Welcome to Lunchtime Audio!
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
Lunchtime Audio aims to be the premiere location for DIY guitar, bass, and keyboard effect pedal builders. Combining beginner-friendly articles with links to the best resources around, let Lunchtime Audio help you get started building your own stompboxes!
How did this all start?
In the spring of 2021, I fell deep down the JHS Show rabbit hole, and Josh’s demonstrations of different guitar pedals caused something in my mind to click on.
I’ve been playing guitar since 2003, but I had never owned many pedals. I received a DigiTech RP50 modeling pedal early on, but my pedal lineup for years consisted of two cheap Danelectro pedals and a Russian Big Muff (purchased mainly to do my best Robert Sledge impression on bass).
JHS’ episode What’s the Deal with Behringer in particular stuck out, as I had always written Behringer pedals off as cheap knock-offs. Hearing them played through a clean, Fender-style amp opened my eyes however, and I immediately ordered the SF300 Super Fuzz and UV300 Ultra Vibrato pedals from my Sweetwater rep.
Around the same time, I was looking for a hobby that would get me away from screens, as I’m a software developer during the day. I was wondering how to get a variety of pedals without spending a ton of money (or seeming like a total shill for Behringer, Donner, and/or Amazon Basics), when I stumbled upon Pete’s DIY Effects Pedals, a great resource for getting started and understanding some basic circuits.
This naturally led me to the /r/diypedals subreddit, and before long I had spent far too much money and taken over the workbench in the garage to start my pedal building hobby!