Project Room

KAT Project Room

Projects

  • KAT Project Treble Booster with Volume Control and Footswitch

  • KAT Project Simple Treble Booster

    • KAT Project True By-pass unit for non-switching effects pedals

    • KAT Project True By-pass unit including Volume Control for non-switching effects pedals

    • KAT Project Deacy-Style Amplifier Unit

    Introduction

    This page will become an on-going and ever-expanding go-to place for Guitar and Guitar Effects related projects suitable for all ages, styles and abilities.

    In most cases, I have provided Circuit Schematics, Wiring Diagrams, Case size and drilling diagrams and where relevant, board building diagrams. These can either be adhered to, or picked at should you wish to go your own route! All the projects on this page can be regarded as experimental, in that they can be modified or tweaked to suite your own requirements and applications.

    The intention behind proving this page is to help those who would like to build their own effects units, or amplifiers, but may not have the technical knowhow to start from scratch. They should also prove relatively inexpensive to build, thus become suitable projects for students of all abilities.

    Basic Break-down of what's provided:

    Circuit Schematic.

    This drawing details the circuit diagram of the unit and provides component values and types as well as some suppliers of specialist items. In some cases, it also details further options that you may wish to experiment with. This drawing should be read and understood first. You will get used to the symbols after a while!...I promise you!

    Circuit Board Detail.

    Unless, like the Deacy-Style Amplifier unit, which has a printed circuit board supplied, most projects are based on using good old fashioned Vero board, or strip board. The Circuit Board detail drawings provide guidelines as to how to cut and prepare the Vero board (including track breaking or drilling) as well as component and link-wire mounting details.

    Wiring Diagrams.

    These show each unit with point-to-point wiring detail between the circuit board and ancillary components such as jack sockets, footswitches, pots and LED's.

    Case Drilling Detail.

    These drawings provide the detail and dimensions for drilling the recommended case for each project. Once again, these are only guidelines as your own choice of case may require a totally different layout.

    Wiring Standards.

    I always try to stick to a wiring standard throughout all the pedal and amplifier builds as it makes life very easy at a later stage when trying to sort things out or fault-find an older piece of kit. This is not saying the following standard has to be rigidly adhered to, but you will find as you build more projects that it kind of makes sense! So, here's my basic wiring standard:

    Colour Colour Typical Use
      Black Battery or DC Negative (-)
      Brown General
      Red Battery or DC Positive (+)
      Orange Signal Output
      Yellow Signal Input
      Green Signal Ground
      Blue Loudspeaker Positive (+)
      Violet LED Negative (-)
      Grey General
      White Loudspeaker Negative (-)
      Pink LED Positive (+)