Greetings, pedal stomp- ers, and welcome back to
Stomp School. It occurs to me
that I might have lost a few of
you in last month’s discussion
of technologies such as surface-mounted devices (SMDs). I
initially considered addressing
this by following up with a
lengthy dissertation on the history of surface-mount technology. Then I thought, “Wait a
minute—I’m not an engineer,
I’m a guitar player!” My interest
in electronics and technology is
mainly focused on how it relates
to music gear, and I imagine the
same is true for most of you.
Obviously, there are a number
of bona fide engineers among
us, but most of us are not electronics wizards—and some of
us are downright technophobic.
A subset of guitar-playing
gear enthusiasts have a heavy
interest in DIY stompboxes,
and there’s plenty of info on the
web that caters to them. But,
based on my experience, along
with feedback I’ve received on
the column, most players aren’t
inclined to pursue that degree
of dedication and expertise in
music electronics. Basically, we
want as much information as
will get us by. The question is,
“What will get us by—and how
and where do we find it?”
Fortunately, you don’t need an
engineering degree to get a better
understanding and appreciation
of what makes your pedals tick.
In fact, you can start right now
by doing this: Grab the pedal
closest to you, open it up, and
take a look inside (you’ll prob-
ably have to get a Phillips-head
screwdriver first). Why would
you want to do this? Because it’s
one of the best ways to become
a more informed buyer. Even
if you know nothing about
electronics, it’s a habit that can
eventually become very instruc-
tive. It can also help demystify a
lot of what would otherwise be a
Left: The interior of my ’ 79 Ibanez TS-808 Tube
Screamer shows most of the component types found
in traditional stompboxes: resistors (green striped
things standing on end), electrolytic capacitors (tall
light- and dark-blue cylinders), film capacitors (green
and reddish-brown Chiclets-like parts), and transistors
(which look like little black beans).
This vintage Marshall Supa Fuzz features old-school
technology in the form of three Mullard OC75 germanium transistors.
Pedals that require more digital-processing power, like
this Electro-Harmonix POG2, usually feature surface-mounted IC chips.
bunch of marketing spiel. Think
of it as reading the ingredients
on a label in the grocery store
instead of relying on a TV commercial for the product info.
The first thing I do when I get
a pedal is pop it open and look
inside. I think I’ve always done
it. Curiosity gets the better of me
and I can’t help it. It took a very
long time, however, before I had
the foggiest clue what I was looking at. I was at least able to discern such things as build quality
and the number of little doohickeys on the circuit board, and that
was usually well worth the five
minutes it took to take a peek.
If you’ve never done it before
and the idea makes you a little
skittish, don’t worry. Unless
you’re unusually clumsy or careless, you won’t hurt anything.
And if it’s a regular 9-volt-bat-
tery-powered pedal, then there’s
nothing in there that will hurt
you. (Note: AC-powered gear is
another story, and guitar amps
often carry voltages that could
potentially be lethal. Let’s just
stick with pedals for now.)
The next best thing to look-
ing inside a stompbox is to
look at pictures of what we
lovingly refer to as “pedal guts.”
They say a picture is worth a
thousand words, so rather than
using a thousand words to
describe what I mean, let’s look
at the pictures above instead.
TOM HUGHES (aka
Analog Tom) is owner
and proprietor of
For Musicians Only
( formusiciansonly.com)
and author of Analog
Man’s Guide to Vintage
Effects. If you have questions or comments for Tom, feel free to email him at
stompschool@formusiciansonly.com.
