STOMP
A Short History of DIY Effects
Greetings, fellow pedalphiles! This month
we’re going to discuss do-it-yourself effects
and their influence on the current stomp
scene. Pedals are more popular now than
ever before, but this wasn’t always the
case. There was a time when a stompbox
was considered by most guitarists to be a
novelty at best, or more likely, a crutch for
players lacking in skill. Today, of course,
we see amateur and pro alike using pedalboard setups that range from moderate
to elaborate. Very rarely these days do we
encounter the old “just plug it straight into
the amp” philosophy.
The current popularity of boutique effects
reflects a new attitude toward the stompbox, and today’s bustling boutique scene
has been enormously influenced by the DIY
effects movement that arose in the early
and mid-nineties. Of course, people have
been building and modifying their own
effects ever since there was such a thing.
Stompbox legends Roger Mayer and Pete
Cornish got their start basically doing their
own style of DIY via effects modifications.
Many of today’s old-school DIY’ers cite
Craig Anderton as the Grand Poobah of
the early DIY movement. Anderton wrote
prolifically on the subject of music electronics in the seventies and eighties, hosting a
monthly column for many years in Guitar
Player magazine, in addition to authoring
the classic DIY tome Electronic Projects
For Musicians. Another highly influential
book was Nicolas Boscorelli’s Stompbox
Cookbook, which is sadly no longer in print.
It seems there’s always been a cult following of isolated electronic hobbyists concocting pedal projects in their basement
or garage, but it wasn’t until the advent of
the World Wide Web that people from all
corners of the globe suddenly found there
were others who shared their interest in
music electronics. What followed was an
enormous sharing of information on the
early message boards and a free exchange
of ideas that had never before been possible. A little scene arose during this time
which has continued to gain momentum
ever since.
ANALOG MIKE & ANALOG TOM
neers whose hard work and generosity is
still being enjoyed by thousands today,
more than a decade later. Remember, this
was a time when schematics and information about effects were not freely available
on the internet. Somebody had to do the
footwork to make that information available. People like R.G. Keen, Jack Orman
and Mark Hammer launched and hosted
dedicated DIY effects websites with a plethora of information for aspiring hobbyists. By
the end of the nineties, Aron Nelson’s DIY
stompbox forum was in full swing and the
DIY movement was on.
What many people don’t realize is that
a good number of today’s popular boutique pedal makers cut their teeth in this
early DIY scene. Prior to this, there were
only a handful of boutique makers, such
as Fulltone, Prescription Electronics, Way
Huge and Z Vex, offering high-quality,
hand-built pedals; meanwhile Analog Mike
was single-handedly starting the effects
modification craze with his Tube Screamer
mods. The scene was sparse compared to
the way it is today.
Analog Mike recalls, “The original DIY web
forums were kept polite and considerate of
stepping on people’s toes. Legal precautions also did not condone reverse engineering of currently available boutique pedals. Now there are pirate websites best left
unnamed, hosted overseas with no owner
to be held accountable, where so-called
‘gurus’ will tell you that every pedal ever
made is a modified TS-808. Hopefully, they
will soon tire of removing epoxy goop from
circuits and actually do something constructive, like design their own effects.” Another
point of contention in the DIY community
has been the rise of so-called boutique
builders blatantly copying DIY designs from
the web and passing the products off as
their own creations. Unfortunately, many
players are still unaware of this phenomenon and there are more than a few builders receiving high praise who are little more
than glorified solder jockeys.
Be that as it may, most DIY enthusiasts are
in it for the sheer challenge and satisfaction of being able to build their own stomp
pedal, custom made to their exact specifi-
cations. With the information available on
the web today, anyone who cares to put
in the time and effort can learn the skills
it takes to build an entire personal pedal
arsenal from scratch – from circuit design
and where to buy components to how to
solder and create custom graphics. And
when you’re stuck troubleshooting your
creation, there’s always someone on the
forums willing to offer advice. Support is
available from the community for anyone
who wants it. Not only that, but getting
all the parts needed to build a project has
never been easier. Analog Mike remembers, “Before the internet, finding parts
was one of the toughest aspects of making
effects, and it took a lot of effort to locate
stomp switches and other effects-specific
parts. Now, Google and the DIY parts
Mecca of Small Bear Electronics can supply
everything needed in just a few clicks.”
If you’re interested in getting into DIY
effects, here are some good places to start:
RG Keen’s GEOfx -
www.geofex.com
Aron’s DIY Stompbox Forum -
www.diystompboxes.com
Jack Orman’s AMZFX -
www.muzique.com
Mark Hammer’s AMPAGE -
hammer.ampage.org
General Guitar Gadgets -
www.generalguitargadgets.com
Runoff Groove -
www.runoffgroove.com
Check back with us next month when we’ll
discuss effects modifications: concepts and
philosophy. Until then, keep on stompin’!
Tom Hughes
(a.k.a. Analog Tom) is the owner and proprietor of For
Musicians Only ( formusiciansonly.com) and author of
Analog Man’s Guide To Vintage Effects. For Musicians
Only is also the home of the FMO Gear Shop. Questions
or comments about this article can be sent to: stomp-
school@formusiciansonly.com.
Analog Man
( analogman.com) is one of the largest boutique effects
manufacturers and retailers in the business, established
by “Analog” Mike Piera in 1993. Mike can be reached at
AnalogMike@aol.com
