Buy or Build?

The Behringer pedal line has intrigued me since I saw the NAMM 05 rundown. Back then their pedals looked exactly like Boss pedals, except in plastic enclosures, even down to the same color scheme. For obvious reasons things changed, and the (then) price point of $19.99 was amazing for any pedal, all things considered. So, recently I'm watching an Anderton's video and I saw them using a Behringer TO800, which we all know is a tube screamer derivative. I can not tell you how badly I wanted one of those pedals since I first saw it, but for one reason or another I never got around to actually purchasing one.

As it does, time passed and passed quickly, until we reached the year 2020, when I first started building pedals. My brother had just bought a Mooer Black Truck and wanted me to test it, which had its own version of a tube screamer built in. I really liked the Mooer Black Truck because it had pretty much all I needed in one little package, however it wasn't mine and I knew I couldn't keep it. Now we're in August of 2020, when my Dad gives me an old radio he had in the garage to tear apart. Inside I found an NEC 4558 and searched the internet to make sure that was essentially the same as the JRC4558 to build a tube screamer, which it is.

Now that I had the NEC 4558 the deal was sealed, I would build my own tube screamer clone. So I did, and it was pretty simple. Once it was all said and done I A/B'd it with the Mooer Black Truck and it was fairly close, if not a little bit warmer. For the longest time I was so proud of myself for building my own tube screamer, which was more complicated than a Bazz Fuss, but still not as complicated as the four Centaur clones I built. With my homemade tube screamer I didn't need the Behringer TS800, but I did buy the EQ700 and the digital reverb, which are fine pedals. Nothing to write home about, but they're not useless.

So now I look at wanting a pedal as a challenge to buy or build. Something like an EQ700, or Boss GE-7 might be difficult to build, although not impossible, but I would probably prefer to just go ahead and buy one. But, as my growing collection of built pedal circuits will show, when it comes to just about any other pedal out there that I want, if I can build it I most likely will. My collection is very drive heavy, but there are a few delays and reverbs in there, and up to now they're all pretty good. Even though I don't need a Behringer TS800, it's still such a good pedal.