Suggestions for a newby

[davent]

the breadboard is also a new concept to me... I've heard them mentioned enough in various information I'm reading online, but have no knowledge of how important they are, or how easy/hard it is to set one up. Reading up on that is probably a good place to spend some time.
Thanks for the info on the tolerances as well.. I plan on getting a component reader and since I'm buying resistors and caps in bulk ( nothing crazy,, if i need 2, i'll get 20 ... plus the cost of them is minimal ), I can use ones that test with the closest value.

Breadboard is a tool for experimenting, learning, it allows you to build a circuit simply by plugging components into the breadboard, allows you to audition a circuit before committing to building, you can experiment on known circuits, what affect does changing the value of this piece, design your own circuit. Again something for down the road and you may never feel the need to head off down that path and nothing wrong with that. Easy quick way to build and audition new things.
dave

[Invertiguy]

Just an FYI on the oscilloscope, even though they're pretty unnecessary for most builds I'd still recommend a cheap DSO138 kit off of Amazon or Ebay. They're not exactly laboratory-grade and won't work for everything, but they're perfectly sufficient for most stuff you'd need an oscilloscope for in the DIY pedal world (i.e. tracing audio signals and biasing BBDs for analog delays, choruses, and flangers) and for $20 you really can't go wrong; you can always upgrade down the line if you find yourself needing something more capable. Of course, you'll need some sort of signal generator to go with it, and once again you really don't need anything fancy: Amazon has an XR2206 signal generator kit for $13 that works perfectly well, and you could always brew up your own if you're feeling ambitious.

[Muadzin]

There's so many pedals I managed to troubleshoot with a multimeter that gives you a noise when you have continuity, an audio probe and a delay pedal that can also loop a riff, so you can trace your signal through the circuit.

[HalfLife]

A big thank-you for contributors here, from a noob.

My $.02:
-Tayda has the 'older' ESR tester. The ESR component tester is an open source project, community supported. Latest update is March 2021. Here is the ESR documentation: https://www.mikrocontroller.net/articles/AVR_Transistortester#Downloads_.28English.29
Most Chinese built ESRs offered do not give documentation.
Amazon tends to cycle product faster, may have a newer update with case, and save you a few bucks.
Caveat Emptor.
-There is a oscilloscope on Amazon for <$20, fully soldered. Noisy and has issues.
-There is an AWESOME diy digital open source oscilliscope for $850 (scopefun).

[Zerro]

Don't forget at first to learn the mean skill which is good soldering! It's crucial for success with anything. All means as a good iron, rosin, tin and clearing needles and brushes for PCB... Work with rosin laqueer for PCB protect, and finally PCB creating - projecting, scribing, etching, drilling and population. Be independent with those skills. This you can start to practice even today.
And, looking at web for technical datas of details. To know, what and why those things do what they do :@)

[RobW]

Thanks for the suggestion on the breadboard, and also all of the other suggestions so far. One of the challenging parts of this for me so far has been what to pick. There are so many choices when you start searching the web... anything from pcb's to buy or all of the components and tools you need... it's good to get some good suggestions on places to use as sources for material.

[vizcities]

In terms of components, here are my go-tos:

+ Love My Switches: Pots, jacks, toggle and stomp switches, power stuff, enclosures, some knobs
+ Tayda Electronics: "Pantry" components (resistors, caps for personal builds, silicon diodes, common transistors and ICs), cheap pre-drilled or UV printed enclosures, 79xx-style power regulators, knurled pots for personal builds, stripboard
+ Small Bear Electronics: Germanium parts, pots that LMS doesn't have, tantalum/silver mica caps, certain ICs (e.g. PT2399s, BBDs), JFETs and BJTs, knobs, some rotary switches
+ Digi-Key or Mouser: Critical/"high-end" components (Wima, Panasonic, and Nichicon caps; Vishay resistors; non-polar electrolytic caps; fancy ICs), JFETs and BJTs, small transformers, inductors, IC voltage inverters/charge pumps (e.g. 7660, 1044, 1054), some rotary switches
+GuitarPCB or PedalPCB, which (I believe) offers SMD JFETs on a conversion board: Obsolete JFETs, some rotary switches
+ Ask around/check eBay: Everything else (e.g. hard-to-find GE diodes/transistors, ICs, BBDs, optocouplers, etc.)

Great PCBs can be found all over the place: Fuzzdog, PedalPCB, Aion, and GuitarPCB all come to mind, as does the rogue's gallery linked at the top of the forum. Search for "[pedal name] PCB" on Google and you'll usually find something reasonable.

Pro tip: Bulk Russian germanium transistors can be great replacements for now-unobtainium usual suspects like the 2N404, AC125, AC128. Just make sure to match the hFe of the project and make sure polarity is the same (i.e. replace a PNP with a PNP, not an NPN).

Enjoy!

[Stomptown]

There's so many pedals I managed to troubleshoot with a multimeter that gives you a noise when you have continuity, an audio probe and a delay pedal that can also loop a riff, so you can trace your signal through the circuit.

This!  Definitely make sure your DMM has a continuity setting.