DIY Your Genuine Overdrive Guitar Effect Pedal All Kits US2

Great pedal kit. Instructions are mostly complete. (See below for supplementary instruction) They are accurate contrary to what you might hear on other reviews. This is no beginners project. The component density is pretty high. You must have a very good fine tip solder iron and DMM to be successful. Also helps to have a magnifying glass. I was sent a complete kit with very high quality components (except the knobs). All the resistors were labeled as to their value. It took me about 4 hours in 3 different sittings to complete because I took my time.The same company seems to sell a similar pedal on eBay for around $73. The Red Horsie. May be worth the $30 for them to build it for you!Pros:-Great sound- High quality components.- Looks greatCons:- Could be a difficult build depending on your skill level- Battery power is switched on output jack, not input jack like all other pedals on planet- No internal battery mount to keep the battery from rattling around insideI can't get over how good this pedal sounds. It is a very transparent overdrive with a wide range of drive level. From almost none to very crunchy. (Not a distortion pedal). Just makes the amp sound better. Does not seem to impart any flavor or coloration on it's own.Supplementary instruction: Make sure to install components on the same side as the silk screen. Pots and LED on one side, all others on the other. See pic.

I like this kit. For some context, I was building kits from Radio Shack and Heathkit fifty years ago when I was 8 or 9 years old. I'm also a ham radio operator who builds and repairs a lot of gear. This is definitely not a kit for the novice, but overall I was impressed. The errors mentioned earlier about the diode needing a jumper and an issue with one of the caps seems to have been resolved. I tested parts of it with an ohmmeter to trace out those parts of the schematic and things were as they should be. Most components were within 5% tolerance (I measured every resistor and all of the non-electrolytic capacitors) with the exception of a few capacitors that were just a bit more. The only real error seems to be that the board really does seem to say 320P, not 820P for one of the capacitors. (I'm pretty sure it isn't just the edge of the 8 being drilled off for the hole.)The only think I can really add is to show how I believe the holes for stress relief on the 9 volt battery cable are supposed to go. (See the picture...) The other hint I'll offer is that the LED slides in and out of the threaded holder. It is much easier to get the leads through the circuit board before you set it in place and then use a pair of needle nose pliers on the leads to push it gently into the panel mount. (I couldn't get the legs in the holes doing it the other way. I tried the method I just described as a last ditch effort before I used some flexible wires to wire up the LED to the board.)I'm fairly new to the world of guitars and will say that this pedal's effects seem fairly subtle with my inexperienced use. It was an impulse buy (I normally use a modeling amp) so I didn't do a lot of research. But from what I have seen, it seems to behave just like the real thing. And it looks nice setting by my Les Paul Muse.Without the web page referenced by others, it would have been a lot tougher build. The instructions are now in color and on a large poster which helps. I built it over about two hours a day for two days. (And, like I mentioned, I tested the values of most components.) There are little things that tell me whoever put this kit together really wants it to be reasonably to build. One is the fact that the hookup wire comes pre-cut and pre-tinned. Someone just wanting to do things as cheap as possible would have just included a roll of wire for you to cut to length. (Heck, even Heathkit did that...) All of the resistors were marked but the decimal place on ones like 1.5K were hard to make out and so were the color codes. Measuring the resistors was the only way my old eyes were going to get things right. (And I do have a lighted magnifying glass I was using.)It worked when I powered it up the first time. It took more time and patience than a lot of other kits, but it is something pretty cool. I'm not sure how much use it will get, but I'm happy to add it to my growing collection of guitars and guitar paraphernalia!

Poor instructions. Poor design with regard to mounting. Pots didn't need filing and by doing so mine aren't level. Second while the buffered broad sworks and the pedal "works" it's not at all working right. Lower gain to min and there's still gain and with max volume there is almost no volume boost. The only boost occurs when I'm raising up the gain quite a bit with the volume. I basically have to keep output dimed for any noise at all. The treble control is horrible. It only seems to cut treble if it's not dimed.I've double checked the placement of components and been very careful with placement of op amps. I used alligator clips to bear shield the germanium transistors. The gain itself does sound good but this is more like a bad distortion pedal than an overdrive. I love the enclosure but the screw on dials are crap. The yellow led is insanely bright and very difficult to install properly. It's really odd that there are no capacitors on entry from input. Overall really not a fan of design soldering pots to board. And contrary to the instructions you'll likely break the led or have no way to get it back in if you take it out. Forget about the powerThere should be some instructions of some tests to verify pieces of circuit are wiredI may yet recycle the case to recase my soul food. The enclosure is quite well done.