Build Your Own Clone Message Board

What's up yall. I've just over 5 builds plus some mods and have read all the basic info on here, guitarpcb, and beavis audio and what I can understand from RG Keen. I want to move past "painting by numbers" and start really learning this stuff.

Eventually, I want to get on to veros, breadboards, learning how to mod myself w/out needing someone else to read the circuit for me (though I am TRULY grateful for that!). Any suggestions?

I came across this in my googling:http://www.electronicstheory.com/

Any links, books, sites, people would be appreciated.

Thanks!

A fantastic text is 'Getting Started in Electronics' by Forrest Mims. You'll love. So well laid out. And inexpensive. $20. Don't hesitate, just buy it.

Thanks for this! I'll grab it once I'm back in the states. It's 40 w/ shipping to get it shipped to Korea!

I'm in the same boat... a couple months in, about a dozen kits, and want more. I found this site which is decent:
http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/
I've also thumbed through Electronics for Dummies (the big 8 books in one) and it was also recommended to me by BluesHawk (if I have the name right) and it looks good. I got a free sample on my Nook, but that mostly just covered the chapter listings and introductions. But the few pages remaining looked good.

Of course the people here are a wealth of information.

I just did my first bread board this morning (worked) and forst vero board this afternoon we'll see soon) so good luck!

It was me. Again that book is great for the guy who knows literally nothing about it or even a little or you think you do but find out you don't. It simply explains it in such a way as I get it. I can then take concepts from there and search out more explanations that are more related to pedal building or whatever building you are doing.

But, the various sites I've landed on I read cover to cover and them move to the next one, only to come back to the others at some point and read again until it sticks. Yeah, I'm that dumb

It's called deep learning Hawky, nothing to be afraid of.

http://talkingelectronics.com/ this is a great source

http://www.palmetronics.com/lib.html too. . .ahem

SWEET... I'll add these to my list of links!

Gotta say, Electronics for Dummies is darn good too.

I know it's something that people maybe a bit intimidated by when they start but if I was to recommend only 1 electronics book that would help you learn and give you so many cool ideas in the process it would be "the art of electronics"
even though it has alot of theory and mathematics in it it also has tons of real world example circuits/information that doesn't require you to do the mathematics to get working and experiment with.
honestly anyone serious in electronics needs to own this book in some form.
forest mimms and robert penfold books are pretty good for the basic stuff and definitely worth getting
but seriously do a PDF search in google for the art of electronics - it's always there somewhere but I would recommend getting the dead tree version

whatever you choose, just be prepared to do a whole bunch of basic algebra. there's just no getting around it if you want to understand what's really going on. you can get pretty far without getting into calculus and other nasty stuff.

two most important math concepts for getting started are Ohm's Law (and its "kids", the voltage divider and current divider rules) and Kirchoff's Voltage/Current Laws.

Ohm's law: I=V/R where I is current, V is voltage, and R is resistance.
KVL: The algebraic sum of the potential rises and drops around a closed loop is zero.
KCL: The algebraic sum of the current entering a node and exiting that node is zero.

Those, along with practicing by solving a few simple circuits, will take you a long way.

Aside from math, another major concept you've got to get down is the difference between series and parallel and be able to recognize them on a schematic. The rules change - for example, voltage across parallel branches is always the same, whereas current in series is always the same. Series and parallel also figure in majorly in the behavior of components. Here's an example for resistors:

For two resistors in series, the total resistance RT=R1+R2.
For two resistors in parallel, the total resistance RT=(R1*R2)/(R1+R2)

Similar stuff happens with caps, inductors, etc.

Another tip: get yourself comfortable and very familiar with the engineering prefixes. i.e. 10^-3 = milli- , 10^-6 = micro- , 10^-9 = nano, etc.

...and math kills the thread.

I'm good on the math...I'm learning the basic formulas now and how to apply them. It's starting to give insight into things I was taking for granted just following wiring diagrams and such.

thanks man!

Guys, which one you mean?

This one? http://www.amazon.com/Electronics-For-Dummies-Cathleen-Shamieh/dp/0470286970/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333482297&sr=1-1

or this one? http://www.amazon.com/Electronics-All-In-One-Desk-Reference-Dummies/dp/0470147040/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333482297&sr=1-3

Joe, the first one is the one I'm referring to. Never seen the second one though. May be good.

Option 2 is about twice as thick as option 1 for a few bucks more. I"m not cure but it sounds like the first book may be incorporated into the second. Hey, that's a good price; getting mine now.

Thanks, gentlemen.

Seems there's a few of the Elec. for dummies out there.

I got this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Electronics-For-Dummies-Gordon-McComb/dp/0764576607

so far so good

(later...) I got my copy of Electronics for Dummies, and it is very good. But there's not much about the calculations for DC circuits, such as pedals. I found a site about circuits recommended here that said they had beginner links for the pertinent formulae, but I couldn't see any links. I'd really like to get into the math of what I'm doing, not just swapping out parts on a breadboard. Just spent a half hour looking at books about circuits and they are all either circuits to build for flashing LEDs of multi hundred dollar text books. I just want to figure out how to change one part of my circuit to get the proper output from a transistor. Any ideas? I do have Ohm's law down, but figure there must be more.

finding books that are geared towards pedals is almost impossible I think. In fact, if someone knows of one I'm all ears and would be on it like a duck on a june bug.

There is Circuits for Dummies as well whichcould be helpful.

Now, if you want to drown in math and fry your brain on it, Art of Electronics is calling your name. At least it fried mine and I'm just talking about chapter one.

Isn't there an "Electronic projects for Musicians" (or similar title) book out there that I have seen mentioned a few times?? Too lazy to search for it at the moment, but I know i have seen it mentioned here a few times.

The last two titles helped clarify the search on Amazon. Electronics Projects for Musicians is apparently quite outdated and is primarilly projects you could build if they still made the IC's. But I did run across All New Electronics Self Teaching Guide which in running through the sample pages looks perfect. I'd be tempted to just use the sample but they leave out pages here and there, I'm guessing the juicy stuff. I'll let you know how I fare with it.
I also decided to get EP4M after all as it is dedicated to our craft and I can't help learn something for $20. People rave about this one.

I have this on a PDF.