14 electronics suppliers for guitar effects (with pros and cons)

Finding good electronics suppliers is a key issue when building guitar effects professionally. Indeed, they play a huge role in traceability and quality of the components (where the components come from and what they are exactly), and also the price of these components. Sometimes, they can also add delays if they are bad with handling orders and shipping it quickly.

Goods electronics suppliers are the root cause of a good build quality for a pedal builder.

With my crowdfunding project, I have an intermediary position. I cannot order directly from manufacturers (because I would have to order thousands of units at least), but I can order from electronics wholesalers!

Already 95% of the components have been ordered, and I already received quite a lot of parts! Here is a picture of the switches I got this morning (more pictures will follow in a next post):




End of the crowdfunding campaign: what's next?

Here it is! The crowdfunding campaign is over, with a lot of success!
Thank you all for your support, Coda Effects is on the good tracks thanks to you!


crowdfunding ended

Let me show you some numbers:
In this post, I want to present you how I am going to schedule everything. As mentioned on the project webpage, I will write blog posts about the perks and pitfalls of making a series of pedals. One the pitfalls if to make an impossible-to-follow delivery schedule for sure!

Here is my schedule:
  • Receiving the money (one to two weeks): I will be then allow to see how much is left after the Ulule, Paypal, and French state taxes are off the collected amount of money. Indeed, almost 23% of the money will go to these different taxes. (No worries, I made the calculations before :) ). It should take one to two weeks to get all the money ready for ordering the parts!
  • Ordering the PCBs, enclosures and components (one to two months): one of the most crucial step! Thanks to the prototypes I have already made and my experience, I already selected a list of reliable suppliers. However, the delays can be quite long due to their localizations (USA, China for the PCBs, which can cause delays due to customs). At this step, some "surprises" can also happen and delay the shipping of the PCBs / kits / pedals. Everything should be fine with the suppliers I selected, but you never now! One to two month seems like a reasonable delay for ordering and receiving all the parts.
  • Drilling the enclosures, making the kits & effects (two weeks to one month): the fun step! I will do my best to make it as quick as possible, but always with great care about the project. I will have 27 pedals to make, and everything else will be kits (which implies only drilling). I already thought about tips to make it easier and quicker, which I will share with you in a next post.
  • Making videos and build doc (one to two weeks): before sending the kits, I really want to make a tutorial video to show you how to assemble your kit. It will prevent a lot of mistakes I think, so I think it is worth the wait! 
  • Shipping everything (one week + shipping time): I am currently evaluating which shipper I should use, for now I am considering the French post offices, which are quite good regarding tracking, delays and costs.
There it is! It is quite a lot of work to do. The maximum delay time is around 4 month (February 2017). I know it is quite a long time, but I hope to make it as quick as possible!

You will of course be informed about how it goes on a weekly basis.
If you have any suggestion or comment to make, do not hesitate to post a comment!

Finally, in order to follow the project daily, like the Coda Effects Facebook page, or follow Coda Effects on Instagram or Twitter.

Tonebender MKIII clone (Aion Electronics Phobos)

Here is my last build: a Tonebender MKIII clone! The tonebender was initially a derivative of the Fuzz Face, a bit closer to an amp distorsion than a fuzz. (read my post about the different types of fuzz) It became quickly famous thanks to a lot of guitarists like Jimmy Page or Jeff Beck.

The MK2 version used two germanium transistors to get fuzzy tones. However, due to the nature of the circuit, the quality of the fuzz was very dependent on the transistor's gain and characteristics, just like in the Fuzz Face. In order to avoid the selection of transistors, the Mk3 version used 3 transistors, so that the quality of the sound is less dependent on the germanium transistors used. Here is my version:

Tonebender MKIII clone Aion Electronics Phobos

Crowdfunding campaign for the Montagne Tremolo and Dolmen Fuzz

My crowdfunding campaign for the Montagne Tremolo and the Dolmen Fuzz is finally out there!

The Montagne Tremolo is my final version of the tremolo prototype I showed you in a previous post. It is an analog optical tremolo with tap tempo and 6 different waveforms available, thanks to the TAPLFO digital chip.

The Dolmen Fuzz comes from my love for EHX Big Muffs and especially the green russian version. I tried different prototypes and circuits, and it is quite close to a previous build I made as well.

Create your own pedal company: good or bad idea?

If you already have made a few pedals yourself, you surely have thought about selling them or at least build some of them for other people. Create your own guitar pedal brand seems like a good idea on paper, however there are many pitfalls.... Lets talk about it!

Disclaimer: I make effects myself, and this post is not intended to "kill competitors" (with my 30 pedals a year...)! On the contrary, I think it is way better to be transparent and to talk about it: this is only my opinion, and feel free to express yours in the comments section :)

It is a complex matter that is not always easy to discuss peacefully because of money, and there are many different opinions on the subject. It is also the source of really long yet exciting threads on DIY forums (check this one!). The simplest option for me is to discuss it from my point of view as a builder. Thus, I will talk about Coda Effects, and well, just once will not hurt, about me, and give you some tips if you want to jump in it!

Early 2013, I started to show interest in guitar pedal building: after opening a Fuzz Face, I was quite astonished by the simplicity of the circuit (there is almost nothing in there!), and I realized that building guitar effects might be simpler that I thought.

Fuzz Face inside

Boss Tap Tempo DIY

Here is my latest build, a very simple tap tempo pedal for a Boss DD7 pedal (or any other pedal with external tap tempo). It is very simple : one mono jack, one momentary SPST! Very easy build, I think it is the perfect build to begin with DIY! Tap tempo is very useful if you play in a band, so I think this is really a great way to improve your beloved DD7 guitar pedal.

I used a Hammond 1590LB enclosure, which is really small. However, I did not centered the momentary switch because of the lack of space.

Boss tap tempo pedal