Things You'll Need:
- Distortion pedal kit Wire stripper Screwdriver Tape Soldering iron
-
Step 1
Purchase your distortion pedal kit. There are a number of online music shops that offer these kits (see Resources). Decide which type of distortion pedal you want, depending on the style of music you play. For example, if you play hard rock music, you need a distortion pedal with good compression. If you play grunge or punk music, you need a fuzz distortion pedal that has a lot of overdrive. BYOC is a great website to check out for guitar effects pedal kits.
-
Step 2
Take all of the components in your kit and attach them to the prefboard. The components will plug directly into the board and should fit snugly into their slots. The plug-in components include compacitors, transistors and diodes. Consult the schematic in your kit to identify the proper location of each of these pieces, since they will be different with every kit.
-
Step 3
Strip both ends of the wires from the kit. Take the stripped ends of the wire and wrap them around the terminals of each one of the components. In most pedal kits, the wires are all one color, and there is no particular wire made for any one specific component. Each kit is different in the amount of wires it requires to build the pedal, but you can usually expect five to 10 wires to connect to the terminals.
-
Step 4
Heat up your soldering iron and solder the wire connections. Be careful not to burn yourself while using your soldering gun or to solder the connection incorrectly. Use a mildly active rosin-core solder when soldering your wire connections.
-
Step 5
Attach the prefboard to the inside of the bottom pedal chassis. Use a screwdriver and screws to put the prefboard securely in place.
-
Step 6
Secure the top half of the chassis over the bottom half. Plug the pedal into the wall and test it out to make sure it is working properly. If you plug the pedal in and the LCD light does not come on when you turn on the pedal, then check your connections. If the light comes on, you plug your guitar into the pedal and no sound comes out of your amp, or the sound cuts in and out, you definitely need to take it apart and check everything to make sure it is correct.
