Homemade Tube Screamer Clone


[jonboytang] documented his construction of a clone of the famous Tube Screamer overdrive pedal from a set of plans found at tonepad. The tonepad site says you can use the plans to build either a TS-9 or a TS-808, both of which have been classic staples in every guitar player’s setup since the 70s. Although the old parts are no longer available, these new variants still have a really nice sound.

This project is really just a look into [jonboytang]’s etching and enclosure building process, but it may be useful for someone. The build and the circuit look really simple so this would be a great project for guitar players looking to learn how to etch their own PCBs. If you need more information on etching, we would suggest starting out by reading our How-To on etching single sided PCBs. If you are lazy and would rather spend a little money, check out tonepad’s online store. They have a board for this project and many others.

Pedal Powered Panzer Tank Built For Crashing Parties


A group from Philadelphia PA calling themselves Team pzkpfw decided to recreate a Panzerkampfwagen III, but not entirely according to the original specs. Instead of treads and an engine, they used a system of pedals, gears and chains powered by up to six riders. The team of roughly nine men spent eleven days welding beams and plates, drilling and shaping sprockets, and painting the tank a fearsome pink camouflage. They were planning on crashing the 2nd annual Kensington Kinetic Sculpture Derby with it, which they crashed last year in a pirate ship, but they ended up being too tired from their tooling around to actually do it. There’s always next year. Get a look at their promotional video after the break, or if you’ll be in the Philly area soon, “visit the tank on Frankford Ave, just north of Norris St in Philadelphia.”

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Make Your Own Guitar Pedal With Beavis Board

Beavis Audio has recently released the Beavis Board, a kit to help fledgling guitar pedal builders. The kit addresses four typical problems in this endeavor: learning to solder, dealing with breadboards, sourcing parts, and making sense of schematics. By including a breadboard/psu/switch combo and tons of other parts as well as informative and easy to read schematics, all of these problems are alleviated, allowing eager builders to get to work right out of the box.

The kit costs $249 and we’re guessing it’s a little too “entry level” for most of you. It has a highly informative manual in PDF format. You could use that to get ideas and then source your own parts. Have any of you built a guitar pedal specifically for prototyping?

[via Music Thing]