New guy.

[Major Major]

Hello everyone,

I am new to this site and I was hoping I could pose some general questions/get some help.

I've been playing guitar now for about ten years and I've always had a fascination with how things work. That being said, I suppose it's only natural for me to begin to look into amp/stompbox building and interpreting of schematics and solving equations and such. I'm in the process of building a guitar now and I would like to someday build my own amp and possibly effects pedal, we'll see which comes first.

There is a problem, however. (I would call this a problem anyway) I really have not very much experience with electronics. I know general ideas of how they work and a few laws and equations but most of my learning has been done online since I can't take a circuit design class until college. So I was hoping that a few of you could help me out with not necessarily designing my own stuff or anything, but more of where to get started/how to get started on building things like that.

Thanks very much,
Major Major

[pinkmouse]

Welcome to diyAudio MM.

Have a look 'round the instruments and amps forum for some inspiration, though I'd suggest starting with a simple pedal effect.

Soldering is a good skill to start with, practise removing and replacing components on an old PCB, anything will do that's dead and has components on it, an old radio, VCR, or even washing machine control board.

[Major Major]

Thanks, I'll see if I can get my hands on something. I have some soldering experience, but not a huge amount. I've fixed up a few guitars and did a simple light circuitboard a few years back. I've been looking at some pedals and a distortion or a compression effect seem to be simple enough. Any suggestions?

[pinkmouse]

Something like a Fuzz Face clone is about as simple as you can get, and as you're in the States, you should be able to get a full kit fairly easily, check out General Guitar Gadgets.

[Major Major]

That's pretty cool. I haven't seen a site quite that detailed before, and I've looked fairly hard. As soon as I have some extra time I'll try to get started on one of those.

Thanks