NotPedals Launch: Behind the Scenes
NotPedals, a new and exciting online marketplace for unique and boutique instrument effects, is about to launch! I thought it’d be interesting to pull back the curtain and write a bit about what making that launch was like. Songbirds Effects is debuting FIVE brand new pedals for NotPedals, and we are super excited about it! Here’s some information about what the journey was like, and be sure to check out the NotPedals launch on May 3rd, 2025!
1: Choices, choices.
The first step in bringing any product or service to market is deciding what exactly you’ll be selling. From the beginning, I knew that I wanted to recreate classic circuits that sound incredible and have stood the test of time. Some builders will be designing their own scratch-built ideas, but I got the impression that most creators will be marketing clones of existing circuits or producing effects with slight variations on those circuits for the NotPedals launch. I landed on the latter option – taking classic circuits into the modern era with slight tweaks, upgrades, and modifications that I think make them sound and function better. After countless hours of digging through schematics and tinkering with existing circuits that I had built, I chose five that I believe will sell and that will appeal to a wide variety of players.
2: Design!
This is the fun part for me, although many builders loathe this step. Having Songbirds Music, Art, & Dance Center as my home base, I had lots of creative options for making the five circuits really stand out. At the end of the day, we all play music. I believe that our pedal boards and effects should be representative of our personalities, and at the very least, they should be appealing and make you excited to play music with them. The cosmetic look of the pedals is just as important as the sound. I settled on Captain Bubbletron’s design right away – this is the effect with the epoxy pond and little plastic ducky. I’ve never seen a pedal that uses epoxy pouring as decoration, so I wanted to venture forth into uncharted territory and bring a playful, whimsical piece to the market.
In the same vein, I fell in love with the idea of a tactile experience in adjusting pedals – something that puts just a bit of the creative process into the hands of the player. I knew early on that I wanted to make the Reactor Core pedal with a system that incorporates interchangeable fuses. This took some time to work out the kinks (more on this later), but it turned out great in the end.
Super early on in my pedal-building endeavors, I hand-painted a pedal enclosure with an image of one of my favorite childhood characters: the lovable space alien muppets from Mars, the Yip Yips. I love how that painting turned out, but I knew that I couldn’t reliably reproduce it over and over again if the pedal line took off. Therefore, we figured out a way to make permanent printed faceplates for the pedals that feature the fuzzy creatures.
One of my favorite boutique pedal companies, Fairfield Circuitry, did a limited run of their most famous pedal that they burned in a bonfire. This resulted in some subtle but beautiful discolorations on the aluminum, and I knew that I wanted to take that idea to the next level. For the Scavenger pedal, I experimented with burning enclosures to the extreme in order to really sear and discolor them. There were some setbacks as it took a while to determine the proper heat conditions – several enclosures were melted, cracked, and lost in the name of science. What’s more, I have a bunch of old non-functional vacuum tubes that I’ve saved from amp repairs and restorations. There’s not much that can be done with them, so I decided to feature them on the Scavenger as a beautiful and illuminated decoration. The history lives on!
The last pedal design took a lot of back-and-forth, but the Sagacious pedal boasts a sleek, boutique faceplate from laser-cut acrylic. I knew from the very beginning that I wanted to incorporate a numerical LED readout screen on one of the pedals, and it became clear that Sagacious would be the lucky winner. However, designing that functionality was far more difficult than I anticipated…
3: Research and Development!
I’m a bit of a strange builder: this is the part of the process that I despise the most. Many effect nerds love the breadboarding stage. This is where you translate schematics to the real world and tinker with circuits in a temporary setting to craft the exact sound and effect that you’re seeking. However, I find this step to be the most strenuous, and it’s easy to spin your wheels and get lost in the minutia. I’m a recovering perfectionist, and I frequently have to remind myself of two musical mantras that apply to building, performing, recording, and more:
1: Perfect is the enemy of good.
2: If it sounds good, it is good.
It took a long time to develop the circuits for the NotPedals launch and get them where I wanted them, and that was mostly due to…
4: Problems to Overcome.
Every new design has at least one critical problem spot. After all, it’s rare that a circuit works partway. They either work or they don’t. Here’s a list of the biggest issues that I faced with each pedal.
1: Captain Bubbletron was relatively straightforward, although it took some trial and error to design a 3D printed tray to contain the epoxy pour without leakage. It also took some experimenting to find an adhesive that could resist temperature fluctuations and permanently hold the ducky to the top of the pedal’s knob. Hint: any type of CA glue is not the answer as they all fog and discolor plastics.
2: Reactor Core had two big ones. The external fuse holder had to be attached permanently in a way that can withstand frequent pulling and pressure while also protecting the connected wires that run through the faceplate and to the rest of the circuit. I also had to figure out how to fabricate the fuses and adjust them for four unique tones.
3: Yip, Yip, Brrrrring! uses old-school germanium transistors. These components are rare and hard to find, but I have a stash of new-old-stock parts from the USSR. I also have some GE and Motorolas, but those transistors don’t have enough gain on tap for this circuit. The issue here is that the Russian ones have the wrong polarity. You can build the circuit, but it will need a special power adapter, and no one wants that. I had to figure out a way to either beef up the weak transistors or adapt the circuit to a different polarity with the Russian transistors.
4: Scavenger was a lot of fun, but I ran into similar transistor woes. Another “feature” of germanium transistors is that they vary wildly in spec and tolerance, plus they can become unstable when heated. It took a long while to settle on reliable modifications to Scavenger’s circuit that make it loud (it is a boost, after all) while giving it great tone.
5: Sagacious was extremely difficult and resulted in hours of hair pulling. I wanted to use the numerical LED readout for voltage sag and build the rest of the circuit around this feature, but that isn’t as easy as it sounds. First of all, voltage and current are inherently not the same thing. You can adjust voltage pretty easily, but this is an unstable method that frequently burns up neighboring components. I had to figure out a stable way to starve the circuit of voltage that was also reflected in the LED readout. Some effect circuits respond well and with interesting tones when they are deprived of voltage, but most don’t. It took a long while to create a circuit that sounded awesome when at full voltage (around 8-7.5vDC, slightly reduced from the standard 9vDC supply) but also had response and usable sound when sagged down to 2.5-3vDC.
5: Sourcing Parts and Assembly:
With all of the circuits finalized and ready to roll for the NotPedals launch, it came time to order parts. This may sound simple, but it takes a long time to create a spreadsheet and order over one thousand components that were needed for the launch batch of pedals. There’s added pressure to get it right – my supplier is in Thailand, and it’s no fun to wait around for a second order if I forgot to order something. I ordered this launch batch before the onslaught of tariffs, so we’ll see how much more expensive the second batch is when the launch pedals sell out. The same worry applies to PCB orders as most of those come from Asia.
Assembly is usually pretty fun, and it’s easier to make a small batch when you can run it like an assembly line. I created unique drilling templates for each of the pedals and began to piece them together. In the midst of assembly, it was time to create marketing material for the NotPedals launch. This entailed photos, video, sound recordings, and in-process shots of the builds. Oh, and don’t forget the detailed descriptions for the website, blurbs, pricing, and more.
When I got burned out from all of the building, I designed and ordered the packaging “candy” that goes in each pedal box. From warranty cards to informational inserts to stickers, each box is stuffed with extra goodies and care. Of course, getting those small items ordered and delivered takes time, and since the inception of NotPedals, we’ve all been up against the clock. It takes A LOT to launch a brand new online marketplace!
6: Testing and Debugging.
No matter what you do, there’s always a pedal or two that has an issue. Just when I thought that I was out of the woods, several of the pedals needed debugging. It didn’t help that I decided to rework two of the circuits entirely, Scavenger and Sagacious, in order to tweak them and make them just right. The final week before the NotPedals launch was filled with ultra-late nights and sleep deprivation, but it was worth it to nail the final product and have a batch that fills me with pride.
7: The Next Step!
When you get this far into a project, your brain floods with ideas… especially when the first step is over. I’m already planning the release of brand new circuits and designs for the future. However, it’s important to note how all of the inefficiencies of your work flow become apparent when you’re that far into the woods. I’ve built many pedals in the past, but the logistics of how to make a successful launch with quality products on a timeline surprised me. I have a wild respect for any pedal company that has worked out the kinks in supply chain and logistics to make their products successful. I’m excited to keep making these five pedals and to produce new ones, but I’m most curious and hopeful about improving my workflow with the existing circuits. As we build, we find those inefficiencies and aim to correct them.
I hope that you’ve enjoyed peeking behind the pedal builder’s curtain, and I can’t wait to see you at the NotPedals launch on May 3rd, 2025! Stay tuned for more awesome circuits from me and Songbirds Effects, and in the meantime, check out our other blog posts and the legacy circuits on our pedal page. Rock on, and make noise!
