Best Starter DIY Pedal?

[stantonmanton]

I just realized that I should've posted this here instead of the "Stomp Box" forum...

I am in the market for my first DIY pedal kit. I have no experience whatsoever in building something like this, but was hoping to get everyone's thoughts on what you think the best first DIY pedal for someone like me would be. Keep in mind that I will be running it through a Vox Pathfinder which I will be getting for Christmas. Any thoughts?

[AutoReverse]

Hard to get much simpler than a basic fuzz face. I found the germanium transistors are a laundry machine repair shop.

[space cadet]

Try a SHO clone. Easy and useful. not my layout but I've built this one and it works fine.

[JBOWLES]

Some fuzz pedals, SHO, most treble boosters or boosters in general, etc... all these are great first builds. IMO

[stantonmanton]

Does anyone have any links to their favorite clone kit sellers? Do they typically come with all the tools you need?

[choupique]

Check out the BYOC (Build Your Own Clone) website. They offer kits for all skill levels and also have tools available. They make some pretty good stuff.

[stantonmanton]

Anyone have a favorite Big Muff clone?

[GhostofJohnToad]

Originally Posted by stantonmanton

Anyone have a favorite Big Muff clone?

Madbean Mudbunny. You can build to what muff flavor you want or socket the key components and make a nice experimental one. He has great documentation and the guys on his forum are super helpful. But be warned it's not a kit. You buy the pcb and source the components. That's the fun part IMO :).

I've built 3 of them(mayo, violet head, civil war) and like them all differently.

[Iago]

Are you looking for a kit or you plan to scratch-build it? The SHO, LPB, and no-frills Fuzz Faces are easy ones.

[deadicated]

If you check out Tonefiend.com Joe walks you through a few basic builds with a little understanding of how/why they are the way they are. Pretty good sounding pedals.

[Rich_S]

Originally Posted by stantonmanton

Anyone have a favorite Big Muff clone?

Originally Posted by GhostofJohnToad

Madbean Mudbunny...

I don't recommend the Mudbunny (or any BMP clone) as a first build. The Big Muff Pi has a pretty high parts count, and I would rate it as an "intermediate" build. I've built and modded several pedals from scratch, and my Triangle Mudbunny was the first one that didn't work right the first time.

If you want a kit, look at BYOC or General Guitar Gadgets. GGG might be siimpler, since many BYOC pedals are optioned up to make them more versatile (and complex) than the originals they copy.

Madbean also has some mini boards, some of which are simple. They have a Rat board in the "mini" series that is a pretty easy build, provided you don't go the "ship-in-a-bottle route adn shoehorn it into one of theose really small enclosures.

[INFANT]

I've built a number of GGG pedals. The one that hasn't left my board is the tubescreamer clone. It can be built with numerous switchable mods which makes it quite versatile.
Rob

[limbe]

I agree with Rich and INFANT.The keywords are "First Build" In my experience the first thing you bulid could make all the difference if it works or not.Works=I can do this.Next time I will build...... Not working=This is not for me.This is of course what I have experienced with a lot of newbies and not personal.Stantomanton,in your second post you ask if kits typically come with the tools you need I assume you are talking about soldering iron,screwdrivers etc.I haven´t seen any kit that comes with tools.Some of the companies sell tools separately.(Like BYOC that choupique recommended.)