I have never built my own pedal, but I hear that if you want to do that sort of thing (which I definitely would at some point soon), BYOC is the place to go for a kit. At Build Your Own Clone, you can order whatever kind of pedal you’d like, get all the parts shipped right to your door, along with instructions, and go to town. Since they’re relatively inexpensive as well, you won’t feel too terrible if you absolutely destroy one pedal kit and have to buy another, as it’s not going to put you into the poor house. I ran across this Russian Big Muff clone that someone had built, and it was priced to sell, so I scooped it up to see what it was all about.
Now, this is an older version (built in 2011) of the Large Beaver that they currently are selling at BYOC, but I kinda like this 3-knob version’s looks and layout better than the new one. Eh, it’s all personal preferences, right? What counts is how it sounds, and this thing is not bad for being pretty cheap and built by someone who might not know the first thing about pedal insides. Volume, Tone and Sustain make up the whole control section here, each knob doing precisely what it says it does. This little green monster has got some oomph, though, let me tell you – loud, sustain-y, fuzz and awesome, everything you’d expect from a good Muff pedal, but at a fraction of the cost of an original.
It’s a little beat up, and maybe not filled with the best components on the market, but it gets the job done in a pinch. I, personally, think that every guitar played who uses pedals should have to build at least one in their lifetime, just so they can understand what goes into making a simple clone pedal, much less the ridiculously complex and high-end pedals that are on the market today (I think everyone should have to work in a restaurant for 6 months when they’re a teenager, too, so they understand how it works and why you should tip over 20%, but that’s another story). Then maybe folks would stop bitching about how high the prices of these incredible pedals are, because they would actually know how much time and effort goes into them. I know I’m going to at least give it a go from BYOC in the near future…you should, too.
Submitted by Mike B, Website
Demo Rock pedalboard by West Coast Pedalboard
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