DIY pedal kits from Germany

[Kalapuikko]

Hi!

Wanted to share, I found this amazing store that sells a lot of diy stuff: www.musikding.de

So I could not resist the cheap prices and ordered two fuzz pedals, Germanium Fuzz Face and Bender Mk2. For example the Fuzz Face with pre drilled enclosure was 33,5e, compared to other stores that offer diy kits I consider that quite cheap.

Anyhoo, the package arrived yesterday. Everything was ok, except two knobs I ordered were missing. No big deal, I sent an email to store and got reply almost instantly, saying that they're really sorry and send the missing knobs the very same day. Quality customer service as well!

About the kits, they made me laugh a little. Resistors had values marked with tape, the ends of the wires were stripped already and so on.. Everything was so neatly packed and organized so the building was a breeze. So, I finished both pedals yesterday and managed to give them a quick test. Great sounding mofos!

Heres a very quick poorly played and mixed clip with the Fuzz Face. Used Diy TS-clone in front of it just to tighten the enormous low end a little.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3603462/kurufuzz.mp3

 

[loktide]

i built my first few pedals from musikding.de

as your first DIY pedal project, they're great since you get all materials supplied and even the component numbers form the schematic are printed on the PCB. think paint by numbers, lol

however, i strongly advice to measure the resistor values by yourself since i've had mislabeled ones. the same applied to transistors, diodes and caps. it might save you a A LOT of time debugging later.

the only downside of their kits really is the sometimes unusual component selection and layouts. the compressor and phaser, even though they're supposed to be clones, leave much to be desired.

if you want better results with your own builds, i definitely recommend staying away from kits and learning the effect of different components yourself (capacitor, transistors, diodes, ICs, etc) since it always takes a bit of trial and error to get a pedal sounding great. good layouts (and partly also PCBs) can be found at:

sabrotone (veroboard layouts)
mad bean pedals
tonepad

just to name a few...

 

[Kalapuikko]

however, i strongly advice to measure the resistor values by yourself since i've had mislabeled ones. the same applied to transistors, diodes and caps. it might save you a A LOT of time debugging later.

That's true, and I did measure all the values.

I completely agree with you, and like someone said, "building kits you learn to build kits." So building these won't make one electronical engineer But it's fun and improves soldering skills for more serious and complicated projects in my opinion.

 

[loktide]

I completely agree with you, and like someone said, "building kits you learn to build kits." So building these won't make one electronical engineer But it's fun and improves soldering skills for more serious and complicated projects in my opinion.

absolutely! they're an excellent way to get started.

the most fun i've had with their kits was the Madamp J5 (5 Watt marshall jcm800 clone). once you finish building it, the modding starts. mine's a 5 watt splawn quickrod atm

 

[Nimvi]

Sounds cool by the way

 

[Kalapuikko]

the most fun i've had with their kits was the Madamp J5 (5 Watt marshall jcm800 clone). once you finish building it, the modding starts. mine's a 5 watt splawn quickrod atm

At the moment I'm building a tube amp head (3,5-20 watts depending of the power tubes) from Finnish company, and it's almost done. I haven't thought of modding it though, at least not yet as I'm not experienced enough.

Sounds cool by the way

Thanks! There's another quick clip with the Bender Mk2 fuzz: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3603462/redhotfuzz.mp3 little RHCP stuff, never mind the sloppy playing as I was in a hurry to get something recorded thru it!

 

[KHE]

another good store with pedal-kits from germany, from a very skilled engineer (uwe):
http://uk-electronic.de/onlineshop/index.php/cPath/105?osCsid=b4bd63a7a18e79d4497ddc8ed9bcc2b5

 

[id3alism]

another good store with pedal-kits from germany, from a very skilled engineer (uwe):
http://uk-electronic.de/onlineshop/i...7ddc8ed9bcc2b5

My last project was the Dr. Boogie Rectifier emulation. It turned out to be a nice little toy, not so much for recording though.
I think both stores have some cool projects, especially for beginners.

I'd like to build this thing in the near future: http://www.musikding.de/product_info.php/info/p1347_High-Gain-Tube-Preamp-Bausatz.html. But at first I have to finish the GSSL clone =)

 

[Siguros]

Heres a very quick poorly played and mixed clip with the Fuzz Face. Used Diy TS-clone in front of it just to tighten the enormous low end a little.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3603462/kurufuzz.mp3

Sounds amazing man, gonna get one myself! Can you give me some info on your setup for that recording? Interface, mic... How you got the drums to sound so nice haha. We're they samples like superior? Also how did you get them to sound so roomy at the start, cheers.

 

[Siguros]

Also the song reminds me of Cochise by audioslave. :Smokin:

 

[Kalapuikko]

I'd like to build this thing in the near future: http://www.musikding.de/product_info...p-Bausatz.html. But at first I have to finish the GSSL clone =)

Hey, I have been thinking of building one myself after I have the amp finished, how has it been?

Sounds amazing man, gonna get one myself! Can you give me some info on your setup for that recording? Interface, mic... How you got the drums to sound so nice haha. We're they samples like superior? Also how did you get them to sound so roomy at the start, cheers.

Thank you! That was quite rushed, not really happy about the playing nor the mix but it shows what the pedal does Guitar was Fender Tele into Great River Pre, amp was Lepou's Hybrit and cab impulse was ASEMRECTO or something like that if my memory serves.. Got that one from this forum I think. (I think it's made by user Lolzgreg) Bass was Fender Jazz with same signal chain and Ampeg SVX -vst. Drums are fully SSD4. The start is just the room and overhead mics soloed.

Also the song reminds me of Cochise by audioslave.

Haha, indeed! Had to quickly play something down and thought that something Audioslave'ish would sound cool.

 

[Siguros]

Thank you! That was quite rushed, not really happy about the playing nor the mix but it shows what the pedal does Guitar was Fender Tele into Great River Pre, amp was Lepou's Hybrit and cab impulse was ASEMRECTO or something like that if my memory serves.. Got that one from this forum I think. (I think it's made by user Lolzgreg) Bass was Fender Jazz with same signal chain and Ampeg SVX -vst. Drums are fully SSD4. The start is just the room and overhead mics soloed.

Nice man, the great river costs so much hah. Thanks for the breakdown though! I'm gonna have to take a look at ssd now, sounds fantastic.

I just bought my fuzz kit from the site, got the Bender mk2.

 

[Kalapuikko]

Nice man, the great river costs so much hah. Thanks for the breakdown though! I'm gonna have to take a look at ssd now, sounds fantastic.

Don't get too worried about the pre, it's not a huge part of the sound. I bought it at the time because I wanted to have one really nice pre for example for vocals.
Definitely try the SSD out, couldn't be happier with it! (Well, it crashes sometimes but I think theres a update coming, or already have, I haven't checked)

I just bought my fuzz kit from the site, got the Bender mk2.

Great! Let me know how it works out and post some clips!

 

[Ashgarth]

I build their green russian muff clone a few days ago, sounds great!!

 

[Siguros]

That looks nice Ashgarth! Wish I built a muff clone now hah.

Here is my Bender MKII (Which I hate, has no use) it seems to ruin the tone when I go direct, can't adjust it either. The pedal attack knob just adds more hiss, does nothing for the tone lol.

http://db.tt/U5frLcSU here is a rough mix with cochise. The guitars sound thin and crap right?