freestompboxes.org

Ok, I've been lurking and reading for a while now and am rearing to take up serious stompbox building hobby in the new year. But first a few questions that I hope will help some other newbies as well.

I've settled on this soldering station -- consensus seems to be it's a good entry-level iron, though I'm open to other recommendations:

http://www.circuitspecialists.com/csi-station1a.html

But other than the basic soldering equipment and tools (wire cutters, pliers etc.) and the stompbox parts supplies relevant to a particular build, what other tools should a beginner get? E.g., Is a multimeter needed right away? Also, before I start moving boxes out of the way in the basement, any tips on how to set up a workspace for this?

And if you'll indulge me one final question, is this a good idea for my first build? It seems like it's not overly complex and doable:

http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/201 ... print.html

Thanks in advance, I'm already learned so much reading this board.

Knowing the voltages your transistors, FET's and various IC's are getting is very important to debugging and verifying a build. If your circuit works right off the bat you won't need a multimeter, but if it doesn't your multimeter will become your new best friend. Whether you need one right away is your call.

A multimeter is an absolute must in my opinion. You're blind when you have to do debugging without one. Next step is a (simple) oscilloscope. Single channel, 20Mhz is plenty for simple audio and can be had pretty cheap 2nd hand. Combine that with a , simple, audio generator.

I could do practically all repairs I do with a simple <200 USD/Eur setup like that. But no scope sounds like horror.

If you decide to start building some vintage stompboxes that use Germanium Transistors, I'd suggest buying yourself a Semiconductor Component Analyser so you can test Germanium Transistors for gain and leakage, other things you could consider buying are a Solderless Breadboad of some sort, a Workbench Power Supply, etc, if you're going to buy yourself a soldering-iron, try and buy yourself a decent one, or maybe a Temperature Controlled Soldering Station, I can't stress this enough, buy yourself the best soldering equipment you can afford because ultimately it, along with your soldering skills will determine the quality of your soldering joints, and you'll want to produce good-quality solder joints, a 30 Watt iron should be okay for most small solder-joints, a 60-Watt Temperature-Controlled Soldering-Station will produce good solder-joints after a little bit of practice....


With regards to stompbox projects, start off with simpler ones and work your way up to the more complicated ones as you gain experience, also take your time building the stompboxes, this will ensure that it's more likely to work first go, above all, don't be afraid to ask any of the FSB members for help if you have problems with a stompbox build, we're here to help.....



Oh, if you haven't already done so, do a search for "Audio Probe" in FSB, when you find the thread, have a good read of it and build yourself an Audio Probe, it's a handy troubleshooting device if you don't already have a signal-generator and an oscilloscope.....