Reddit reviews Electronic Projects for Musicians
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Many effects builders have cited Electronic Projects for Musicians as the book that got them startedThis book lays out the basics of effects building, detailing the tools, parts and techniques neededThis book contains 27 different projects including fuzz pedals, ring modulator, phase shifter and compressor, complete with diagrams, illustrations and simple step by step instructionsfor those wanting to build their own effects, this is your starting point.220 pages, softbound, with audio CD demonstrating effects
Lurk around on craigslist and try to score a good deal on an EHX Big Muff or a BOSS DS-1. There are lots of different mods one can do on these pedals of varying difficulty. I suggest as a first project modding the Big Muff with a tone stack bypass switch. Once you have a couple mods of these pedals under your belt, it's time to start building your own. I think Build Your Own Clone is a good place to start, but peoples' opinions on that vary. If you really want to learn a lot, pick up a copy of Electronic Projects for Musicians. More important than anything else is to have fun! You will fuck up and you will get frustrated. It's like brewing beer, you just have to relax and take it as it comes.
That looks like it's from the Anderton book Electronics Projects for Musicians
The 4739 opamp and CLM6000 optocouplers are unobtainium nowadays, but geofex has some tips for replacing them.
> Hmm... I'm not really a big fan of using laptops for music (I'm old-fashioned).
In the case of using a MIDI/USB keyboard with the laptop, it would merely act as the sound generator. The interface could still be wholly
> I was thinking of taking a minor in physics when I go to college, which would help prepare me to make my own, but I'm not sure about that as of yet.
I'm not sure a background in physics would really give you the necessary skills to make your own gear, or design your own circuits. What you'll need to do is to learn how to solder (warning: PDF), and then maybe read the All New Electronics Self-Teaching Guide followed by Electronic Projects for Musicians. Somewhere inbetween all that it wouldn't hurt to work on a DIY audio project, such as one of the complete projects from Elby Designs, Oakley Sound Systems or one of the other DIY music companies.
http://www.amazon.com/Electronic-Projects-Musicians-Craig-Anderton/dp/0825695023
BYOC and General Guitar Gadgets kits are a great start to learn how to solder and assemble. Electronic Projects for Musicians is a good book and Jack Orman's website, muzique is an incredible resource. Electrosmash is also awesome in their analysis of various famous circuits. I still reference that site every once in a while.
I don't know of bass-specific books, but bass pedals are just guitar pedals tweaked in some cases to preserve or work with lower frequencies. A few choices:
There are also quite a few online resources. Many of these might be deeper into the weeds than you want, as they will have schematics, lists of components, and building instructions. Google will be your friend in this area. There's a PDF on this page that might be a good intro to this sort of thing, as it designed for a first-time builder.
Brian Wampler wrote a couple books back in the day
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ultimate-bench-warrior-lee-jackson/1110976252
https://www.biblio.com/book/how-modify-guitar-pedals-complete-how/d/590378032
https://www.musiciansfriend.com/books-sheet-music-media/hal-leonard-guitar-effects-pedals-the-practical-handbook-book-cd
https://www.amazon.com/Electronic-Projects-Musicians-Craig-Anderton/dp/0825695023
Here is a video manual for your new pedal
https://youtu.be/T1lpDsAZKgU
Electronic Projects for Musicians by Craig Anderton is great if you want to learn some pedal basics!
https://www.amazon.com/Electronic-Projects-Musicians-Craig-Anderton/dp/0825695023
He has some other books that are also pretty awesome for getting your feet wet.
Craig Anderton's Electronic Projects for Musicians! I actually bought this book in 2010 and it completely overwhelmed me. Then I watched an interview with Jeorge Tripps (I think in the FUZZ documentary) where he mentions this book specifically as how he got started. I recently dusted it off and now I totally understand everything going on in there (I think!!!)
If you put in the time and effort you can pick it up fairly well. If you really want to get into design and modding and stuff I'd say find a few fairly simple circuits and socket a bunch of the components so you can see how changing various parts impacts the sound. This is supposed to be an interesting book from Brian Wampler. Most of the negative reviews basically bash it for basically taking informations and schematics you can find online and putting them into a book, but the analysis and organization helps you work through some of this stuff. This is another good one too from Craig Anderton. The Anderton tube sound fuzz is the basis for one of my got to distortions.
> Have I received bad information?
Yes, very bad information.
> (1) is this passing along the power into my own effects chain?
Unfortunately...yes. And that's not good because...
> (2) if so, would that power be too much and risk damage?
Absolutely yes. The amp, the effects, and just about everything "down river" may be ruined.
If you really are interested in learning more about DIY FX and stuff, this was a book I got decades ago and still own a worn, dog-eared copy...I have never built any of the projects (many use obsolete parts and I'm too lazy to cross-reference them when there are so many great projects available from modern sites), but it's a good read for how many things like this work. BTW, if you google the book title, you might find a PDF of it on a university website. It's probably also available through a library.
I started with this book back in the late 80's:
Electronic Projects for Musicians
It was written sometime earlier than that, so it may be difficult to find the exact same parts (there should be some modern direct replacements), but it taught me quite a bit. I don't remember it being completely dumbed down, but I was able to use it in high school, while taking physics. It can't be that bad.
I don't know if it still comes with it, but mine even came with a flexible record thing you tore out that gave you a sample of what each pedal should sound like. Pretty high tech for 1989.
http://www.amazon.com/Electronic-Projects-Musicians-Craig-Anderton/dp/0825695023
ElectroSmash has some very good breakdown of famous pedals, their circuits and how each part of the circuit shapes the wave. Here is Big Muff for example.
Apart from that, I can't 100% guarantee it will answer your questions, but I've recently stumbled upon a book called Electronic Projects for Musicians by Craig Anderton. I've skimmed over it and it seems to explain everything quite nicely.
Last thing - you can try and get a degree in Electronic Engineering :D