A bit daunting......

[bbsen]

I started making DIY pedals 2 months ago during my free time, thanks to all the generous contibutors here and other diy sites, I have learnt the basic skills to make veroboardf pedals and ordered myself the necessary parts to make the pedals I want.

So far, I managed to make providence sonic drive, Zendrive，conrish buffer, Ross compressor, BB preamp, Suhr Riot, AMZ booster and only failed a zombie chorus that has  “No effects".

I found making my own pedals quit enjoyable but the sad thing is that y builds just don't sound as good as I expected or resemble how the demos of the orginal pedals should sound like on youtube and in real life. People praise these builds and I won't doubt their ears... I am just wonderng... Did I do something wrong here????

Most info regarding pedal debugging are remedies for noises and no effects.... etc and my pedals seem to have behaved normally but just not quite the sound I expected. I try to check the vaules of the resistors and capaciors everytime prior to soldering ....

I know there are other factors such as guiatar pickups, amps or other pedals in the chain etc that could cause the differences in sound, but still, can the sound be these far off?


I am a bit lost, actually....

sorry for my poor english.

[Neil mcNasty]

YES INDEED!
The same pedal (also with the same guitar and amp) sounds totally different when you change the person playing it. The change in sounds is enormous!
The sound comes from fingers and from passion/attitude!
The pedals just colours it on it's way to the amp.

Also the amp is essential to the end result.
Some amps loves pedals (Fender Bassman) and some not so much (Fender Twin Reverb), the difference is staggering!
As an example:
I absolutely hate the Klon when I play my Tele trough my Silvertone, it really sounds horrible!
But it sounds amazing when my friend use it and play his Strat trough his Marshall
It's all about style of music, the way you play and the setup you play trough...

And yes!
Demo's are very misleading!
Just look at Andy at PGS...
All the pedals he demos sounds amazing, not because of the pedals, but because of him!
Then you look at an amateur demo, and all pedals suddenly sounds like crap!
Hell, they don't even know how to tune their guitar before they record the demo's...

I use the demos to check out what style of pedal it is, and not how it sounds.
If you expect the same sound as in the demos, you are guaranteed to be disappointed!

[Beaker]

Neil is absolutely right, you cannot rely on any Youtube demo to accurately show how a pedal will sound with your gear, and your playing style.

You are not alone, I think all of us have built at least one pedal (and probably more), on the strength of rave reviews or a great sounding demo; only to find that the pedal sounds "ok" at best, or horrible at worst - it just does not suit our guitars, pickups, amps or the way we like to play.

Lookind at the list of pedals you have built, they are mainly overdrives, boosters, buffers and a compressor. Overdrives, as Neil points out, can sound horrible with the wrong guitar/amp, and boosters, buffers and compressors should not change or alter your sound very much - they are designed to give your tone a liitle extra "je ne sais quoi" as the French say - a little extra push in the case of boosters, and a little extra sparkle and polish with buffers and compressors. Expecting a big difference in your tone with these pedals is just asking to be dissapointed.

It would be better for you find out what pedals work well with your gear and playing style, and what you want to sound like, and then find the pedals that will get you there.

Or ask us! Tell us what you are using, what kind of stuff you like to play, and we can make some suggestions for you.

Don't worry about failure with the Zombie - it has beaten many other builders too!

And never apologise for poor English!

[bbsen]

Thanks for the replies from you guys. I really appreciated the comments and advises!

I never expect my pedals can sound like the demos, I just didn't expect them to sound worst than the cheapest pedal I've got here which is a zoom MS-50g v2.0 multistomp I bought from someone online for 40 bucks , brand new. I have few other distortion pedals as well.

Anyway, I just played around with my Suhr riot fixed that I was a bit disappointed with its loose and dull sound when played alone, a lot of high frequency has been cut out... then I started experimenting it with other effects, I stacked it with another overdrive effect from the MS-50g and the result is a huge improvement! I saw some people stacking BB preamp or Tubescreamer with other overdrive/distortion pedals, so I gave it a try... maybe I will do more experiments with other pedals this weekend and see if I can find the sounds I like..

p.s. I made the corish buffer for the TB looper 5 posted by IvIark here, i cannot tell the differences but I think it works... the AMZ, booster work ok for clean tone but quite noisy with overdrive/distortion pedals... maybe I will try other builds later.

[traktop]

I suscribe all the comments written above.
I will always remember the answer of Keith Richards to the question about getting a good tone:"... playing the right guitar in the right amp...". I think that the same is applied for guitar effects.
For example, I just love all the drive effects reviewed on "best guitar effects", and I believe that it´s really that Rivera Venus 5 amp that they use to play. It has a sponginess quality that make all drive and fuzz effects just sound great.
Try with a good transparent drive or make a research of people having success with certain effects with a similar guitar/amp of your own.
My experience is that a vintage Hiwatt can be a very good clean platform for pedals, but you got to be careful with the high end handling of some dirt pedals, since this amp has a quite flat response, so hi-mid bumps like tube screamers or excesive brightness will sound  just unnatural with the amp played clean. For transparent low to mid gain, I use a rockett animal with its tonestack modded. It sounds just right with my rig.
But you now what? Being a pedal effect lover looking for versatility, at the end of the day, the best awesome drive tone that I´ve heard in my life is just my amp almost cranked with a naga viper booster pushing it. One just can´t really replicate that dinamic 3d sound full of nuances with anything. Add just a touch of reverb,a little of a deep blue delay and you really feel that don´t need anything else.

[rocket88]

Can't agree more with all the other comments. Unfortunately, demos are so misleading, even amateur ones. There's so much variation in instruments, amps, etc. that contribute and create your tone. I can't tell you how many times I've played 2 of the same model basses or guitars back to back in a store with the same amp and the tone is completely different. The wood composition, pickups winding, which can be even so slightly different that will all change the tone.

With pedals you have similar things going on with value tolerances. For instance if you put a resistor that's supposed to be 10k, but you're using one with a tolerance of +-10% as opposed to one that's +-1% that subtle difference in value can have an effect on tone, especially if you think about all the parts you're using.

But, as was said it really comes down to your playing style, gear, and how you put it all together. Like for me there's nothing better then a big muff when I play bass. Now I play a lot of heavy, doom, and psych rock so the way I use it is completely different then someone trying to play like Gilmore. I can't make a big muff sing like that no matter how hard I try. And it's a shame that there always these lists saying "______" is the best pedal, because it's so misleading.

[Beaker]

"p.s. I made the corish buffer for the TB looper 5 posted by IvIark here, i cannot tell the differences but I think it works..."

That is completely normal - you should not be able to able to tell the difference. It is a buffer and not an effect.

" the AMZ, booster work ok for clean tone but quite noisy with overdrive/distortion pedals... maybe I will try other builds later."

Again that is normal. Remember that it will boost any noise from your overdrives and distortions.

[Frank_NH]

Welcome to the Tone Quest...  

I also agree with all of the observations here, and they suggest why there is a such a lively market in used effects.  I follow the Gretsch Guitar sites, and it's interesting to see people breathlessly post a "NPD" (new pedal day), gushing about a new overdrive, delay, or other they've just purchased.  Then about a month later you'll see a "FS" post (for sale) by the same author, saying something like "well, the new overdrive didn't work for my style of playing...".  

Fortunately, we here at Guitar FX Layouts can mod our effects if they somehow fall short (e.g. too much/not enough treble/bass/mids etc.).   Or we can just try building another similar effect and compare.  As I've noted before, there are nearly 300(!) fuzzes alone here.  Are they all different?  The same?  You can decide, but when you find that magic one, it's tone heaven!

Finally, it's not uncommon to use an effect for just one tone.  David Gilmour of Pink Floyd apparently cut the knobs off his favorite Big Muff so he couldn't accidentally change the settings!  That may be a little extreme, but if you look at the "rig rundowns" of famous rock guitarists, they often have dozens of effects for specific tones.  They'll point to one and say "Yeah, I just use that for one song where I need a raspy fuzz".

Welcome to the Tone Quest...  

[Muadzin]

I build pedals for two reasons, to see if they sound great in my setup and because I find it fun and relaxing to build stuff. Since I build them for a fraction of what they would have cost me commercially I'm not that miffed when they don't sound exactly like in the youtube demos.

However....., one always has to take into account that you might have made an error somewhere. Just because you have sound doesn't mean you didn't make a mistake somewhere. So there is always that chance unfortunately.

[motterpaul]

I wish I could find it, but there was a GREAT thread in one of the stompbox forums where all the well-known makers hang out called "after years of building effect pedals, what have you learned?"

Some of the answers included:

1) In the end every overdrive sounds basically the same.

2) No matter what, I will never build a pedal that sounds better than cranking up my tube amp

3) Troubleshooting will end in user error 99% of the time


If anyone else has seen this thread and knows where it is - I would like to read it again...

For the OP - keep trying. Some of the things you mentioned were also some of my biggest let-downs. I didn't box the Suhr Riot I built. And Buffers do very little to change tone and do not add volume. A lot of overdrives are for use with amps already on the edge of breakup, and boosters are made for amps that are either already broken up and just need to be louder, or else you just want a louder clean sound.

Here is what I have found - I went from playing a two channel tube amp and using a Tim in the effects loop to put my solos over the mix. This worked very well. But when I started building overdrives I discovered that they work best on tube amps that have clean channels that are easy to push into clipping (JCM800, etc).  IOW: the amp you design your pedals to work with makes a huge difference.

Nothing makes me crazier than going to TGP and seeing someone ask "what overdrive should I buy" - with no mention of his gear, etc. You will see 100 different recommendations because it is all about compatibility.

IO have been trying to compile a full pedal board for a clean tube amp for a few months now, and I find one of the hardest things is having variety, but within a certain scope. In other words, some pedals just don't fit in with certain rigs, so I may start out with a certain low gain drive and a certain higher gain overdrive, but I find one is too bright or too bassy and I can't dial my amp in to accommodate both pedals at the same time.

This is why there are so many pedals out there - everyone has different requirements, but this is actually not a topic that is discussed very often in forums, etc. It's like people don't really get it.
Different pickups, tone & volume pots, style of wiring etc all affect guitar impedance. All that affects effects pedals. The design of the amp also affects the way pedals sound. The way a person sets their amp also matters.

[M. Spencer]

With Overdrives and fuzzes it pays to socket the transistors. Swapping different transistors in and out, even of the same manufacturer and part number can make a big difference in the tone.

[Heath]

Hang in there, bbsen,

Do you mind me asking what your set up is?  Guitar?  Amp?  Judgement free zone, dude.

[motterpaul]

I also find it very relaxing. BBsen, I have a recommendation. Go back to 2012 in the blog - to the first VERO builds posted (the very first were turret board).

You will find a lot of the easiest and most basic sure-fire builds - SD1, Marshall Bluesbreaker. I recommend the MI Crunchbox - I think you will be satisfied with that one.

Also - a couple of questions - what are you using to power to builds (a battery, or a power supply?). Are you new to soldering. Do you have a multimeter to check continuity, etc?

What kind of guitar/amp are you using for testing? No judgements.