# First BYOC builds!



## zurn (Oct 21, 2009)

Well I finally finished my two pedals and I have to say, I will definitely build more! I bought a soldering station prior to receiving my kits since I only had an el cheapo iron, I got the Weller WES51 and it did a great job.

Here's a pic of my 1st build, it's the 250+ kit build to the DOD 250 specs not the Distortion+.










Here's a pic of my second build, it's the E.S.V Fuzz (silicone). By then I had been looking at other peoples builds and lurking through the BYOC forums for tips. You might notice it's a bit neater.










After learning a lot from the second build I decided to clean up the wiring on my first build, here it is after a face lift. One thing that makes a big difference, is having the footswitch wires soldered from the bottom  One of the diodes on the top right is not seated right so I might fix that later.











Both pedals sound great, the DOD 250 reminds me somewhat of a Timmy, it's has less top end with no EQ but it's a nice round/warm/chewy overdrive. The Fuzz is also great, although it can be quite picky with pedals in front of it, I usually put it 1st in the chain. It cleans up pretty good when you lower your guitars volume, the bias POT is quite sensitive, I found it hard to get it in the sweet spot, I read that you can change it for another one that would be less sensitive, but i'll leave it like that for now. One thing that is a little annoying is that it seems to bring out any noise you have in your electrical outlet, for instance if the dryer is running while I'm playing I can hear electrical noise when the pedal is engaged. I tried running it with a battery and it's the same thing. Maybe it's just something I did wrong, I don't know, but otherwise it sounds awesome. Anyway I urge anyone who has thought about trying to build one of these, it's a blast and what a great feeling when you power it up for the first time (when it works) lol. I think i'll build a couple more and then try building a amp from Trinity maybe as a Xmas gift, good times ahead 

Cheers.


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## dodgechargerfan (Mar 22, 2006)

Nice work!

They are fun to build, aren't they?


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Great work and great pics! 

Congrats !! 

I'm sure that you would do a fine job on a Trinity amp.

Cheers

Dave


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

Excellent job on those, very addictive


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

Nice! Congrats on the venture into pedal building.
Good pics, nice work.

I have a fuzz kit that I still haven't got around to doing yet.

Where did you get your Weller?


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## zurn (Oct 21, 2009)

greco said:


> Great work and great pics!
> 
> Congrats !!
> 
> ...


Thanks, would you believe I took those pics with my phone? I hope your right about building an amp, the only thing I'm nervous about is the dangerous electricity 



GuitarsCanada said:


> Excellent job on those, very addictive


Yeah, I feel new gas coming 



sulphur said:


> Nice! Congrats on the venture into pedal building.
> Good pics, nice work.
> 
> I have a fuzz kit that I still haven't got around to doing yet.
> ...


I got it from Active Tech when it was on sale for 99$ 

http://www.active123.com/WES51-Analog-Soldering-Station-Prodview.html



dodgechargerfan said:


> Nice work!
> 
> They are fun to build, aren't they?


Indeed, it's kinda like building a model car that you can actually drive


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## ElectricMojo (May 19, 2011)

Congrats! Looks cool.


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## Jeff B. (Feb 20, 2010)

Great job and welcome to a very addicting hobby.
Good call on the soldering station. I use the exact same one and it's a champ.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Nice neat work. Good on ya!

Both the Distortion+ and the DOD250 use the ground leg on the op-amp to set the gain. As the total resistance of the gain pot and 4k7 resistor gets smaller, the gain goes up. At the same time, however, so does the low-frequency rolloff. At maximum gain, the 4k7/.047uf combination yields a low-end rolloff around 720hz. My own pet theory is that both MXR and DOD did that originally to combat the increase in audible hum when cranking the gain on single-coil pickups in an era before the various hum-reduced SCs we presently have on the market.

If you would like to retain full bandwidth at higher gains, replace that .047uf cap with a .1uf or .22uf unit. That will restore bass, and will also produce a little more audible volume at highest gains, as well as more distortion. Remember, most of your signal lives in the basement. So, increasing the bass content also incrteases overall signal amplitude, and places the signal above the clipping threshold more often.


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## zurn (Oct 21, 2009)

Jeff B. said:


> Great job and welcome to a very addicting hobby.
> Good call on the soldering station. I use the exact same one and it's a champ.


Indeed, do you usally just crank to heat to max or does it depend on the solder size?



mhammer said:


> Nice neat work. Good on ya!
> 
> Both the Distortion+ and the DOD250 use the ground leg on the op-amp to set the gain. As the total resistance of the gain pot and 4k7 resistor gets smaller, the gain goes up. At the same time, however, so does the low-frequency rolloff. At maximum gain, the 4k7/.047uf combination yields a low-end rolloff around 720hz. My own pet theory is that both MXR and DOD did that originally to combat the increase in audible hum when cranking the gain on single-coil pickups in an era before the various hum-reduced SCs we presently have on the market.
> 
> If you would like to retain full bandwidth at higher gains, replace that .047uf cap with a .1uf or .22uf unit. That will restore bass, and will also produce a little more audible volume at highest gains, as well as more distortion. Remember, most of your signal lives in the basement. So, increasing the bass content also incrteases overall signal amplitude, and places the signal above the clipping threshold more often.


Thanks mhammer, I might experiment with the extra parts that came with the kit, cause they supply you with the parts to build the DOD250 or the Dist+ but for now i'm quite happy with it. I might try and paint the enclosures before I do anything else, thats another challenge in itself.


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## allthumbs56 (Jul 24, 2006)

zurn said:


> I might try and paint the enclosures before I do anything else, thats another challenge in itself.


That in itself can be a lot of fun both experimenting with colours, paint techniques, and decal printing/lettering........... and you get to come up with funky names too!


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## dodgechargerfan (Mar 22, 2006)

zurn said:


> I might try and paint the enclosures before I do anything else, thats another challenge in itself.


It takes me a couple of hours to build a pedal.
It takes me months to come up with a theme for the enclosure and execute it to my liking.
Don't let that discourage you though. I'm crazy... Crazy with a theme.

A simple coat of paint can make for an elegant finished pedal.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

1) Light coats. They cure completely in less time and resist chipping better. They also produce less dripping down to the edges of the chassis.

2) Get a toaster oven at a yard sale or Goodwill. Temperature on 150F-175F or so. Not too high or the paint can blister.

3) Paint and clear-coat have to be compatible. Some clear-coats can cause the paint to blister up.

4) Engine paint holds up VERY nicely. Especially under the heat used for faster drying. Limited range of colours, but enough to be happy with.

5) Make sure the chassis is elevated from the inside, with a block of wood or something, so that the paint goes over all the chassis and the chassis is not sticking to a sheet of newspaper or something underneath.

6) Once I spray, I'll use a screwdriver or similar to transfer the sprayed box to the toaster over rack, by putting the screwdriver through a pre-drilled hole.


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

Old cutoff ends of 2x4's, maybe 4-5" long, make great stands for painting pedal boxes - as long as the ends of the 2x4 piece are cut reasonably square.


I use an old lamp for drying paint if I want to hurry things along a bit, never did come across a toaster oven to use.


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## Jeff B. (Feb 20, 2010)

zurn said:


> Indeed, do you usally just crank to heat to max or does it depend on the solder size?


 I've never had it cranked to the max.
I use .032" solder. Usually 63/37 when I can get it or 60/40 solder somewhere between 600 and 700 degrees works well for me for amps and pedals with the way I solder. 
YMMV though. Find a setting that works best for you. More heat = increased risk of heat damage and lifted pads and traces.
The Weller tips will last a very, very long time.

+1 on a toaster over at the temp range Mark mentioned. I keep mine at 175. Rustoleum Painters Touch is a good paint with a wide selection of colours. 
Rustoleum Painter's Touch paint and Krylon clear gloss or triple glaze go very well together.


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

I also have the exact same solder station. For a couple of years, I used it *just past noon*, about 62 ish on the heat dial. It worked well, but I cooked a couple of guitar pots doing rewiring, because that wasn't *quite* hot enough and I held the iron on the back of the pot too long, cooking the guts. So, I recently took it up a bit, to about 67 (if yours is marked like mine in increments of 5, so just past 65) and that works well for both pedal building and for doing guitar rewiring.

Also, get ye one of these http://www.active123.com/900242-Solder-Tip-Cleaner-Prodview.html or similar for cleaning the iron tip and use it frequently, I use it just after I do every joint.


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