Stripboard layout for the NPN version of a Vox Tonebender guitar pedal.

Vox Tone Bender On Stripboard

June 28, 2024

Here’s the Vox Tone Bender, a great early fuzz pedal that’s sure to please. The build I’ve done here is the NPN version of the pedal, so it’s slightly different from the original, which used PNP transistors. The big difference here is that this NPN layout allows for negative ground, putting inline with the what’s […]





Stripboard layout for a ZVEX Super Hard On boost pedal

ZVEX Super Hard On On Stripboard

June 20, 2024

Time to build a ZVEX Super Hard On! The Super Hard On, or SHO, by ZVEX is a nice little boost pedal. It offers a fairly clean boost with only a little bit of clipping at higher gain levels. It’s also transparent, so all it’s doing is pushing your sound as far as it can, […]





Stripboard layout of a Purple Plexi by Lovepedal

Lovepedal Purple Plexi On Stripboard

June 12, 2024

Let’s build a Purple Plexi by Lovepedal! Lovepedal’s Purple Plexi is designed to sound like an old Marshall guitar amp from the 60’s, 70’s, with a little bit of 80’s thrown in there for good measure. The “Plexi” name comes from the nickname of a line of Marshall amps that used Plexiglas panels. There’s a […]





Strip board layout of the Harmonic Jerculator

Escobedo Harmonic Jerculator On Stripboard

May 28, 2024

The Escobedo Harmonic Jerculator is a wonderful little fuzz circuit that packs plenty of punch. This pedal is based on the classic fuzz pedal from Interfax called the Harmonic Percolator. The Harmonic Percolator isn’t made any more, and the geranium transistors used for it are hard to find these days, so the Harmonic Jerculator was […]





Guitar pedal tester.

How To Make A Guitar Pedal Tester And Audio Probe

May 9, 2024

The most frustrating, but also one of the most rewarding things, about making your own guitar pedals is that they rarely work the first time. You spend hours soldering everything, plug it in, and it doesn’t work. Then comes the troubleshooting, finding where your error is, and finally success! During this troubleshooting and fixing period, […]





Electrical breadboard with the components for an Ibanez Tube Screamer wired in.

Building And Modding A Tube Screamer On A Breadboard

February 24, 2024

The Ibanez Tube Screamer is, perhaps, the most sought after overdrive pedals out there. Although the Boss OD-1 was first created in 1977, predating Ibanez’s Tube Screamer, which was created in 1979, the Tube Screamer has surpassed Boss’ original overdrive. And for good reason.  The original Tube Screamer design, the TS808, has a somewhat mythical […]