BYOC Build Your Own Clone Confidence Boost

When it comes to DIY guitar effects Build Your Own Clone / BYOC is at the top of the food chain. Their kits come neatly packaged with all the required components, the instructions are hosted online and viewable before hand and are easy to follow. BYOC also has a vibrant active forum community who are always there to give you a helping hand building and troubleshooting your creation.

For those wanting to get their feet wet and find out what guitar effects building is all about the BYOC Confidence Boost is the place to start. It's a simple kit and does exactly what it says on the wrapper - boosts confidence!.

There are no pots or switches included, just a simple exercise in soldering components and jacks then wiring it up. The kit, once completed is a simple linear boost and buffer. Alls you will need to complete this kit is: A soldering iron and a screwdriver to adjust the trimpot. I would also recommend a solder-sucker and some way of holding the PCB in place, I personally use one of these:

  You plug your guitar into one jack and plug the other jack into the front of your amp, or the next effect in your chain! A trim pot soldered to the PCB allows you to adjust the amount of volume it adds - It's a linear boost, it just makes the signal LOUDER! With the trim pot low it simply gives your pickups a little more power, wind it all the way up and it can really dirty up the front end of a tube amp.

Obviously by itself the kit isn't much use as an effect on anyone's pedal board - it's got no enclosure, stomp switch or adjustment knob! But that isn't the point of the kit. The kit gauges your interest, if once you're finished you're left dying to get the next kit started - then you know it's a hobby for you. If you don't finish it up, maybe you need to rethink and atleast you didn't drop serious cash on one of the more expensive full kits.

I personally loved building the Confidence Boost..... so much so that as soon as I'd wired it up I went straight down to the local electronics store and bought myself a stomp switch and potentiometer. I stuffed it all into an old mints tin and made a fully functioning pedal out of it. The simple guide for upgrading the confidence boost can be found in the BYOC forum.

To conclude: Really inexpensive and simple way to get into effects building, highly recommended.