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Do you have a testing rig, even if it's just a breadboard?  A third hand for soldering?

Here are some things I wish I knew when I started:

- when tinning the tips of wires, have them angled downward so the solder flows *down* toward the tip and not back toward the sleeve
- a bit of BluTac or double-sided sticky tape is your friend when soldering pots in place onto the board: put them roughly in place, stick them there with the tape/BluTac, and then solder away
- socket your ICs and maybe even your transistors -- fixing one you put in reversed is a major pain

Happy building!

Thanks, I actually did set up a testing rig this weekend, and my soldering iron came with a third hand thankfully.  These are all really good ideas also.
I completed a small ember drive pedal that I had bought about a year ago this weekend, the only problem is it only worked for 5 minutes.  The good news is I know it just has to be a component is grounded because everything is shoved pretty poorly into a 1590a box that I had used for something else previously.  A little electrical tape should fix that and a lesson has been learned.

I'll be working on the GreenBean tonight for a bit I'll be documenting with pictures hopefully unless I get too involved and forget to take pictures (which wouldn't surprise me too much).

PCBs arrived today for both the GreenBean and the 8-Ball.
I'll be getting to work this weekend (it will be slow work with a 7 week old baby) but I'm looking forward to a new hobby that has a productive goal.  I actually have a PCB of an Ember Drive from DIY Guitar Pedals that I'm going to start with because it's a much more simple board than the other two.
I'll keep you guys up to date.

My 2pf's is that I would not solder the IC in there without the socket. No matter how small the chance, if that IC is bad you will regret it beyond belief.

This ^^^

Un- soldering an IC is NO fun,
unless you don't care about the IC and clip all the legs off,
and then un-solder each tiny piece of leg left in the hole.

Still not much fun.
Sooooo much easier to use a socket. 

Got it.  Sockets aren't expensive and if it will save a headache in the future it's probably a good move.  Thanks for the advice.

Thanks guys.  The pedal building community here is helping to give me to confidence to build.

I am a newbie at pedal building, I've done some very simple things (AB switches and volume knob pedals) but I want to begin building effect pedals.
I want to start by doing a duel overdrive pedal, I'm going to try using the madbean 8ball and madbean Greenbean effects together to make a JHS Double Barrel style overdrive.
I've ordered the PCBs from Madbean, I've ordered parts from Tayda Electronics, my soldering iron and multimeter are ready for use (even if I'm not super comfortable using the multimeter yet).

What I want to know is if there is any simple advice anyone has for me as a new builder.  Is this a more complicated build than I should try as a first attempt or if I am patient and take my time should I be ok?  Is there anything vital I should know before I get started on this build so I don't destroy anything?

I look forward to having something to show for my work and I look forward to being able to contribute to this community.  Thanks.

This is beautiful, i hope it sounds even half as good as it looks.
I have to try a duel overdrive like this I love the idea.

I know this thread is super old, but I'm a newb and didn't want to start a thread for something if another thread was even close.
I feel kind of stupid for even asking this, but do you need the IC socket or is it possible to just solder the IC chip right on the board.

You don't need the socket. Of course debugging and such is easier if you can remove the IC without soldering, but its not necessary.

Thank you very much!  I may just order some sockets to be on the safe side because I don't want a mess when it comes to debugging in the future.  I appreciate the speedy response.

I know this thread is super old, but I'm a newb and didn't want to start a thread for something if another thread was even close.
I feel kind of stupid for even asking this, but do you need the IC socket or is it possible to just solder the IC chip right on the board.  I only ask because I forgot to order the sockets from Tayda with my last order.  I'm going to make more orders, but at this point it just means I have to wait to finish the pedals that I'm hoping to do.
Thanks, and please forgive my newbness.

It sounds like one of your electrolytic capacitors is backwards. This would kill the voltage on the power supply rail and your project would create a pulsing sound as the cap/DC supply cycles. It's not necessarily the only thing that's wrong, but it's the first thing I'd look for.

Go back to the troubleshooting thread and continue reading. Jacob explains how to take voltages on your circuit. You're going to need to use your multimeter to diagnose and correct this. You can audio probe after confirming that your voltages are correct.

Your LED on the board won't light unless it's hooked up to the switch; I just want to make sure you're aware of that.

I did not know this about the LED, thanks for letting me know, I'm going to try these steps once I make it home from work.  Thanks for all of your help thus far guys.

Hey guys thanks for your help here is a bit more info following the link you gave me (thanks for that by the way)

(1) Project Name - 8Ball
(2) General description of the problem - Pulsing sound, but no guitar thruput.  Led that is attached to the board does not light and when power is applied one led that is being used in place of a diode flashes very briefly then goes off.
(3) Steps that you have taken to try to resolve the issue - hooked it to a testing box, tested that the input and output of testing box worked by attaching the input and output for the tester together successfully.  Checked the polarity of the dc on the tester and everything looked good.  Hooked circuit back to the tester and went back to having no signal through and the led did not light.
(4) List any substitutions you used for parts/values - none

I'm testing my first diy pedal (8-Ball) and am not getting any sound from the guitar through, but I am getting a pulsing sound every second or so, it is very steady.
Has anyone else ever had this?

Hey guys, this forum and the projects shown on it are great, lots of good help and ideas.
I'm very new to this and for some reason chose the Egghead and 8-Ball as my first two pedals to try, neither of them are working, but my real question is on the 8-Ball.
I made a test box to test out the pedal and hooked it up to test and I don't get any guitar signal through, I do however get something that kind of sounds like a pulsing heartbeat.
Probably one beat every minute or so.  Has anyone ever had this happen?  Thank you for any help with this.