Fredric Effects and Made by Mike Effects: Your thoughts?

[WWRRSS]

That was you! Great stuff. I just got mine from Kosta yesterday (he had two!) and I love both looks and intestines!

How is it? I can't wait to get mine, what colour did you choose? I'm getting PINK!

[timhulio]

Thanks for the votes of confidence, those who've commented on my effects.

I should probably say that the three builders mentioned here (of which I am one) use markedly different construction methods and you should pick the one that suits you individually. Mike builds custom one-offs with all the buyer-specified options under the sun. So you can get exactly what you want- within reason. He uses vero and spraypainted enclosures. Ian uses tagboard like in old amps and seems to specialise in classic discrete circuits - so lower parts count typically, but top quality NOS parts hence the higher prices. His enclosures are powdercoated and screenprinted. I build in batches (either 25, 50 or 100) with pro drilled and powdercoated/screened enclosures and etched PCBs- so your customisation options are few, but I can keep the build time per unit down, the pedals small, quality consistent and at a relatively low price.

I don't know Ian so I can't vouch for him (only chatted briefly on forums and he seems really knowledgeable) but I know Mike and he's a stand-up guy. It's important when buying from small builders that they aren't likely to flake-out and vanish off the face of the earth. On this count Mike (and I'd like to think myself) score pretty high.

[phantasmagorovich]

How is it? I can't wait to get mine, what colour did you choose? I'm getting PINK!

It is pink too! Looks absolutely smashing! I don't know how it really sounds though, cause all I have is a battery on the edge of dying. It sounds like Daffy Duck with that which is awesome!

[ghost_effects]

I recommend Ghost Effects too, especially the Mind Rocker cause I did the screen print design

alright la!

On Topic though, i haven't had the pleasure of owning a Fredric Effects pedal but from what i have seen they look really great quality.

[kosta]

I recommend Ghost Effects too, especially the Mind Rocker cause I did the screen print design

Seriously fantastic artwork on those Mind Rockers amigo.

[ghost_effects]

these look interesting!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LDWIYl6pYs[/youtube]

[Carlsagan]

You could check one other guy , an Irish builder called Jimmy.

http://www.jimmybehanfx.net/

He makes awesome clone , i ordered a Harmonic Percolator from him with a custom clipping option and you can choose knob/enclosure/vero or tagboard/colour/led.



that's mine.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cskYQAEeF4[/youtube]

[Dandolin]

Y'alls look awsomesauce each in yer own way--why'ncha allaya come over my house for a pedal cookin' throwdown? Free on Saturday?

[MadeByMike]

Firstly thanks for all the kind words, I really appreciate it! I'm just a one man operation with some help from a friend who does my decal designs for me (I pay him in pedals haha) so the support is muchly appreciated.

Ive got a Made By Mike Fuzz War and a Fredric Harmonic percolator. I spent alot of time hating the Fuzz war, I could never get it to sound good, but I started messing with the internal trim pot and it came alive and started sounding good. Its a sort of messy build and fairly average paintjob/finish as well as being a bit noisy (but the original Fuzz War is also), apparently it was a fairly early build, so maybe he has improved the workmanship, however, it still works like it should!

Glad you managed to tweak the trimpot and get the Fuzz War more to your liking - sorry you weren't impressed by the build quality or the finish - I'm afraid that was an early model and a one-off (I'll never make another, I really don't like DBA circuits, they're a pain and not very reliable designs) so both my finish quality and my wiring has improved a lot in the 2 or 3 years since I originally built that pedal. The finishing of my pedals I get as good as I can with my modest setup but I'm afraid sometimes the paintjobs won't be completely flawless as I'm using spray cans (and winter can be tricky on drying times!) but my decal designer is top notch so I think that might make up for it (your Fuzz War was my work, and I'm no photoshopper).

I offer a 2 year guarantee with all my builds, this is transferrable between owners if the pedal gets a new home. I'll always work my hardest to rectify any issues people might have.

If anyone is interested, here are my latest wiring shots:





My blog has all my builds on it:
http://mikelivesley.wordpress.com/

Thanks again (oh and Christian, if you want to cancel your order as you have an IC Muff now I won't be offended, just drop me a line - I haven't actually drilled a case or anything for your pedal yet)

Cheers all!
M

[Gearmond]

oh damn, i might just have to get that harmonic percolator...

[BlindtoFaith]

Firstly thanks for all the kind words, I really appreciate it! I'm just a one man operation with some help from a friend who does my decal designs for me (I pay him in pedals haha) so the support is muchly appreciated.

Ive got a Made By Mike Fuzz War and a Fredric Harmonic percolator. I spent alot of time hating the Fuzz war, I could never get it to sound good, but I started messing with the internal trim pot and it came alive and started sounding good. Its a sort of messy build and fairly average paintjob/finish as well as being a bit noisy (but the original Fuzz War is also), apparently it was a fairly early build, so maybe he has improved the workmanship, however, it still works like it should!

Glad you managed to tweak the trimpot and get the Fuzz War more to your liking - sorry you weren't impressed by the build quality or the finish - I'm afraid that was an early model and a one-off (I'll never make another, I really don't like DBA circuits, they're a pain and not very reliable designs) so both my finish quality and my wiring has improved a lot in the 2 or 3 years since I originally built that pedal. The finishing of my pedals I get as good as I can with my modest setup but I'm afraid sometimes the paintjobs won't be completely flawless as I'm using spray cans (and winter can be tricky on drying times!) but my decal designer is top notch so I think that might make up for it (your Fuzz War was my work, and I'm no photoshopper).

I offer a 2 year guarantee with all my builds, this is transferrable between owners if the pedal gets a new home. I'll always work my hardest to rectify any issues people might have.

If anyone is interested, here are my latest wiring shots:





My blog has all my builds on it:
http://mikelivesley.wordpress.com/

Thanks again (oh and Christian, if you want to cancel your order as you have an IC Muff now I won't be offended, just drop me a line - I haven't actually drilled a case or anything for your pedal yet)

Cheers all!
M

Hey Mike!!! I see that you have put together an Orange Peel before......is yours noisey at all? I find mine to be really fucking awesome but crazy noisey!!!

[MadeByMike]

Yeah as I recall it had quite a lot of background hiss unfortunately so it might just be intrinsic to that circuit I'm afraid!

Sorry I couldn't be more help.

Cheers
M

And just because I'm proud of it, here's one I did this weekend:





To return the favour to Tim of Fredric Effects, I always recommend people that ask me about Companion Fuzzes and Harmonic Percolators to him because he makes fantastic quality pedals and is perfectly deserving of the attention and praise his pedals and work have received. We both started building approximately the same time, and we've taken different routes and paths as Tim detailed; he has a product range he has been honing and expanding while I build a standard range of pedals but also do a lot of "Custom Shop" pedals.

[lorez]

And just because I'm proud of it, here's one I did this weekend:

I can't wait for this to arrive Mike. I'm constantly refreshing the post office tracking information to see how close it is to arriving

[Boxbie]

This turned up in the mail today:

shred.JPG (24.7 KiB) Viewed 1565 times

I can't wait to get it home and give it a bash!