Summer Heat Guitar Pedal Story
Back in December 2022, I picked up a used DOD Death Metal and Digitech Grunge for $50—both not working properly. The Death Metal was stuck on, and the Grunge wouldn’t power up at all. From experience, I suspected the cheap footswitches were the issue. After cleaning off the nicotine smell, I replaced the switches and got both pedals working again.
While digging into the schematics, I noticed how similar they were. I was curious about the bass and mid circuits, so I breadboarded those sections on their own. That experiment took me down a rabbit hole… and ultimately led to the creation of a new guitar pedal: the Summer Heat!
I’ll be posting plenty more about this, but in the meantime, click here to sign up for launch notifications on Kickstarter. Thank you!
Instead of placing every component for the Summer Heat on a breadboard, I decided to make this helpful PCB. I had the circuit mostly worked out but there were still some parts in the middle that needed attention. I ran leads from the PCB onto the breadboard, and it had the added benefit of allowing me to use these controls on any future guitar pedal creations…
Once I had the circuit worked out (or so I thought), I designed a printed circuit board. While I waited on that order, I collected a variety of parts that I had on hand which I’d need to assemble a prototype.
Something that’s important to me is having consistency between all of my pedals. My time as a guitar repairman has greatly influenced my guitar pedal manufacturing. I’m not someone who values obscure or mystical parts. I value high quality components that are available in abundance, so if down the road something needs to be repaired or replaced, it’s not an impossibility.
I put together the first prototype and it worked! I was very pleased with how this sounded and functioned, but it needed something more. After continuing to experiment with sounds on my breadboard and with other guitar pedals, I decided that some overdrive was needed…
