Suggestions for first build?

[guitarguy93]

Hey, folks. I'm not so new to the site (I've been looking around for months), but I am new to electronics and building pedals. What I want out of this is not necessarily a huge collection of flawless pedals, rather something I can do with my dad. We have little in common, but he knows some things about electronics and, thankfully, I found this site to help me out.

I was wondering what a good build would be for a first-timer and his father? I'll probably be doing the soldering and everything, and I know how to solder well. I just need something easy at first. Preferably something that will work if I do it right.

I was hoping for a wah pedal, but I don't think that would be a good idea for a first time. Honestly, I'm open to anything.

It may or may not be a good idea to mention that I have a firm grasp on musical terminology. Eg. LFO, Filter types, etc. I'm just not that great with electronics yet. :p

Thanks, in advanced!

EDIT: I should mention that I'm not against any "out-there" FX that aren't normally used with a guitar. I just want anything easy.

[dexxyy]

It doesn`t come much easier than the 1 knob fuzz and you`ve got 5 to choose from HERE

[GoranP]

Soldering is the easy part.

What's the challenge is poking the right component in the right holes (you'd be surprised how often people shift a component over by a hole or two), making the cuts in the right places and most of all (at least to me) cutting the wires down to size and stuffing everything into an enclosure.

Are you going to be making an actual pedal or just a vero with some jacks and switches?

Do you have a drill press? If not, I recommend step drill bits. Well, come to think of it, I recommend them anyways. :)

If you'll be doing the soldering and talking music theory, what's your plan for your dad?

One knob fuzzes are nice but don't simplicity be your guide. Build something that you or your dad will enjoy afterwards and have fond memories every time you use it. If you build just for building sake and will never ever use what comes of it, that's just time and components wasted. Make something that you'll want to keep.

I myself started with overdrives and delays because that's what I wanted/needed. Only later on did I start building things just to start spending my accumulated component stash. :)
Do you already have some components or will you be starting fresh?

My first "weird" effect was a clarinot, I highly recommend it when you want to start messing with lfos and vactrols. Anything works in there (anything I've tried, at least, which is all sorts of rolled vactrols) to some degree and it's not really a high-parts-count board, apart from five pots. Not a problem unless you want to stick them in a small enclosure but it fits into a BB quite easily.

What I'm trying to say is that with 20-20 hindsight, I can tell you that there are no easy builds. You can mess it up just as bad with a one knob fuzz, maybe even easier because you expect no problems. Build what you need, not what looks easy on paper. If you are as handy with the iron as you say you are, you will likely have no problems with overheating components (socket your ics and transistors) and cold solder joints which covers a good percentage of rookie mistakes. Pick a verified layout that you like and get busy. If you get stuck plenty of people here to help you out.

[Vince]

The Zvex SHO Boost is a favourite beginner build. Nice pedal too.

http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/zvex-super-hard-on-compact-layout.html