PedalPCB Library

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Spiff4565

Active member
I have been enjoying the builds and will continue to build more.

But I wonder if any thought or efforts have been put into establishing a library of builds where an established member could 'check out' a pedal to see how it sounds and in turn would want to build.

Obviously there would be logistics and what not, but it would be nice.

My thoughts would be an established member with a number of verified builds could check out a pedal to demo or compare against their build.

The library version would, IMO, need to be sealed up to prevent people from opening and messing with the library build.

And the patron would have to pay shipping both ways and have a reasonable length of time to check it out, say seven to ten days. I think most people would know very quickly if the pedal was what they wanted to build.

And perhaps a few or deposit to cover the cost of the pedal should the user disappear.

Anyway, shoot down the idea as I haven't thought it all the way through. I'm sure I'm missing some obvious issues.
 
This is a cool idea but I think the logistics here are a pretty big obstacle to overcome. Generally the more barriers you put up like shipping costs, nominal deposits, verification, etc. the less participation you get. It's not really a linear relationship either. Participation will drop off sharply with cost. Considering the library would require a lot of effort and cost to put together, you obviously want people using it.

I'd probably be looking at $15-$20 for one-way shipping. It would probably cost the same to just build whatever. It would be more effective, but way more complicated, to setup regional libraries (or have like "pedalpcb ambassadors" who can lend out builds for something like a discount on PCBs and essentially function like a regional library). This is what libraries do for inter-library loans. There's a global repository that says "this book is here" and you get a list of libraries. The copy that gets lended out is typically the closest geographically in the same country (to keep shipping costs reasonable).

I definitely wouldn't want to administer something like this. It would probably be a nightmare. I'm a librarian and dealing with physical loans is a huge pain. I can't imagine doing pedals. I doubt you'd have much theft. In my experience the people who use services like this are shockingly honest. But all the back end inventory work would be a headache.
 
I think the videos added to build reports are most helpful. Or, if you can’t find a video, ask for one. I’m sure the fine folks around here, I’m looking at you Dan, wouldn’t mind making a quick and dirty one. I look for them on youtube, myself.
 
Kind of a tangent, but have any of you seen the "TonePedia" embedded player? I've seen it on a few pedal manufacturer's sites before. Basically it's a demo of their pedal that allows you to choose between a couple of different guitars and a couple of different amps to hear what it sounds like. And some of them even let you fiddle with the pedal settings.

I have no idea what all goes into putting together those type of recordings (I think for TonePedia in particular they produce them in-house) but maybe a similar mechanism would be more practical than physically mailing the pedal(s) around. Again - don't really know how labor-intensive that would be but could be cool!

Random example here. Just below the product description - check how you can choose between Strat/LP, pickup position, pedal settings, and a Vox or Fender amp.
 
I think the most practical approach is probably the most obvious and boring to discuss.

Breadboarding. It's the way to go if you want to try something before building it. The money you would spend for this service could get you a nice little setup.

Let's say this actually happened. Folks are lending, testing out new tones on their own gear. How do you know that the pedal you build is going to sound just like the one you tried? Sure, it can be a stock build, and then you do a stock build too. But then who's to say that the components you sourced are going to behave exactly like the pedal you tried from the library?

Sure, I may splitting hairs here- it might not make a difference in a lot of cases. But if you breadboard it, you can be fairly confident in the nuances of the finished product.

I'm no breadboarding nerd either- I've only done a few "beginner level" circuits. But the first time I got one to work, I realized the potential to try out any circuit that I can get a schematic for. Plus it forced me to get a bit better at reading schematics.
 
cool idea. but it's a bit of stretch. and not everyone lives in US where next day deliveries appear to be normal

basically you have these options for investigating a circuit:
- buy one
- build one
- breadboard one
- check out a demo (go to build reports filter by 'demo' thread tag/label, and search for the circuit).

we all end up building circuits we don't like or care for. it just happens.
 
Yeah, the logistics is a deal breaker. And frankly, if I really enjoy the pedal, that is just icing on the cake.

There are a few pedals that are out of the rotation or never made it at all. But the journey and anticipation were the treat.

YouTube demos sound great but don't align with my gear or 'hands'. What sounds great in YouTube falls far short of what it does in my hands.
 
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