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BYOC thoughts?


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Who here has experience with byoc pedals?  I’ve seen a couple of posts here and there about having one but what is the general consensus on the materials, ease of assembly, quality of tone, reliability and longevity?

I’ve never gotten into the insides of a pedal or amp but I have rewired many a guitar in my day. 

Worthwhile for the fun of it to get a decent sounding pedal or would you rather pay a couple extra bucks for something plug and play right away...?

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32 minutes ago, gtrdaddy said:

Well, it depends on the goals, and the cost. Some of the clone kits are fairly costly and once you put your time and the money into them, resale sucks. If you're making something you're keeping, and are just bored, go for it. However, some pedals can be had used, for a tad more than a clone kit. So if money is the objective, buy used, you're better off, and will have in most cases, the ability to recoup your money on resale.

excellent points, thank you

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I recently sold a BYOC kit put together by a board member.

I also recently sold a vintage pedal hand-wired by the guy who designed it.

Both pedals appeared to built to a high standard.

Ima gonna try their classic delay soon. I'll let you know.

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I've built quite a few BYOC kits over the years.  The components have always been of really high quality and the sounds have always been there.  It is a lot of fun to go through the circuit and learn about the different effects that way.  The physical layout and design seem to be better these days, plus you can get a pre-finished enclosure now so it may look nicer if you aren't a painter.  If you are looking to save money, you probably won't (by much anyway), but you can learn a lot and feel good about doing something yourself.

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I can't speak to BYOC specifically, but I've built a few pedals. The exercise will give you a better understanding of the way electronics affect guitar tone and as far as I'm concerned that's worth it even if you don't wind up liking the finished product. Most of my projects haven't been kits. I'll either buy a pcb or even some strip-board and go to work. I enjoy coming up with my own tweaks on familiar circuits... like the phase pedal I stuffed in a crybaby housing with the pedal controlling the speed.

Actually, buying a pawn-shop crybaby for the housing led to my single favorite project. I noticed that the pawn shop pedal sounded just a hair better than the other one I had owned for years. The only real difference was the inductor, and curiosity about that sort of led me down the rabbit hole, mostly guided by this site: http://stinkfoot.se/archives/549  When I started, both of them were a little too civilized but one sounded closer to what I wanted. I changed out a bunch of the resistors he mentions for trim pots and tweaked things until I was happy. Sure, I could have just bought a "boutiqe" wah, but this one is all me and sounds exactly like I want it to sound... not drastically dirty, just no longer polite.

I've been tempted to start a side business, but you can't throw a stick anymore without hitting a pedal builder. Pretty sure I saw a guy under an overpass the other day with a soldering iron...

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I like building stuff... amps pedals guitars... you always have an original!! Maybe a original POS but still original... I think my failures outnumber my successes tho...

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