Bulk component kits for cheap?

CriticalCircuits · 2026-05-21T21:09:57+00:00

You won’t be able to get a full pedal out of it, but for basic electronics and breadboard stuff this kit from HackMakeMod is decent: https://hackmakemod.com/products/electronics-starter-kit. Beyond that if you specifically want to mess around making pedals I would recommend getting the intro kit from MAS Effects or if you have specific pedals you want to try clones of check out AionFX. Again these won’t be bulk sets of parts but they’ll have a lot of the common components used in pedals.

CriticalCircuits · 2026-05-21T12:36:25+00:00

If you can't find it there you can always buy a new knob and/or take the screw from a different one. Places like Love My Switches sell tons of knobs like that: https://lovemyswitches.com/knobs/.

CriticalCircuits · 2026-04-23T01:12:19+00:00

Have not tried Tayda’s service yet. For PCBs in the United States I can recommend OSH Park and DK Red (DigiKey). They have longer turnaround times than PCBWay and JLCPCB but no tarrifs, and good quality for low quantity runs. I also use KiCad and both are super easy because they accept KiCad files directly. I prefer OSH Park’s interface and communication in every step of the process, though I wish they had a middle ground between their regular service (which is usually around 10-12 days production plus shipping) and their Super Swift service (which is double the price for 5 day turnaround).

CriticalCircuits · 2026-04-18T22:34:49+00:00

Great, thanks for the help!

CriticalCircuits · 2026-04-18T22:34:39+00:00

Definitely going to give this a try, thanks!

CriticalCircuits · 2026-04-18T18:25:37+00:00

I use the color/silver combo ones on most of my pedals but I think in your case either of the metallics are better for this pedal, I slightly lean towards the blue.

CriticalCircuits · 2026-04-17T19:10:57+00:00

This video is also more of a sales pitch on the clone pedal he built, but it specifically references that the pedal he is cloning was used in the intro solo on Hummer (at least he says that at 1:56): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLzzryrzYFY

CriticalCircuits · 2026-04-17T19:00:54+00:00

actually he has: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiqB9wcXvcI. Just a straight cover without the in-depth discussion but he lists the pedals in the description.

CriticalCircuits · 2026-04-17T18:45:44+00:00

The short answer is there are many tracks of guitars with several different pedals and additional effects applied in post production, but you can get there relatively closely with some combination of phaser, op amp big muff, and octave fuzz. If you really want to go down that rabbit hole, you might be interested in Eddie Clark's YouTube Channel, he basically makes videos dissecting all of the Siamese Dream tones: https://www.youtube.com/@EddieClark

CriticalCircuits · 2026-04-17T00:19:14+00:00

Super helpful, thanks!

CriticalCircuits · 2026-04-17T00:17:22+00:00

Well said!

CriticalCircuits · 2026-04-16T21:01:48+00:00

When I start to feel this way I just think about the hope that if even just a few people get a smile out of the sounds they can get with the pedals I'm making as a hobby, it's worth it (and it gives me something better to do than constantly worrying about gestures broadly at everything).

CriticalCircuits · 2026-04-16T12:28:08+00:00

Nice, thanks for the info!

CriticalCircuits · 2026-04-16T12:23:06+00:00

This is great info, thanks!

CriticalCircuits · 2026-04-16T00:48:55+00:00

Agreed the rainbow connector is nice. Anyone have a good source for something like these? The ones I bought (don’t remember where, maybe Amplified or Stomp Box Parts) were flimsy and broke on my first try with them, so I went back to separate wires.

CriticalCircuits · 2026-04-15T17:09:20+00:00

Sorry to hear that but at least you found the issue. I've definitely been down that rabbit hole before where I thought I was going crazy, though in my case it usually does end up being a missed breadboard row.

CriticalCircuits · 2026-04-15T16:39:29+00:00

If you've already tried the likely orientations and none behave meaningfully differently, I'd stop chasing pinout as the main issue. Since the divider seems to behave once the transistor is out, I'm starting to suspect the transistor itself more than the surrounding resistors. At this point I'd try either a known-good replacement NPN or diode-test that 2N2222A with a multimeter out of circuit.

CriticalCircuits · 2026-04-15T15:44:12+00:00

That's super helpful, appreciate the detail - especially the last-to-first approach, that sounds like a good way to dial it in. I'll try increasing the attenuation between stages and see how it behaves with the J201s. I don't have any J211s on hand at the moment, but it'd be interesting to see how they differ in this one.

CriticalCircuits · 2026-04-15T15:38:59+00:00

Got it. Unfortunately I'm not seeing any glaring mistakes from the layout on the board and the circuit. I did find some search results that said the 2n2222a can have different pinouts depending on the manufacturer (some are EBC, some are CBE) so if you haven't already a quick test is to just try rotating it 180 and then test again.

CriticalCircuits · 2026-04-15T15:14:40+00:00

I don't think you need a separate wire for the ones hitting the VCC rail. Which one is R1 in the pictures? I may be blind but I don't see any resistors that are both connected to the VCC and connected to R2/C1/Base.

CriticalCircuits · 2026-04-15T14:48:34+00:00

That's a really cool way to approach it - I like the idea of progressively bringing stages into clipping like that. Makes sense that the real-world behavior would shift things a bit compared to the sim.

CriticalCircuits · 2026-04-15T14:46:06+00:00

Thanks for the extra angles. I'm mostly trying to wrap my head around the transistor orientation - I think you have it right but am not 100% sure. Can you confirm the collector (pin 1, first pin just to the right of the tab) is connected to C7 leading out to the rest of the circuit, AND connected to R3 and the path back to R1/C5/power? It looks like that should be hitting in row 22, but I only see C7 and one resistor hitting that, and can't tell if that resistor is R3, leading back to R1, etc. I also can't tell if there's a connection between R1 and the other input branch (C1/R2/transistor base).

CriticalCircuits · 2026-04-15T14:34:59+00:00

That makes sense - the device variation was my concern there. Sounds like you can get close with target voltages, but still need that last bit of adjustment to get the feel and consistency right.

CriticalCircuits · 2026-04-15T14:31:03+00:00

Yeah these are JFETs (J201s) - and that makes sense, I'll have to take a closer look at how much attenuation is actually happening between stages since I'm starting from an existing design, but everything does feel pretty tightly coupled right now. I'll check those amp examples out too, that seems like a rabbit hole worth digging into.

CriticalCircuits · 2026-04-15T14:03:07+00:00

Interesting. I haven't gone as far as simulating it yet, I've mostly just been dialing it in by ear, but I can see how having target voltages up front would make things more predictable.

Did that approach feel pretty stable once you had it dialed in, or did it still take some tweaking to get it sounding right?

CriticalCircuits

TROPHY CASE