Recommended First Builds

[zackr27]

I'm just starting to build pedals and I would love to hear some recommendations on what to build.... there's a lot of pedals on this site. Mostly looking for a low parts count overdrive. Any advice on the builds in general is welcome too

[Frank_NH]

Welcome!  You'll get a lot of recommendations, but my vote would be to build the Clark Gainster.   Simple, good-sounding overdrive.  Have fun!  

http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/2010/11/clark-gainster-compact-version.html

[Beaker]

Read the link tabs at the top of the page - Layout Guide, Components, Build Guide, Offboard and Faults - there is loads of good info there. Also some good stuff in the Library sub forum.

What is a good build depends to a great extent on what parts you have in stock, or have easy access to, so build accordingly - the greater variety of parts you have, the greater your options.

You can always get a kit from Bitsbox if you don't have many parts - see the tab at the top of the page.

There's no such thing as a stupid question, so any queries, please ask.

[Travis]

The MXR Distortion+ or DOD 250 would be great choices because there are very few parts, no special or hard to find parts, minimal wiring, and they sound great

The Tube Screamer or Son Of Screamer would also be good builds. They have more parts and 3 pots to wire up, but the Tube Screamer is probably the most classic overdrive ever made. Even if you don't like the sound of the stock circuit, you could learn a lot by doing different modifications

The reasons I suggested these circuits is that they are easy builds, they don't require any special parts selection or "tuning", and there is tons of documentation available for modifications etc. The other reason is that the MXR and DOD will show you an example of "hard clipping", while the Screamer will show you an example of "soft clipping"

[Marbles]

For a real simple overdrive, the Earthquaker Devices Speaker Cranker comes to mind.
Just one pot with the wires to the pot very clear, no funny business :). Very straight forward for a first build

You could use any 2 diodes you want.


If you're into weird fuzz, I would give Devi Ever pedals a try. Small and only 2 knobs mostly. I had most problems with the offboard wiring when there were multiple pots involved that had lots of extra connections in the description. These are all pretty straight forward.

[Beaker]

Try these too:

http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/1-knob-fuzz-bonanza.html

All one-knob silicon Fuzz Face variants. Super simple, super cheap and all sound great. Building these will teach you an awful lot about how altering component values and types can alter the sound.

[nocentelli]

For a very first build, the one knob fuzz is great from the point of view of maximum fun for minimum chance of error and frustration with only a volume pot off board.

If you are reasonably confident about wiring up more than one pot, I would heartily recommend the Catalinbread Naga viper, which is a cool silicon update on the dallas rangemaster with a range control, and a separate gain ("heat") pot so you can get it to do a gritty overdrive sound. It is also the most beautiful layout on this website:

[rocket88]

i like a lot of the things that have been suggested so far. these would be my suggestions, some already mentioned, that include OD, fuzz, and Distortion since they're kinda in the same realm depending on how you used them. i also included some boosters too, which are great starting off points.

OD
DOD-250/MXR Distortion+
HAO Sole Pressure
Lotus Snowjob/Greer Green Giant(both electra distortion based)can be clean or dirty boost/OD
WayHuge Red Llama

Distortion
Boss DS-1 Bufferless
DAM Sonic Titan
MI Audio Crunch Box
Proco Rat
Ross Distortion (similar to the DOD-250/MXR Distortion+)

Fuzz
One Knob Fuzz/Dam Meathead (Deluxe has 3 pots instead of 1)
Si Fuzzface and it's variants (AnalogMan Sunface, CreepyFingers FuzzFace, etc.)
Caralinbread Merkin

Booster
AMZ Mini Booster
Catalinbread Naga Viper
Catalinbread Sagrado Pablano Picaso
Emerson EM Drive
JHS MiniBomb
ZVEX Super Hard On
EP3 Echoplex

all of these i think are are somewhat simple as the board is concerned, easy to find parts, and sound great, with the biggest difference being the amount of offboard wiring, ie number of pots. some of them give you the ability to play with things like clipping diodes or transistors so you can see how they change the sound of the distortion so when you're ready you can experiment and get something tailored to the tones you like, and can help you learn a lot about building and circuits. personally i think the most challenging one i suggested is the sonic titan because you need to bias the FET, and you need a reliable source of them rather then buying them on ebay from china.

[Silver Blues]

Yeah the Green Giant is very low parts count and super fun to play around with, changing transistor or diodes has a marked effect on the tone. That's one that's fun in all its iterations.

[kirshman]

I'm with the way huge red llama.  Super simple build and just sounds great!