What to Start with??

[jkokura]

Uh Brian. I've only tinkered around on a few things, but i was thinking about trying the slam of and I'm not sure about where to get parts from...


Hee hee... Oh and strat junior, the parts for the slam box are so few, it's likely only costing Brian a quarter. If you were to order the parts from smallbear it would cost no more than a couple bucks. The parts get a lot cheaper when you buy them in bulk like Brian, myself and some others do. The hardest part is getting enough enclosures, jacks, ics and switches!

Hope the first build goes well, and let us know if you need some help or advice. I'm easily reached by pm and email also. We expect you to post pictures of the fInoshed pedal too!

Jacob

[B_of_H]

I started on kits.  I occasionally think back to when I first started and all the issues I used to have that frustrated me...that seem so simple and foolish now that I kinda know enough to debug things somewhat.

It takes a while to learn how to source the parts so the kits allow you to focus on the actual building process without worrying if you got the right stuff.

a simple boost is probably the best start.  I started on a BYOC OD pedal and it worked fine but then had some issues with other kits further down the road as things got more complex. 

[Jamiroking]

It looks like I'm a bit late to the party with this thread but I had to put my thoughts on record as well.

I built a Krankasaurus and a Zombi and a compressor from Tone pad for my first builds. I had never soldered anything more than a broken guitar cable before that and they all turned out great. I even ended up making a mod for the compressor to be able to switch between a Dynacomp and a Ross version. The only way it was possible was through this forum. As you can see, Bryan leads the way in showing how welcoming everyone is here. You really can't go wrong with this kind of support.

Because of this, I really wouldn't be intimidated by the Cowboy or even Genius classifications and basically just think of it as how much time you want to invest. As the main difference I noticed was how many components are jammed on the board. Something I'd suggest that I did is get a couple and populate the boards at the same time - e.g. resistors on the zombii, then on the krankasaurus, then caps on the zombii, then krank...etc. This way you get your first taste of that step on the board with the most breathing room and have gotten the practice with the iron by the time you do the same thing on the more complex board.

I think the most important thing you need is just the willingness to learn and the desire to have a certain pedal. If you don't enjoy the process, you might get frustrated and decide its not worth the effort, especially as a beginner. But If you have both of those things, there's a bunch of really knowledgable people here waiting to help you with any problem at all.