It's coming up to Christmas, and what to buy for your daughters boyfriend? Hmm, how about making him a pedal for his guitar. After much deliberation I decided on Tim Escobedo's Duende (MOSFET version) and drew up a super-compact perfboard layout... I went straight into soldering without breadboarding, as the circuit is pretty simple, and luckily it worked straight away. Here's a picture after adding all the components to the board. And here's a shot of the completed unit In use, I found that I needed the volume control at about 1 o'clock before I could hear any difference, and I was expecting to hear something a bit earlier on the dial, but once above 1 o-clock, there is plenty of volume to be had. Switching the device on does brighten the signal somewhat even at unity gain, and the device is very quiet in operation, No hiss, hum or buzz. I wish I'd had a girlfriend whose dad made pedals when I was his age!
A blog about making things related to stringed instruments