New DIY FX book looks good, is crazy expensive

Harmony Central report on a new book from the Indy Guitarist site: "How to Build Your own Effect Pedals...a step by step guide". Looks good (you can see a few spreads here) and it's certainly from a good source, but $49 for a 92 page book? Product page.


Comments:
Years ago I bought a training manual (100pgs)from a now defunct company (DEC - VMS). It cost £250. When I queried the price I was told it was the "technical content" - so I suppose $49 doesn't seem that bad considering the work that's gone into it.
 
i wonder how much of this information would be available on the web, or even at a library (for the basic electronics info.) it would be nice to have an actual book, but with effect DIY sites so easy to find.. seems like alot of cash for what you get is all.
 
yeah reeced, modifying existing pedals is a whole other animal.
 
Pretty shitty looking book if you ask me. All the pedals are just re-iterations of a distortion box. The only difference is each one has a different level of gain :P
 
You can definitely find free information on the web.. I started researching in April this year and in 7 months I've built 4 awesome distortion boxes, all different, and tweaked how I like them. I even designed my own custom circuit board with free software and etched it to use in one of the boxes. Just google for diystompboxes and read to your heart's content. keep in mind it takes $money$, $time$, and patience. If you don't have those, then buy something already finished.
 
I wonder how it compares to the out of print, Stombox Cookbook? BTW: Reed Ghazala's new circuit bending book is pretty cool for under $20:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0764588877
 
There is also "Electronic Projects for Musicians" by Craig Anderton - good and much cheaper.
 
Well, size isn't always a marker of completeness. I know alot of guys who buy the 1200 page MS "How to program C#" because it's the same price as a 300 page O'reilly book. Both have the same information, the MS book just takes three times as many pages up with screenshots and useless verbiage.

This guy is offering tech support with his book, which has to count for something. As far as them just being "re-iterations of a distortion pedal"... Well, yeah. So are most of the pedals at the local music store. A Wah is just a Volume pedal with 2-3 extra parts.

I've made my own compressors, boost circuits, Wah pedals, etc... You can find ebough info on the net, but it's sketchy at times.

I've seen this guy's projects before, before this he'd sell you the schematic to upgrade your BD-2 for 5.95 or something... I assume this "Book" is a collection of those. I always found that a it distasteful, but to each his own. If you spend two hours online looking up how to mod a BD-2, then you could have paid 3 bucks an hour to save yourself that time.

For anyone who would rather spend some money on a book instead of spending the time learning the hard way, this might be the way to go. But then, the reason we do this ourselves instead of sending them to Keely, is because we're cheap.

9 times out of ten, you're replacing crappy components with better ones, and raising/lowering resistance/capacitance to shape tone. First, replace the cheap caps with silver Mica. Get some variable pots, and you can play with different levels of resistance until you get the tone you want. This is not rocket science here, and you're hardly ever playing with enough current to be dangerous.

Without reading it, it's hard for me to judge, but for the greatest reward, go ahead and start with Anderton's book, and learn. I could tell you exactly what to do to a Vox wah, but that won't help you on your next pedal. (Or a pedal that is obscure.)
 
Speaking of which... (It's me, anonymous again...)

Can anyone pass a link to Mods for a Dano Daddy-O?? Danke.
 
I would like to vouch for the author of this book. I purchased his mod book and have modded a big muff and a hughes and kettner warp pedal. They're great and I learned a lot in the process. He's been great supporting questions I had on the mods.
 
check this : http://www.pisotones.com/

(....in spanish....)
 
Thanks to everyone for at least looking at it -- it definately won't be for everyone. If you've already built half a dozen pedals and can whip up a clean boost without needing any sort of direction, then you won't need this.

It is a total beginners guide -- quite different than the other books mentioned. I start with a clean boost, explain what all the parts do, and then I'll add a bit more to the circuit, and create it fuzz out of it (for example), and explain the "why" and "what for".

Basically the book will 'hold you by the hand' so you can build your first pedal the very same day. And, unlike any other DIY books by other authors, I provide tech support for you should you have any problems not getting it to work. The tech support is really the expensive portion of the purchase -- there are many times that a customer will contact me for tech support and I'll draw up diagrams for them, call them on the phone, even have them ship their pedal to me so I can personally take a look at it.

So, as you can see the cost of the hardcopy book goes to much more than just the physical pieces of paper you hold in your hand.

Thanks and take care - Brian from IndyGuitarist.com (author of the book)
 
If it changes anyone's opinion of the book, Brian (posting above) built his first actual pedal around a year ago.
 
I just purchased both books and if you ask me he charges a reasonable price and he offers tech support! Both books combined offer tons of useful information. I have emailed Brian asking him questions for the past month and he answered his emails within a day. That should tell you a lot about Brian Wampler. If you haven't bought the books I'd reccommend them. Otherwise I'd say your judgements about Brian and his books are just hot air. Some will like it, learn from it and seek more knowledge about the pedal world, others won't. I have already learned alot more in a shorter period of time by having the books in my hands than I could have by searching hours upon hours on the internet. Personally, my time doesn't allow me that luxury. I hope this helps some of you who are searching to learn more about building pedals.
 
To the 'anonymous' (wonder why?) person who said:
" If it changes anyone's opinion of the book, Brian (posting above) built his first actual pedal around a year ago.
# posted by Anonymous : 10:37 AM"

Completely untrue and ridiculous. I RELEASED our first Indyguitarist pedal about a year ago. Let's get the facts straight before we spread rumors, k?
 
I was just searching blogs and found yours.It's interesting. I'm going to bookmark you and return.

Regards
Alex consumer digital video editing
 
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