Wanting To Build Stompboxes

[xtjdx]

I've been doing a lot of research on electronics in general and got a book on tube amp maintenance and construction, and I'd like to build a stompbox. The only thing is, my only exposure to electronics is really guitar wiring and a few computer things (replacing components on a mobo, rewiring pinouts, etc.). So my question is: in order to avoid wasting parts, would it be in my best interest to invest in a decent breadboard instead of buying PCBs, just to test out these projects, and then when I'm ready go all out with PCB and chassis, or should I just get what I need when I need it and hope for the best? Do I even have the concept of what a breadboard is for right? Help!

[JoeAArthur]

Breadboarding is a way to quickly cobble together a circuit to test concepts. The breadboard "base" is meant for general layouts and flexibility and of course ease of change. Consider it a prototyping phase.

Once the circuit is shown to work as expected, then you need to do a PCB layout. This can be more work than breadboarding and you have to be concerned with things like physical size of the overall board, component sizes, and proximity to other components that can cause unintended effects such as feedback and oscillation. Depending on your overall objective, there may be manufacturing concerns you need to address.

[donbenjy]

Yeah, I'd say protoboard is a must, especially if you want to design your own, or the schematic doesn't come with a PCB or stripboard layout and you have to sort out your own! I've just finished prototyping my first pedal from a schem I found online, it's actually really good! It's an opamp fuzz, but it has alot of "extras," the oscillations and other extra bits are as weird as a ZVex Fuzz Factory! Anyway, I've built it on the protoboard, and now I'm trying to decide whether to use point to point, or stripboard to finalize it. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, but with a craft knife, you can turn a stripboard into a copy of a breadboard, so you could in theory just push components through that whilst you prototype, and then when you're ready, remove the breadboard from behind and solder it all in!

Do you have easy access to PCB manufacturing? I really don't like using PCBs when I can avoid it, as there's so many things that can go wrong, and if I can't use my colleges etching tanks then I have to wait months to get a board etched for me!

[xtjdx]

Thanks, I'm going to pick up a breadboard and some parts tonight. What should I do about a power supply? Would a standard 9-volt battery work for now or is there something special to use with a breadboard (or will I find out at Radioshack like I probably should)?

[donbenjy]

It's really easy to wire both a battery and 9V jack into the circuit (like this), just make sure to get a jack with 3 terminals, not 2 like I did Check out my thread further down the page to see if any questions you have have already been answered I use a battery for testing though...not likely that anything will go wrong, but better safe than sorry