So I build guitar pedals...
And other fun little gizmos for musical fun, like small amps and noisemakers. It's been a hobby of mine since early 2021, but since I don't need hundreds of guitar pedals, I routinely sell these things at my shop or trade them on Reddit.
I also demo these pedals on my Youtube channel.
Most of the stuff I build is at least semi-original, from a circuit perspective, and I have a few perennial favorite circuits I like to build. This site only has a small sampling of the things I've built over the years; I've built way too many things to keep track of. But you'll get the general idea.
Something that's a bit different about my building is that I don't make products, I make pieces. In other words, each pedal is a bit unique, at least in artwork and appearance, if not in circuit details. That's why the pedal name doesn't always match the circuit name. That gives me the freedom to tweak designs a little each time I build and have fun with the enclosure design.
Stuff that I've built
- Favorite Circuits
- Other pedal circuits I keep coming back to
- Crazy Enclosures
- Small Amps
- Custom Jobs
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Over the years I've developed a few circuits I really like. I generally commit these to PCB and build them in hand-painted aluminum enclosures. Each build is still a little different. Here's a few examples of my regular builds, which I usually have one or two of on hand for sale or trade.
The Nerd Fuzz
The Nerd Fuzz is a deluxe do-it-all fuzz ultimately descended from the Fuzz Face. It's got a more usable gain control that brightens up the tone as you turn it down, a bias control for "velcro" type tones, a tone control, and a clipping control for dialing in a more compressed sound.
Rodential Discrection Advised
The Rodential Discretion Advised is a Rat circuit that has a discrete op-amp; in other words, the op-amp is built with transistors instead of just using an IC. It features the typical Rat controls as well as a three-way clipping switch that does standard, turbo, and asymmetric modes. I try to keep a build or two of this on hand for sale or trade.
Nurse Quactitioner
The Nurse Quactitioner is an evolution of the Nurse Quacky envelope filter. It adds a direction switch for the envelope as well as Q and Grit controls for the filter tone. Sometimes I make deluxe verions of this with things like a voicing switch, separate sidechain input, or decay control.
Ratty Quack Quack
The Ratty Quack Quack is again based on the Nurse Quacky envelope filter, but this time I've mashed it up with elements from the Rat pedal so that it's just a filthy sounding thing. Can do quacky stuff and also cocked-wah type sounds. Has controls for Range, Sensitivity, Gain, and Volume.
The Chyowngg Fuzz
The Chyowngg Fuzz is a two-stage wave-folding fuzz that produces some truly weird fuzz tones. Depending on how you set the tone and toggles, you'll get anything from a standard big beefy fuzz to synth trombone sounds to shimmery synth lead tones. This is one for those who want something a little different, not for those who want to sound like Jimi Ray VonClapmour tones.
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There are some other types of circuits I like to build, maybe someday I'll commit a canonical version to PCB.
Envelope-controlled Delay
I keep experimenting with envelope-controlled delays. It's a weird, fun sound that can be anything from slightly lush to wacked-out crazy spaceship. I've taken a few different approaches, but nothing quite hits the spot for committing to yet.
Harmonic Percolator derivatives
I think the Harmonic Percolator is my favorite fuzz topology. It's simple but unique sounding, and lends itself to point-to-point builds and a lot of tweaking. And I don't hold back on the tweaking. I typically switch up the gain pot to a different position that I think sounds a bit better, add tone controls or toggles for the clipping diodes, or do funky things in the feedback section of each amp stage to get interesting new fuzz tones from these.
Although I've made a PCB of one of my favorite HP-derived circuits, I still enjoy sitting down to craft a new manifestation at my point-to-point jig.
"Stream of Consciousness" fuzzes
Sometimes I just sit at the workbench with some parts and a vague notion of some different gain stages to chain together. I start a point-to-point build and just let it become whatever it becomes. I add in filtering, clippers, trimpots, controls, whatever to kind of bang out something that sounds usable. I call these Stream of consciousness fuzzes. They usually end up in an obscenely large tin enclosure.
The village ablaze (burn baby burn) Demo
Compressors
I've built a lot of compressors, and tweaked a few standard designs to my own specs. Still working on my "go-to" build, but I tend to like optical designs. I like to build the Hollis Flatline with added EQ and some tweaks to the release time.
Guitar Synths
Combine the right fuzz with the right filter and you have something like a guitar synth. I'm currently pursuing that perfect combination in one pedal. I've used various wave-shaping fuzzes, sub-octave fuzzes, modulated fuzzes; combined with one of my go-to envelope or lfo-modulated filters. The results are deligtfully nasty and analog usually. But I still haven't settled on a deluxe version just yet, so I keep building prototypes.
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Sometimes I get bored with standard hammond-style enclosures, and I've gotten a lot of enjoyment from building in things that aren't meant to be enclosures for pedals. Mostly I use tins, which I reinforce with recycled materials to make into a stomp-worthy experience. Here's a few examples that cover the gamut:
Syb0rcat's scoop of flaming whatsit
Rusty Robby
Cyberman Fuzz
This is the Delay
Velicirupert Fangirlasaurus
Koozebanian Spoobletron
DO NOT MESS WITH THE SQUAD
Oh the Flubbles you'll wubble
De Kwakenwafel
Truckload of flaming love driving off a cliff
The Tremburger
Big Mush(room cloud)
The Salty Sunbeam
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When I get tired of making pedals, I take a break by making little amps. These are just a few of the small 9-12 volt powered amps I make, usually with upcycled speakers I find at the thrift store. I've used various chips and designs, I keep experimenting with these. Here's a few examples:
The Tin Face
The tin face started with this center speaker I found. The electronics are based around a TDA2822 chip, which is designed to push headphones in portable stereo systems. So pushing a speaker it gets a lovely bluesy tone, maybe a bit like a silver face amp? But Tinnier?
iMank G2
I made two of these, initially as LM386-based ruby amps, but then gutted them and replaced them with a custom transistor preamp and a class-D amplifier chip I bought from China (hence the G2 designation). WOW it's loud for its size now. I designed the preamp to be bright and spanky at low gains, but warm and wooly as you crank it up and get some breakup. Makes for a very versatile little practice amp.
The Bluz xoB is a little battery-powered LM386 amp. I am slightly annoyed by the way the ruby amp has two pots that, despite being labeled Volume and Gain, are really just both gain controls. So I designed this circuit based off the little smokey amplifier to just have one knob that goes from clean to crazy with one twist, while keeping a fairly consistent volume.
The goofy name comes from the fact that I stamped the name wrong on the top plate. oops...
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Do you do custom work?
People do ask this question, believe it or not -- and the answer is Yes. Or No. It depends how I'm feeling, really. I mean, I have done custom work for people, and I suppose I'm open to doing more if the price is right.
That said, there are things I don't do:
- I don't clone expensive boutique pedals on the cheap.
- I don't work with DSP based effects, Vacuum Tubes, mains power, or microcontrollers.
- I don't do mods on commercial items that don't belong to me.
- I don't make beautiful museum-quality point-to-point builds full of NOS antique components, replicas of vintage pedals, restorations, or anything else that requires aesthetic aptitude.
- I don't create artwork that goes against my personal moral values.
Normally, what I've done for people includes:
- A roadworthy hammond-box build of something I've previously done in a big goofy tin.
- Simple tweaks to well-known analog circuits.
- Combo builds of circuits I've done before.
If it sounds like I can do something for you, Contact me here and specify that you have a question about my electronics.