Many moons ago I became interested in electronic gizmos for modifying sounds. In those pre-Internet days, resources such as parts and info were fairly scarce in this neck of the woods. I built a handful of projects on veroboard from the magazines of the day (Practical Electronics was a fave) with little success.
Once I started playing pro, I abandoned my brief early foray into electronics DIY and bought a couple of pedals to try with the jazz-rock fusion band I played bass for. My pro audio mates at the time scrounged me a Space Echo for the intro of a piece (upright bass) on one memorable occasion and a succession of pedals came and went: Oberheim Phaser, Hog’s Foot, Ibanez Analog Delay and Chorus. After a while I stopped using pedals altogether.
About five years ago, I attended an Arduino workshop which inspired me to explore electronics again. It’s much easier to source parts and resources nowadays, so DIY building has now become a serious passion for me. How I wish I had known then to build up a stash of the Mullard germanium’s and tropical fish that were so abundant in my youth, but not to be. In any case, I’ve built a number of pedals and Eurorack modules since that workshop and do quite a bit of research trying to figure how and why things sound the way they do. My faves seem to be vintage modulators such as phasers and flangers and I’ve ordered a new batch of BBD-based chorus boards to explore.
Forums such as this are priceless for useful practical bits of info and guidance. Judging from the very high standard of contemporary pedal-building, it’s unlikely that I will pursue a commercial route. My weakness is finalising the cosmetics so my housings tend to be very bare-bones and dull, but more of them function than not. I guess for now that’s enough for me on this topic. Thanks for reading.
