Build Your Own Clone sells great kits for buiding your own pedals. I decided to give them a shot and was adventurous, so I bought three of the kits: The Large Beaver (Big Muff clone), Envelope Filter (DOD 440) and the Digital Delay (not necessarily a clone of any particular pedal).
Painting: I was nervous about finishing the enclosures, but I was impatient as well. A bad combination. I went with the Beavis Box Finish in a Day method. I went to the Home Depot, picked out my favorites of the Rustoleum colors they had on hand, got primer and clear coat. Since they didn’t have self-etching primer, I got a container of etch too. They sell a quart size that was less than $5 as I recall. I followed the directions for the etch, primed and painted. I used the toaster oven trick (use an old one – never to again to be used for food!!) and baked each coat. I found that I needed to keep the parts in the oven longer than Bevis recommends. It might have been due to the cold temps on the days I did it.
Labels: To save time I went with what I had in the house. I used clear stick on labels that can be printed on with any InkJet. I created a layout in Photoshop and came up with some names. Truth is that I was trying to think up names all along, but couldn’t come up with anything clever. When the painting was done I realized the green for the Large Beaver pedal could be used to play on the “Pi” variant of the Big Muff pedals, so I came up with “Key Lime Pi”. The other two weren’t so clever, but I decide to keep them all in the citrus family. For whatever reason. Oh, right, the labels…I printed the labels and cut them out as close as I dared, then stuck them on the pedals. I put two thin clear coats the pedals and let them dry without heat. I was afraid the labels would curl right up and I’d have to start over again. I did a couple of more clear coats with heat and they were fine. I sanded and clear coated two or three times to try to minimize the edge of the labels. I think it would take about two more rounds of sanding and clear coating to get the tops to be perfectly smooth. I thought they looked pretty good as-is.
Two things to watch for with these labels: First, keep them away from the edge. It’s hard to get the clear coat smooth if the label is right on the edge. Second, keep the stickers away from any place that you’ll be putting a washer or nut. If you look closely at the Lemon Drop Delay, you’ll see that there is a little bit of a bubble. When I tighened the nut for the footswitch the clear coat cracked a little (I suspect the sticker must have compressed a tiny bit) and the next day the bubble appeared.
Oh, and you’ll notice the sticker edges show up the worst on the orange pedal. I think that’s because it’s darker and the sticker definitely lightens the color a bit. That was also the first pedal I put the stickers on, so I didn’t have the technique down yet 
Key Lime Pi – Large Beaver fuzz
This is a fairly typical fuzz pedal from what I can tell. I’m not much of a fuzz user, but there are some fun sounds in here. The tone control has a nice range. The Sustain control gives it all the long, creamy sounding buzz you need. More than I ever need at least.
Sorry! No samples of the Key Lime Pi yet. It’s pretty typical Big Muff sound though. I had a problem with the original volume pot and had to replace it with a different one. A bit of a pain, but it worked out fine.
Lemon Drop Delay
This is a digital delay that is patterned after the older analog delay pedals. I used an Ibanez AD9 for many years and that is one of my favorties. It would be nice to have it here to compare. I think this pedal has a “digital sound” to it, but it sounds pretty good. Definitely usable, that’s for sure. I couldn’t quite get it to do the Pink Floyd “Run Like Hell” thing, but that’s probably asking a lot. Maybe I’ll try again when I’m playing better. I love the self oscillation silliness that it can get into. That was always one of my favorite things about the AD9.
Give the Lemon Drop a listen: Lemon Drop Sample 1 – Changing Delay time
Lemon Drop Sample 2 – Slap Back
Lemon Drop Sample 3 – Harmonizing (sound on sound)
Lemon Drop Sample 4 – Self Oscillation
The Lemon Drop gave up the ghost after a few weeks of playing with it. I was 99% sure it was the delay chip that went bad (don’t ask me why I thought that). I ordered 5 more of the chips for $5 off of ebay, and so far so good.
Funky Orange – Envelope Filter
I didn’t really know what to expect with this pedal. At first I wasn’t sure it was working properly. It’s controls are pretty interactive (changing one affects the other considerably) and it’s quite sensitive to the guitar settings and the pick attack. I found on my guitar that the bridge-middle pickup combination seemed to make the filter effect more pronounced. I’m really liking this pedal right now. Fun to play with.
Funky Orange Sample 1 – Sly Riff, no effect then with effect
Funky Orange Sample 2 – Slow Chords
Funky Orange Sample 3 – Faster chords
Funky Orange Sample 4 – With distortion
For reference sounds (straight guitar, same guitar, same amp, no effects) see the Walnut Strat page.
Building: – The BYOC kits arrive in a plastic bag packed in a box. All the parts are there and not much else. The instructions for each pedal are on their website. Luckily, the instructions are really straight-forward. Just as backgound, I have some experience building homebrew pedals, but I’m really not all that good at it. I’ve done a couple from Craig Anderton’s book, and I’ve done a number of things like A/B switches. Simple things. Things that don’t require too much close-quarter soldering. I’ve replaced plenty of electronics on my guitars, but that’s a different sort of soldering.
I just tried to be as careful and methodical as possible. I verified that all the parts were there, laid them out, double and triple checked before I placed a component on the PCB. Checked all the solder joints before I moved on to the next. I started with what I thought would be the easiest kit (based on the density of the PCB), and saved the hardest (Digital Delay) for last. All three kits were nearly identical to put together except for the number and type of components. The boards are very clear and well laid out. A few parts on the Digital Delay made me nervous because of how close they are, but it all worked out.
I only came across a couple of little things. First, when it came time to connect the populated PCB to the hardware I had mounted in the enclosure, I wasn’t sure if I should put the wires in from the top or from the bottom. I ended up trying different ways from each pedal.
For the Envelope Filter I soldered all of the wires to the parts in the enclosure and then looped the wires from the pots over the top of the PCB. It worked fine, although there seems to be a fine balance between trying to keep the wires short and having enough to maneuver the PCB around. Here’s the inside of the Envelope Filter:
Notice how the white wires go down into the PCB.
For the Large Beaver, I did the opposite. I connected all the wires to the PCB, then connected them to the pots, switch and jacks. Although I think this might allow for shorter wires (if done properly by someone other than myself), I didn’t like this method for two reasons: First, you have to move the PCB around a lot in order to get the wires in position to solder them. I was always worried a wire or a solder joint would break. Neither happened, luckily. The second problem is that once I had everything done I had a much harder time positioning the PCB in the case. I didn’t get any of the three pedals perfect, but this one is the most off. Here’s a pic of the inside of the Envelope Filter:
It’s a little hard to see, but the wires are inserted in the PCB from underneath.
On the Digital Delay I did a mix. I decided to install the wires from the top of the PCB, but I did a mix. I soldered the wires to the pots first, and did others however seemed comfortable. I had a little trouble with the footswitch. It’s awfully tight in there. I think I was lucky with the first two, but the third took several tries to get the wires in there relatively cleanly. Here’s the inside of the Digital Delay:
The PCB is cockeyed, but it works!
Results: All three pedals worked right after completion, but the Large Beaver had an intermittent problem with the volume control. I poked around and eventually narrowed down the problem – a bad volume pot. Once I replaced that everything was fine. The other two pedals seem to be functioning 100% – listen to the samples. All-in-all, great kits and I’m hoping I get the chance to put together a few more before too long.
A while back Danelectro starting selling pedals for under $20 each. I sprung for a distortion and and overdrive pedal that were $15 each. They are cheap plastic, and the parts on the inside are so tiny that…I don’t know. They’re just tiny. The thing is – these pedals sound very good! Remarkably good considering the price. If you see them, snag one or two. I’ve gigged with them a couple of times. I don’t like them as much as my Fulldrive or GT-2, but for $15 each…
The PowerScreamer is another TS-808 based pedal that falls into the “Overdrive” category. I use this pedal regularly, swapping it with my Fulltone Fulldrive from time to time, and sometimes using them in tandem. It has a unique switching system that (I believe) swaps which diodes are used to create the overdrive. That gives it quite a bit of range. It can distort more than the Fulldrive, but it’s not really a distortion pedal. Very solid. I plan on holding on to this one for a while.
Distortion is the most difficult effect for me. I think it’s because I’ve grown to not like the sound of distortion all that much – or at least most distortion. I don’t like buzz, and I don’t like mud, and I don’t like distortion where the bottom end is loose and almost indistinct. So I’ve gone through a number of distortion units at this point, and I can’t say I’m completely satisfied.
I had read good things about Robert Keeley and the mods he does on the Boss DS-1, turning it into the “Seeing Eye”. I had been looking for a “third” sound for my Blue Angel – something to give me a good high gain boost for the “over the top” EVH/Ritchie Sambora/whoever else type of leads. Something that makes the amp scream and lets the harmonics and squeals ring out. Well, sorry to say this guy didn’t do it for me.
I found that with the Strat there was a very fine point where I got a pretty good sound with it, but if the knobs are the least bit off I either got not enough drive, or total buzz. This pedal was more useful for rythm sounds, but I was already happy with my sound in that department. In order to get the harmonics to jump out for leads, I needed the tone knob turned fairly high, but then I lost all bottom end – not good. It was different with the Les Paul, but it tended to drive into buzz land much quicker, so that wasn’t great either.
I ended up selling this pedal and the Mr. Ed. In the end neither of those worked as well as the Tech 21 GT-2 for me.
I bought the Boss GT-3 Multi-effect unit to replace my DigiTech rackmount that finally died. I had to do research because effects had come a long way since I had last looked into them. I went for this box over the Korg AX1000 (I think that was it) and the equivalent DigiTech unit at the time for a couple of reasons. I found the Korg harder to use right out of the box. I have no patience for fiddling with these sorts of things. The Korg was also more expensive as I recall, and I wasn’t entirely committed to this multieffect idea. The DigiTech sounded good to my ear and was similar to use, but I just had a DigiTech unit die (even if it was ancient), and had never owned a Boss product, even though they’ve long been the best selling units. Besides the GT-3 was a pretty good deal at the time, probably because the GT-5 had just been put out.
So, I went with Boss. This is a frustrating gadget in some ways because it has so much potential, but there are some areas where it just doesn’t come through for me. It does do what I need it to, which is to add effects to the guitar sound. That’s really all I bought it for, and I have gotten much more than that.
It’s great because doing cover tunes means that there will be sounds and effects in songs the band does that I can’t possibly know ahead of time. So, when that happens I go through the patches in the GT-3, or I build a patch myself, or I search the internet and install a new patch. So far, I’ve been able to at least come close to matching sounds on the songs we cover. That’s what this box is there for. Sure, it’s not going to absolutely nail the sound every time, and the sound quality isn’t going to be as good as the latest handmade, point-to-point wired class “A” hydro-reticulated-germanium-based-weezle-whacker out there, but that’s ok. Our customers and listeners don’t know that. They can’t hear that difference. And I would never use the weezle-whacker for anything other than that one cover song anyway, so I don’t really want to buy one.
This box has been good at the basic chrorus/delay/leslie/wah/harmonizer/etc. type effects, and I have been able to combine them into useful patches to get a simulated Talk Box (to cover Bon Jovi), a string section (to cover Drops of Jupiter), as well as reverse sounds (for Everything She Wants and Pinch Me). Every so often I take it out and just fabricate wacky sounds to see what I can come up with. It’s sort of like owning a dozen or so boxes and setting them all different ways to see what happens.
And there’s also one of the big drawbacks to me: This unit invites fiddling. You tweak and switch and try different settings and next thing you know you’ve blown an hour and haven’t played a damn thing yet! It can suck up time if you’re not careful.
Other downsides: First, I really, really don’t like the distortions and preamp models in this unit. Maybe because it’s Roland/Boss COSM system. I’ve got a Roland UA100 AudioCanvas on my PC that has a COSM amp modeler and it’s awful sounding too. It’s just not my thing. I’ve read about using different methods to use your real amps preamp in the loop of the GT-3, etc. and I’ve even tried some of those setups in my basement, all with less than satisfactory results. One of the big problems is that the OD and preamp sections seem to “take over” in that the sound of your guitar is lost for the most part. I’ve tried side by side plugging in the strat, the Les Paul and the Carvin and on many of the settings there is absolutely no difference in the sound that comes out. That’s not right! I’m sorry, nothing in this box sounds as good as plugging into a real amp. So I skip those parts of the unit unless I’m practicing through headphones – it’s fine for that.
Another thing is the seemingly wacky level settings. I build patches at home, and I’ll even try them out and tweak them more in the basement through an amp, but when at practice and again when playing out I find the relative levels between patches is often totally screwy. I try to balance the levels as much as possible, and all of a sudden one will be exceptionally loud or too quiet.
As a flexible effects box with lots of sounds it works well, and I’ll continue to use it.
Still…most of the time I’m playing it’s turned off. There’s just something about a guitar right into an amp that works best.
After having this unit for quite a while – close to 15 years at this point I think – the LCD display on the unit is shot. I can see some of it, but most of it is hidden. I’ve mostly retired the GT-3, although I bring it out if certain songs are in the set list for the night. I’ve had to move the four patches I use most into the first slot so I can cycle through them without having to read the LCD… since I can’t read it any more. It’s lived a long, useful life. Considering the banging around, the beer spilled directly on it, and the stomping it takes, I think it held up fairly well. No regrets.
Everyone should have this pedal. This is one of the swiss-army-knife boxes that does its job really well. It’s my favorite direct to tape box, and I’ve used it to give me a live high gain sound with the Blue Angel as well. Simple settings, good sounds, reasonable price. What more could you want?
You could go for the original direct box (GT1?), but I didn’t like the fact that it used dip switches, and there were too many choices for me. It had sounds I like, and it certainly has more than the GT2, but I wanted simpler operation and fewer choices. It cuts down on fiddling time, and allows me to get to playing.
After a number of gigs with both the Keeley Seeing Eye DS-1 and the GT2, the GT2 is winning for me. To my ear the Keeley has a very narrow spot that works well with the Blue Angle, and the rest doesn’t sound all that great. The GT2 has a much wider, more useful range. Live, I’m really only looking for something in the Ritchie Sambora/Eddie Van Halen/whoever else high-gain neighborhood, and this guy does that well. High gain, lots of harmonics, easy feedback if needed and it sounds good. Perfect for the 3 or 4 songs I use it for in a night.
I got this guy ages ago in my ongoing search for a decent direct to tape sound. It helped with that, but wasn’t ideal, but I’ve used it a good number of times as a preamp for playing live. I built a small two button footswitch with leds so I can turn it on and click on the boost when playing live. I liked using this unit live with the Fender HRD amp.
This box is a little temperamental for me. I’ve had a handful of nights where the thing sounds incredible, but the majority of the time it sounds just ok. I haven’t been very good about monitoring the conditions, so I don’t know what it is that makes it great sometimes. I keep playing with it, although since the Fulldrive I don’t use it for the lighter overdrive sounds, and I no longer bring it with me on jobs.
At higher gain settings it can get quite buzzy if you’re not careful with the bias control.
I understand this is the (or one of the) ultimate TS-808 type pedal. It’s very good, that’s for sure. I’ve finally come around to grasp the subtlty of some of the effects pedals out there, and the Tube Screamer is one of them. That’s still not entirely my thing when it comes to effects, which is a little ironic since I don’t use very much in the way of effects. When I use ‘em I don’t usually want subtle. Truth is almost all of the effects I use these days are strictly to mimic what’s happening on some cover tune the band is doing. Other than that I tend to stick to either nothing or a little delay and maybe chorus. I’ve been getting into compression more too – there are some nice sounds in there.
The Fulldrive is a funny thing. I could almost not use it at all, and I could almost keep it on all the time. I can get crunch without it – although not as easily, and I can play clean with it by backing off on the volume knob of the guitar and playing lighter. Between the Fulldrive and the Amp there is a lot of wiggle room for getting clean to overdriven sounds.
The Boost function could go away on the Fulldrive and I wouldn’t miss it. I always set it, and on rare occasions I’ll kick it in, but not very often. Only those times when volume creep has set in with the band and I don’t have as much reserve volume for a lead as I expected, so I’ll kick it in. Even with the way our band increases volume over the course of the night, I find I rarely need it.
Right now I use this pedal most often for overdrive duties. I swap it with an HBE PowerScreamer from time to time. The HBE sounds similar, but not the same. Just a slightly different flavor. Sometimes I’ll set the pedal board up with both the Fulltone and the HBE, and both together provide quite a bit of boos and gain.
When the rackmount craze hit, I caved to a small degree by buying the DigiTech digital delay unit. I got a great deal on it, probably because it had been discontinued. The nice thing was that the sound quality was good and it covered everything from doubling to chorus and flange, to echo up to a ridiculous 7 seconds. It could also do sound layering by capturing a played part and looping it back. You could then play over the top of that. The times were displayed so you could set a delay consistently as opposed to my analog pedal which was always somewhat of a guess. The down side is that it could only do one of the effects at a time and it required some fiddling by hand to set, instead of just stepping on a pedal.
I was never all that much of an effects user, so the DigiTech did the job nicely, and I sold my Ibanez “9″ series pedals to someone. That guy probably had no idea what a deal he got (it was a kid).
The DigiTech died after about 8 or 9 years and I replaced it with a Boss GT-3.
Somewhere along the line I bought three Ibanez effects pedals for my setup – an AD9 Analog Delay, an FL9 Flanger, and a CS9 Compressor. My choice of Ibanez had more to do with price and what was available in my area than with any sound comparison. As far as I knew a delay was a delay, regardless of brand. As it turns out, the Ibanez 9 series was a great place to start.
Ibanez AD9 Analog Delay
The AD9 is probably the second most popular of the 9 series behind the TS9 Tube Screamer. I tried a Tube Screamer at the time, but it was far too subtle for what I wanted. If I was going to spend my money on an effect I wanted it to do some serious “effecting”, not some subtle wimpy kind of thing. The AD9 had an outstanding warm echo typical of analog delays of the time. It’s controls allowed a delay from nothing up to a little over 300ms as I recall, and the level could be set from none to never ending echo. One of my favorite features was that if you hit a note or chord with a long echo, and then changed the delay time, the pitch changed up or down. You could get some excellent spaceship taking off and landing sounds this way. That’s an effect! Very cool. This is probably the pedal I most regret selling.
Ibanez FL9 Flanger
I got the FL9 because it was wackier and not as subtle as the Ibanez chorus box, but it still could cover a sound fairly close to the chorus. It’s controls also allowed you to get into a totally crazy place with all kinds of strange regeneration sounds happening.
Ibanez CS9 Compressor
I’m not sure what prompted me to get the Compressor. Probably because it was the cheapest of the pedals as I recall. I’m pretty sure that I had no idea what a compressor did, or how to use it. Eventually, I used it as a clean boost. With my Peavey/Univox setup I don’t think the pedal had that much of an affect. Maybe it was just me. I’ve since used compressors that clearly make a difference in the sound, although compressors are generally a subtle type of effect – especially if used properly.