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DIY Electric Guitar Effects

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Welcome to DIY Electric Guitar Effects. This site was created as a resource to find facts about the world of electric guitar effects and other audio electronics. The information here will try and help take the mystery out of analog effects and electronics. Such as component installation, identification and how to read their values, identifying schematic symbols, soldering, and general stompbox design and building techniques. This website is for people just starting out in electronics and interested in building their own guitar effect stompboxes. It's a fun hobby and a great learning experience for anyone interested in wanting to build, modify or learn how guitar effects work.

Understanding the theory and facts about electronics can be hours of entertainment and education. Although having some form of training is always helpful.

Most low voltage power from 9 to 18 volts is what is used for most guitar effects. So it is a fair to say that it's safe. When working with 110 volt power supplies or amps you'll need much more experience and training then this website can offer. I would not recommend attempting any high voltage electronics without proper training.

DIY Vintage Effects

Synthesizers and Effects

Some of the best effects ever are the vintage stompboxes that were designed and sold in the 60's 70's and early 80's. Modern digital effects, racks and pods have taken over the market since then. Even though it's still going strong the analog stand alone stompbox has seen a comeback in recent years especially in the contemporary country music scene. There are even new rock bands finding value in the sound of vintage and new stompbox effects.

Also the reissue of many vintage effects have also been on the rise. Electro-Harmonix have reissued many of their classics and Ampeg, Ibanez and others have followed suit. Some vintage effects which will never be reissued because the companies are out of business or the effects are not in high demand and that's where DIY Electric Guitar Effects comes in. If you want it and can't buy it then why not make it yourself? Of coarse you can't make all of them but there are clones and work alikes that you may be able to put together. With the help from websites like this and the DIY online community you can plug your electric guitar into a stompbox like you did in the old days and experience the joy of those old vintage effects.

Big Muff Demo

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If it wasn't for the synthesizer age of the 60's there wouldn't be some guitar effects. Many of guitar effects were developed from synthesizer circuit designs. The synth circuits are usually more complex and larger than many guitar effects and most likely beyond the skill level of the novice builders. Keep in mind that what you learn from building guitar effect electronics can be applied to analog synth circuits if you want to do that down the road.

http://mypeoplepc.com/members/scottnoanh/slsdiy/id5.html

http://www.uni-bonn.de/~uzs159/

Other audio electronics can be useful and fun. After building guitar effects for some time I applied what I learned to build other non-guitar related projects. For example I've built a two way intercom, a studio headphone distribution system and a practice amplifier with headphones for use with a guitar or to power my computer speakers.

The possibilities are endless and the learning experience priceless. Even if you have no electronics training at all you can still learn the skills to build some really useful electronic devices.

Here is a modular synth design. You can make each circuit for the synth one circuit at a time.

Guitar Effects

There are all kinds of electric guitar effects out there so that gives the DIY effects builder many choices.

Here are some of the types of guitar effects that you may be able to build yourself.

Fuzz, distortion and overdrives -

Octave's and Ring Modulators -

Envelope filters or auto wah, foot controlled wah wah and volume pedals -

Boosters, amps, cabinate and speaker simulators -

Modulation effects like tremolo, phase shifters, chorus, flangers and delays -

Compressors, noise gates and auto volume swells

And noise makers like bit samplers, bug crushers not including all the noise makers created by DIY effects builders in the ever growing online community.