1st build

[2liveis2die]

Some pics of my 1st build.


Made the board at least 4 times.



















Sounds great too. built from the kit from the layout.

[dbat69]

Congratulations on your build - looks nice and a neat job too, well done

[IvIark]

Yes excellent first build, mine looked a right pigs ear!

[rocket88]

Great work man. I think calling my first build a pigs ear would be nice. I still won't/can't open the back cause I'm worried the rats nest of wires is going to shoot the board at me.

[Vince]

That looks far better than my first.. mine looked like a packet of spaghetti crammed into matchbox...

[Heath]

For my first build I used one of the plastic enclosures form Tayda...  didn't realize what the long posts on the inside were for (I figured for board mounting which for me is another word for "more work") so I removed them to have more room inside...

Those posts were for screwing the back plate back on...

so I ended up super-gluing it shut....

...then cutting it back open with a dremel when it didn't work.

I learned a lot from that first build.  

[rocket88]

Bwahaha. That's hilarious Heath.

[Neil mcNasty]

Congratulations and welcome to the most addictive hobby ever!
You clearly has the skills for this!
Go! Go!

[Frank_NH]

"Congratulations and welcome to the most addictive hobby ever!"

You got that right!!  I have to remember what I ordered now when I get something in the mail...

I'm thinking of doing a "Year in Review" essay, where I choose my "...best of..." builds for 2014.  Here are some of the candidates (completed and tested builds, not necessarily boxed):

Cornish SS-2
BJFE Model H
Wampler DLS (V1)
Tokai Metal Driver
SRV Special Overdrive (a tubescreamer with fewer caps.  I can post my layout...)
MI Audio Crunchbox (modded)
Bearfoot Dyna Red Distortion
Ramble Effects Marvel Drive
Hao Rust Driver (modded)
Subdecay Liquid Sunshine (modded)
Efdub Flapjack
Hipkitty Oxblood Distortion
Red Fuzz
Catalinbread WIIO
Wampler Plexidrive
Wampler Formula #5
ROG Britannia
ROG Thor
ROG Umble
Madbean Rump Roast
ROG Supreaux (modded)

Plus a few others I can't think of at the moment:

In the queue...

Klon (!)
Bearfoot Model G
Red Llama (a quickie)
Landgraff Dynamic OD
JHS Morning Glory
1776 Electronics Multiplex Jr.

...man, I'll have to start giving some of these away...  

But, it seems that everytime I start a build, it's like exploring a new cave - what's it going to sound like??  Sometimes, you strike out, and sometimes you hit a home run.  That's what keeps me going.

[2liveis2die]

Thanks. i spent a fair bit of time looking at how people boxed up their pedals. Boxed my 2nd pedal tonight. Its a little messier but it was a much tighter squeeze. Still needs work, tone pot is backwards and im not happy with the switch wiring because its likely to short if a wire moves too much. Also had the +9 wired in wrong, took me ages to figure out,

[Chris60601]

"I have to remember what I ordered now when I get something in the mail..."

LOL - aint that the truth! It's to the point now that I keep 2 notepad (Windows) notes going.
The 1st (Projects) contains info like.

a. Builds in progress (name of effect, where (such as GFX for tagboardeffects, etc.)
b. Next up w/parts in house (same as above)
c. Future builds (same as above)
d. Parts on order (Date, supplier, invoice/order number, cost, and description)

And the 2nd notepad (Windows) called Fulfilled Orders
and that contains the notes of each purchase
Date, supplier, invoice/order number, cost, and description.

That being said, there have been the misc orders that I forget to document and when they get here I'm like - what the heck did I order, when and from whom - then the horror of .... How much did I spend and how do I explain THAT one to the wife (not that she asks and she's pretty good about what I spend) though monitoring my self can be... Well, RIGHT

Cheers
Chris

BTW -
The Klon is a build I intend on doing just after Christmas so you are not the only one that has not added that to the collection just yet

[Frank_NH]

Yeah, the Klon will be my premier build.  Nothing but the best metal film resistors, 5% box caps, low esr electros, machined sockets...the works.  And the cherry on top will be the imported D9E diodes... (of course, I'll fire it up and it will sound like a tubescreamer...LOL  ).

Speaking to the OP, one of the nice things about this hobby is that, in fact, the parts are pretty inexpensive compared to other hobbies.  For example, I still build guitars occasionally, and you can EASILY spend $200+ on tonewood alone.  Add tuners, bridge, truss rod, bracewood, pickup, etc. - it adds up quickly.  Around here, we just stress out about paying $10 for a germanium trannie!   Most parts are like 10 capacitors for $1 or 3000 resistors for $5.  Most of my builds are only about $10 - $20 in parts.  Heck, you can't get out of Starbucks with a couple of lattes and a bagel for less than that!

[rocket88]

Frank is spot on. The last bass I built, as in completed cause I have one I still have to finish, I think I was planning on spending like $600, by the time I was "done" I think I spent something like $1200. I say "done" because I'm thinking about a pickup swap and repaint to match my chevelle that I built & race. Now if you want to talk about expensive hobby, stay away from cars. I think right now there's about $30k in my car and I'm not do, since I have more upgrades I want to do, and build another motor for more power.

Also, like what Chris said, I have orders that show up and all I can do is , even after I open it up is can't remember what the parts were for, or it's just part of the parts I hoard, cause they're going up in price or harder to find. But, I mean the worst is when I got an order of 600 IC's from china. They showed up in a large tube, and couldn't believe I bought so many of certain IC's. Or when I order from Bulgaria or Russia Ge transistors, and it shows up that's 6.6lb or 3kg. I think I have a problem........

[Chris60601]

LOL - sourcing is the "high" (to me at least) then the build - then at last, the sound!
Zach - that's too funny (but accurate)


Cheers
Chris

[rocket88]

Makes me think I need pedal builders anonymous, but then again I would a tau,ly have to admit I have a problem, which I dont.  Well my only problem now is not being able to build.