PCB Sources and Success Rate?

Fingolfen

Fingolfen

Well-known member
If this topic strays into verboten territory, please feel free to close delete...

So I've been building a lot of pedals recently, and I've noticed that when I have an issue it tends to be with certain PCB manufacturers over others.

PedalPCB - I'm up to around 10 builds, but absolutely zero issues
AionFX - Only two boards (of many) that I still can't get to work right - both fuzzes, so it could be a transistor issue. Everything else I've been able to get to work.
Effects Layouts - Hand etched or otherwise 100% success rate (again, if it doesn't work the first time I have always been able to find where I fouled up).
Tone Geek - No issues - 100% success rate
Madbean - not enough experience yet - still working on my first couple of builds
GuitarPCB - not enough builds yet - so far so good though
PCB Guitar Mania - Hooo boy... Owner's a nice guy, but some of them work like an absolute charm, others not so much. Honestly of the pedals I've built that haven't worked - or don't work as expected - even after debug almost all of them have PCB Mania boards

So, am I just having bad luck with the PCB Mania boards, or do other people have similar experiences?
 
I don't have personal experience with PCB Mania boards, but I've heard plenty of stories. I see a disproportionately large number of troubleshooting threads for PCB Mania boards on here and other forums, and heard rumors that some boards go out the door without being verified. Running a successful PCB business is tricky thing to do, I won't pretend I could do it, but I have not been impressed by what I hear about them.

I've had good luck with Tonepad and Madbean, and we all know PedalPCB is as solid as they come. I've had success with TH Customs boards as well, but I wasn't crazy about their layouts. I'm a fan of "form follows function," make it work first then worry about everything else, but they seem to focus on making it work and ignoring things like ease of assembly. Just my personal experience and opinion.
 
Madbean, guitarpcb. Aion,thomash, BYOC, tinepad, effects layouts, pedalpcb, Frederik, fuzzdogg, grind customs, deadastronaught. That’s all I can think of. All have worked, anything that didn’t was my fault. Mine work when I lay them out correctly. I’ve thrown out more than I haven’t, but I’m getting better, the last several have worked well.
 
I've used PedalPCB, GuitarPCB, Tayda, General Guitar Gadgets, and Aion. (I have a couple of Madbeans but haven't built them yet).

Never had an issue with any PCBs so far.

The only build that I couldn't get working was on a veroboard.
 
To date I have successfully built boards from AMZ, GGG, GuitarPCB, Madbean, Carcharias fx, PPCB, Deadend fx, Lectric fx, Tayda, Nucleonfx, and guitarpcbmania. I have a board from Electric Druid in process and seems to be an easy enough build, nice board/layout. The ONLY one that remains in perpetual troubleshooting is the Cosmos delay from Guitarpcbmania. That said I have also done their mutron v and maestro phaser (only because they F’d up my order and sent me the wrong board) without issue.
 
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My experience lines up with previous comments mostly but I will also say I love Moonn Electronics and have never had an issue with their boards. Great for weird stuff and PCBs of Tim Escobedo circuits.

In terms of overall quality and layout design (ie, easy and fast to assemble) Effects Layouts is the only that comes close to PedalPCB, in my opinion. For me - especially learning to build and having made *tons* of PedalPCB boards - this is a huge factor that really affects build speed and helps lower my odds of misplacing a component.

If I can’t find something here or there I fabricate it myself.
 
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Everything from PedalPCB works. I've had more problems with Aion but that's more likely me than Aion, and it all worked eventually. One PCB from Parasit Studio and that works too. And a simple boost from Tayda, which also works.
 
fig said:
I’ve never tried a “Mania” pcb mainly due to the consistent negative feedback I’ve read.


The flanger? I’ve got that one in the bullpen.
Click to expand...
Nah, nothing so complicated as all that, this is the Filter fx one. It came up in discussion around LP filters and someone (either @Feral Feline or @Mentaltossflycoon) mentioned they were building it with the expression pedal option as a stand in for a Moog or Iron Ether Xerograph.
 
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