Fast forward to today. Modifying guitars and building small audio electronics has become a hobby of mine. I’m constantly searching for a unique, authentic sound crafted by my own hands. Naturally I was curious about building my own guitar processing pedals, that’s when I learned about General Guitar Gadgets pedal kits.

I ordered the Ibanez™ Tube Screamer™ Replica. The price was great and shipping was fast. The online instructions were clear and detailed, anyone with some soldering skills and knowledge of basic electronics could work their way through them.

These kits take the hardest, most discouraging aspect out of building projects; sourcing parts. Finding all the elements to these circuit designs can involve multiple vendors and alternate parts, for beginners this can be a daunting task. Another big advantage is the etched circuit board, this piece alone is a whole other ball game.

Having a well lit, clean workspace will keep you from misplacing any of the small parts. I definetly recommend a small set of tools before you decide to get started. At minimum you should have:

• A 25Watt or variable heat soldering iron.
• Damp Sponge
• Solder Pump or Solder Braid
• Diagonal Cut Pliers
• A Third Hand (link)

Since getting hooked on these pedal kits I’ve also built a Marshall Blues Breaker Replica, a Dan Armstrong “Orange Squeezer” compressor and an Atari Punk Console from Synthrotek. Here are some great sites for getting started building your own guitar pedals.

• General Guitar Gadgets
• Build Your Own Clone
• MadBean Pedals
• DIY Stompboxes
• DIY Guitarist

Features: This 22 watt (8ohms) 2 channel (normal & vibrato) amplifier features a pair of 6V6 Groove Tube output tubes, one 5AR4 rectifier tube, four 12AX7 preamp tubes, two 12AT7 tubes, one 12” 8-ohm Jensen® C-12K speaker, tube-driven Fender reverb, tube vibrato, and a two-button footswitch for reverb and vibrato on-off.

Sound: This is the tone that legends are made of. I’ve played my Fender Telecaster, Ibanez S470 (with a Dimarzio Tone Zone in the bridge position), and Epiphone Les Paul (with original Gibson P90′s) through this amp. Each guitar added it’s own color to the clean, warm, exquisite tones that the Fender Deluxe Reverb delivers.

Don’t let the 22 watts and 40lb weight deceive you, this amp is loud and clear. Comfortable playing volume in the basement of my house is around 3, anything above that and my wife might have something to say about it. Once you start cranking this amp past 6 the sound begins to naturally break up giving you that warm, bluesy overdrive.

For pedal enthusiasts the Fender Deluxe Reverb is a fantastic canvas to build upon. Although hotly debated, this amp takes pedal input very well. The clear, balanced tone provides a perfect clean channel to let your effects units shine. My only concern is the added brightness to the vibrato channel could force some adjustments to your pedal settings.

For me, it’s the chiming mid tones dripping in tube driven reverb that make this amp perfect. It’s classy with a bit of a bite. In the future I plan on modifying the Fender Deluxe Reverb with a tone switch for the vibrato channel and possibly upgrade the speaker to a Weber.

Warm Up (Download this as a .pfd)

Continuing with the above patter, but in thirds using only your first finger, ring finger and pinky. Speed is not the goal of these exercises. Getting a consistent tempo and a clean sound is what you are looking for.

Warm Up 2 (Download this as a .pfd)

To keep my brain sharp and my development chops up to par I like to throw around the old Photoshop layers and plunk down a little code for a good old fashioned website template.

Feel free to download the package here. Not for commercial distribution. Educational purposes only.