Cheap DIY Distortion and Compressor and Fuzz kits

[DrNomis_44]

I've got box's and box's of all sorts of caps Doc, I was just too lazy to get off my arse and get one, it was simpler to plug in another pedal that was already sitting on my bench.... but I know what you mean, and it's probably a good thing to do any way to every pedal build to keep the 9VDC playing nice under any circumstance.

Those SBT's could be the go. Not many Germanium transistors available any more. All the major suppliers don't seem to stock them either. Let us know if you do find them. I know how easy it it to loose things, I've only had my big shed for 8 years and I'm always finding stuff that I thought I had lost or loosing stuff that I had in my hand only yesterday....

Even though the 2N2907's are silicon they still do a pretty decent job at creating fuzz. For the reasons given in the article you linked Doc their hfe is in the right range and their other characteristics like Max V and frequency response are reasonably similar or better to the published AC128 values. I didn't measure their hfe and I only had two of them so it was always going to be pot luck at getting a positive result. At uA currents the hfe is 75 but at mA currents the hfe increases to 100 so it is definitely in the ball park on that front. On some fronts I'm suspecting the whole Germanium thing might be a bit of a mental phurphy played out by some guitarists as these 2N2907's are doing a commendable job. Knowing now the FF theory from the article I can see how the BC108 NPN crowd grew their legs, so to speak...

Fortunately I happen to know exactly where I put all those SBT's, so it'll be fairly easy for me to find them, I'll post a pic once I get them back to my new flat, I thought I might have a pic on one of my PC's slave HDDs but so far haven't found it, I've got a semiconductor analyser that I can use to pick out some good ones.


I've also got a small plastic bag of some BC108C transistors at my old flat too.

[Marcel]

Why do I keep doing this to myself.... buying cheap things that are supposed to be copies of expensive things....

Got a KLON pedal kit off Ebay (the last one). At less that 1/20th the price of a real one I wonder if it will be 1/20th of the tone .... $1k of tone for $50 is a fair deal in my books...

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/DIY-KLON...72.m2749.l2649

[JohnH]

Ha ha, that's gotta be worth the gamble right?

[Marcel]

It's always a gamble JohnH...

It took a few weeks longer to get here due to the seasons festivities, but they have arrived... Two kits to make two clones of the fabled Klon Centaur overdrive pedal that for an original one retails on Reverb for better than Forty times the price I paid for these individual kits... If the hype on YouTube for an original is anything to go by then these two should be quite the adventure...

Having a quick look before getting stuck into assembly I figured I needed to get my fine point soldering iron out as some of the joints on the board do appear quite small... tracks running between IC pins being the most obvious warning...

And while there is all the info you need to build it with the kit there is nil circuit diagram. Just two pages, one with a few words on recommended assembly and a picture indicating the off board connections.

[Simon Barden]

I've got a J Rocket Archer - which is supposed to be a very good Klon copy. They really are best for giving a very slightly pushed boost on a clean sound, a bit like an aural exciter. I find (my pedal at least) it sounds a bit harsh with a lot of gain (which can be useful at times).

[Guvna19]

I'm thinking of getting a diy pedal or 2.

https://www.wish.com/search/guitar%20pedal%20kit

just incase i ever get any spare time...lol

[Marcel]

Uh-ohhh...!!

And now there is 8..... a Nu-tube screamer...

https://reverb.com/news/ibanez-to-la...eamer-for-2018

[Simon Barden]

Uh-ohhh...!!

And now there is 8..... a Nu-tube screamer...

https://reverb.com/news/ibanez-to-la...eamer-for-2018

Looks like I might just have to get one of those, just in case it becomes a classic like my TS-808!

[Simon Barden]

Ibanez have done some teaming up with Korg before. http://www.ibanez.com/eu/news/f_prod.../KP/index.html
Maybe more to follow.

[Marcel]

Well, aren't I glad I bought two of these Klon clone kits....

Got the kit together last night in 2 1/2 hrs. It was late so I didn't bother testing it and left it on the table
Tonight, I re-examined it, found a cap that I had loaded wrong. Fixed the cap. Checked for other errors and found none, and then took some happy photos all before I made any attempt to see if any of that 'magical smoke' that makes all electronics work wanted to get out of and depart this pedal build ...

It seems the 'magical smoke' is only too happy to stay inside this build, and pass on its wonderfully distorted presence onto the guitar signals passed through it.... I have to say I instantly liked what it does to any guitar I plugged into it... the PRS-1H build, my ply Strat, and particularly the denim Tele all have a lot of extra magic through this Klon clone...

Best AU$50 I've ever spent...