CheapSuitG
The TubeSchemer
Yesterday marked six months since I dove into this hobby. It all started with joining the forum and making my first PPCB purchase.
It began when a friend—who, by day, is a NASA engineer—asked for advice on designing a guitar pedal. Although he's relatively new to guitar, wanted to build his own pedal, and since I’ve been playing for about 30 years and having worked in pro audio for 10, he thought I’d have some good insights.
Around the same time, my wife started her master’s program, which left me with a lot of free time—three nights a week and all day Saturday. I tend to get restless, so I was looking for something new to dive into. My friend suggested I build a kit or find some PCBs, so after a google search, found PPCB and this forum, made my first purchase, and also put in an order with Tayda for parts for five pedals. I’m the type who jumps right into the deep end.
A week later (this was before the insane Tayda lead times now), my first PPCBs and components showed up, and I was beyond excited to start. I’m not going to lie, there were over 1,000 components, and it felt kind of surreal owning that many of something—other than rice, of course.
I also ordered a SHO from Tayda. A friend had built me one more than 10 years ago and said it was a super easy build with a low parts count. Well… it was my first attempt and a disaster. I had a lot of trouble with soldering, even after watching tons of videos. I was really disappointed that it didn’t work on the first try. In fact, I put it away in the “drawer of shame” for a while. Last night, I looked at it again. I’m tempted to salvage it—though, to be honest, I was terrible at soldering. It’s no surprise it didn’t work, there were cold solders everywhere, and I think I used about half a pound of solder on it.
Fast forward to today, and I’ve built or modified over 30 pedals. I still suck at soldering, but I’m having a blast. There’s such a great feeling when a pedal fires up on the first try, but honestly, I’ve also started to enjoy the troubleshooting process—something I usually hate in other areas of life.
If I could offer some advice to other newbies, it would be:
And once again, above all—have fun.
Big thanks to everyone on this forum for making this hobby so much fun and for creating such a supportive community.
It began when a friend—who, by day, is a NASA engineer—asked for advice on designing a guitar pedal. Although he's relatively new to guitar, wanted to build his own pedal, and since I’ve been playing for about 30 years and having worked in pro audio for 10, he thought I’d have some good insights.
Around the same time, my wife started her master’s program, which left me with a lot of free time—three nights a week and all day Saturday. I tend to get restless, so I was looking for something new to dive into. My friend suggested I build a kit or find some PCBs, so after a google search, found PPCB and this forum, made my first purchase, and also put in an order with Tayda for parts for five pedals. I’m the type who jumps right into the deep end.
A week later (this was before the insane Tayda lead times now), my first PPCBs and components showed up, and I was beyond excited to start. I’m not going to lie, there were over 1,000 components, and it felt kind of surreal owning that many of something—other than rice, of course.
I also ordered a SHO from Tayda. A friend had built me one more than 10 years ago and said it was a super easy build with a low parts count. Well… it was my first attempt and a disaster. I had a lot of trouble with soldering, even after watching tons of videos. I was really disappointed that it didn’t work on the first try. In fact, I put it away in the “drawer of shame” for a while. Last night, I looked at it again. I’m tempted to salvage it—though, to be honest, I was terrible at soldering. It’s no surprise it didn’t work, there were cold solders everywhere, and I think I used about half a pound of solder on it.
Fast forward to today, and I’ve built or modified over 30 pedals. I still suck at soldering, but I’m having a blast. There’s such a great feeling when a pedal fires up on the first try, but honestly, I’ve also started to enjoy the troubleshooting process—something I usually hate in other areas of life.
If I could offer some advice to other newbies, it would be:
- Take your time. This isn’t a race. Every time I rushed, I ended up making mistakes.
- You will make mistakes. Trust me on this. Whether it’s putting in the wrong component, wiring the jacks backward, or forgetting to solder something—mistakes will happen. That’s just part of the process.
- Most issues are your fault, not the PCB or the components. In my experience, about 99.5% of the time, when a pedal isn’t working, it’s because I made an error. I’ve fixed a lot of problems by simply reflowing the solder joints and trying again.
- Have fun! The second I start getting frustrated, that’s when the mistakes pile up. It’s way better to step back and enjoy the process.
- Read the forum. There’s an incredible amount of helpful information here. If you can’t find an answer to your question, don’t hesitate to ask. Everyone’s super friendly—except Stickman. He’s trouble.
- Don’t take troubleshooting personally. If you do post on the Troubleshooting forum, don't take the questions and suggestions as a personal attack.
- Be purposeful. Especially with offboard wiring. Early on, I’d just attach wires in any way that I could get them in, but it ended up causing me more problems later on. Be mindful of how you route things—especially with things like ¼” jacks. I’ve wired them facing towards the enclosure a few times, just because that was easier to , which put stress on the wires and caused issues when putting everything in the enclosure.
- Don’t guess. It’s tempting, but if you’re unsure about something, check the forum or Google it. I’ve learned the hard way that when I guess, I’m almost always wrong.
- Take your time. I know I’ve said this before, but it’s worth repeating.
And once again, above all—have fun.
Big thanks to everyone on this forum for making this hobby so much fun and for creating such a supportive community.
