How many pedals?

[dcfvgb]

How many pedals have you built? How many have you kept?
I've built over 100 and and am down to 36. Some I didn't put in a box and tossed out, some I ended up selling for parts cost, some collected dust and I gave away.
I think I like building them a little more than playing them.

 

[dot matrix madness]

How many pedals have you built? How many have you kept?
I've built over 100 and and am down to 36. Some I didn't put in a box and tossed out, some I ended up selling for parts cost, some collected dust and I gave away.
I think I like building them a little more than playing them.

No reason to worry, I strongly assume that most here feel the same I'm up to 8 pedals and dozens of Eurorack modules over the years.

 

[tegendemuur]

No reason to worry, I strongly assume that most here feel the same I'm up to 8 pedals and dozens of Eurorack modules over the years.

Seen plenty of Eurorack kits over the years, but refrained jumping into them for obvious reasons (money pit). Outside of the panel / enclosure differences, what sets building them apart from pedals? Are there things you consider easier or more difficult? Are there additional annoyances and frustration ala wiring / boxing things up in pedals?

 

[dot matrix madness]

Seen plenty of Eurorack kits over the years, but refrained jumping into them for obvious reasons (money pit). Outside of the panel / enclosure differences, what sets building them apart from pedals? Are there things you consider easier or more difficult? Are there additional annoyances and frustration ala wiring / boxing things up in pedals?

There are way less PCBs or kits available for Eurorack. Thus you're often down to build stuff from the raw schematics and you
have to come up with our own layout for front panels. That's why I've got much experience in vero board builds.
Wiring can be an issue due to the amount of jacks, but the count of parts to solder is usually larger than for pedals.
On the other hand I found drilling front panels is somewhat easier than pedal enclosures.
The nice thing is that you can build modules that are not commerically available at all, have been discontinued,
are not available in Eurorack format, or are overpriced.

 

[giovanni]

There are way less PCBs or kits available for Eurorack. Thus you're often down to build stuff from the raw schematics and you
have to come up with our own layout for front panels. That's why I've got much experience in vero board builds.
Wiring can be an issue due to the amount of jacks, but the count of parts to solder is usually larger than for pedals.
On the other hand I found drilling front panels is somewhat easier than pedal enclosures.
The nice thing is that you can build modules that are not commerically available at all, have been discontinued,
are not available in Eurorack format, or are overpriced.

Discontinued and overpriced pedals is part of why I build!

I haven’t built a ton, maybe 20 or so. My rate has slowed down substantially in the last couple years and I have a backlog of like 20 pedals that I’m slowly going through. Plus I keep buying more PCBs because Robert puts out some really good stuff…

 

[HamishR]

There's no way I'm ever going to count them! I do pull ones I don't use apart and use those parts to build new pedals though. Sometimes I'll build a PCB version which has to go into a 125 sized enclosure, work out what if any changes to the circuit I want to make and then build a new version into a 1590B enclosure. I rarely do graphics so reusing enclosures is easy.

 

[Erik S]

I think I like building them a little more than playing them.

Same. Sometimes a pedal turns out special and changes/ inspires my playing for a while, but as a hobby this has way more to do with building pedals than getting new pedals to play for me.

Last pedal was number 79, and there are 54 still here.

 

[dan.schumaker]

I've built hundreds over the last decade or so. And I still have... hundreds at home (at least most of them are 1590A )

 

[jcpst]

I’ve been building for two years now. I know I passed 100 sometime a few months ago, not counting builds that aren’t completed and boxed up.

I started kind of like an amateur guitar tone archeologist. Then a topology expeditionist. Now I’m working on customizing my favorites for my board, and a longer goal of building open-source projects for MIDI-controlled pedalboard utilities.

 

[Harry Klippton]

More than 50 but not 75. The magic died a long time ago

 

[Guardians of the analog]

I've built close to 300 pedals over the last 10 or so years. Some have stayed with me, some sold, some given away and some were cannibalized for parts. I think the more I built the less I thought pedals were cool or unique. Most are the same and almost all will be dialed in to sound the same. But, I did learn a lot and that was helpful in coming to terms with the fact that I really don't like pedals that much for my core tone and much prefer a guitar into an overdriven amp. Now I only build for a specific purpose and that is much more rewarding. I find playing is the real goal, and I really enjoy using my favorites.

 

[Blooze]

I've built 25 or so. Most have only been played 1-2 times, just to see what they sounded like. I have a backlog of probably 20 pcbs, but I've began to enjoy doing turret and tag board layouts instead. It's the building part I enjoy. I have 15 or so commercial pedals as well, but the only thing I usually use is a tuner, fuzz, and a reverb/delay if I use anything at all because I'm at advanced beginner level playing even after 30 years.

 

[Aentons]

I've finished around 40 and have about another 15-20 mostly populated but not finished. I keep them all. I'm mainly building them for the learning aspect but also the discontinued and overpriced thing too.

 

[dcfvgb]

the discontinued and overpriced thing too.

My first pedal build was a BYOC Lazy Sprocket aka Boss Slow Gear. I wasn't going to pay $600 for the Slow Gear and wanted to see whether I could build a pedal.

 

[Vicious C]

I’ve build at least 700 over the last 6-7 years, maybe 100 a year in a good year. All sold, and helped fund my other hobbies (guitar building, shop machines etc) I’m super thankful for this community and available information out there and the platforms that allow me to sell a decent product.

 

[Erik S]

My first pedal build was a BYOC Lazy Sprocket aka Boss Slow Gear. I wasn't going to pay $600 for the Slow Gear and wanted to see whether I could build a pedal.

I forgot about that pedal! Did you end up using it much? I just added a procrastinator board to my wishlist, but I'm already second guessing.

 

[dcfvgb]

I forgot about that pedal! Did you end up using it much? I just added a procrastinator board to my wishlist, but I'm already second guessing.

Once in a while for fun, but not really, but nice to have. Sounds really good with delay. I am glad I built it.

 

[sticky1138]

I am approaching the 500 mark after about five years of building (if we include the scrapped and unboxed). Most of them I've sold off. My personal collection is around 50, and maybe half of those see actual use.

 

[swelchy]

I never counted but i'm at least a few hundred in and have about 90 pcbs in cue already... I think I've become a padalpcb pcb collector at this point

 

[zeropluszero]

Probably built in the 50-70 range, I think I have 20 or so in the queue, with a large proportion of those a part of my next enclosure order so will be completed in the next few months. I think I have around 20 I've kept, the rest I sell on marketplace for basically cost price. I'm definitely running low in things I'm interested in building.