive.org/web/20140528083348/www.beavisaudio.com/
No need for the wayback machine anymore Fredi, Beavis Audio is back! yay :) beavisaudio.com/
I'm a bit like you, I have been bashing my head intermitently for 10 years with audio electronics. I know enough to know how to design a small jfet based amp circuits, some basic frankensteining of other circuits and patching pretty much anything together..but, to design something from the ground up 100% original is still difficult and outside my scope. If you can find them..get copies of the wampler books..unbeleivable resource..but they not in print these days..i don't think..may find on ebay or amazon 2nd hand?? Here's another that could change your life..certainly helped mine..these amateur radio are electronics dudes wizards.. www.rason.org/Projects/jfetamp/jfetamp.htm
I’m gonna make my own and sell them to people so they don’t have to pay 50-100$
I google the schematics and just steal other people's designs. saved hundreds of dollars. a $200 effect I can make for $20
How to design a guitar pedal...
You need a proper microphone
Problem with most of these chaps is the time wasted on apologies. Just get to the point please.
Sorry about that, wont happen again I promise....
couldn't resist :D
The ums are painful