When designing or modifying your own effects, you’ll need to mount parts like switches, potentiometers, LED bezels, power jacks, input jacks, and output jacks. This requires you, the builder, to properly size, fit, and mount the component into the enclosure. In the following sections I go over my personal process for drilling guitar pedal enclosures. […]
Drilling Guitar Pedal Enclosures Read More »
By: Dominic Sciarrino | Stompbox Electronics | Last Published: February 27th, 2026 Introduction Plug in the wrong polarity power supply – even briefly – and the results can be immediate and expensive. Electrolytic capacitors fail catastrophically. ICs and transistors conduct in the wrong direction. Reverse voltage can destroy a circuit in seconds. The fix can
Circuit 4 of 48: Diode Protection Read More »
[Last Updated: February 27th, 2026] The Attenuator When you use a volume control knob on your guitar effect pedal you are most likely using a circuit called an attenuator. An attenuator is a circuit that decreases the amplitude of a signal. Attenuators are usually built with components called potentiometers. The Potentiometer A potentiometer (or pot,
The Attenuator Circuit Read More »
By: Dominic Sciarrino | Stompbox Electronics | Last Updated: February 26th, 2026 Introduction You’ve plugged a 9V power supply into a guitar pedal. But the circuit inside isn’t running 9 volts everywhere. Different stages need different voltages to operate correctly. A transistor amplifier stage needs a specific bias point. An op-amp needs a reference to
Circuit 3 of 48: The Voltage Divider Read More »
By: Dominic Sciarrino | Stompbox Electronics | Last Updated: February 25th, 2026 Introduction If you’ve ever built a true bypass pedal, you’ve probably heard a loud thump or pop the moment you engage the switch. It’s one of the most common problems in DIY pedal design, and it has a specific, well-understood cause … and
Circuit 2 of 48: The De-Popper Read More »
By: Dominic Sciarrino | Stompbox Electronics | Last Updated: February 23, 2026 Introduction Every guitar effects pedal has to solve one problem before it does anything else: how to switch the signal on and off. That’s the bypass circuit. Most explanations treat bypass as a single thing, but that framing misses something important. There are
Circuit 1 of 48: The Bypass Read More »
Audio probing guitar effects circuits is an essential skill for the stompbox designer, repair person, and modder. An audio probe is a device used for detecting audio signals at specific points in a circuit. It is especially used to troubleshoot guitar effects circuits, and you can build one using just a few components. In this
The Definitive Guide to Audio Probes Read More »
