2

FIELD TEST

Raspberry Pi Zero – just as well, since with the
release of the Raspberry Pi Zero WH you don’t
have to do this anyway.
What you get at the end of the fiddly,
though hugely rewarding build
process, is something that looks
like a guitar pedal that you’ve built
yourself. It’s not robust enough to
stand up to gigging, but that doesn’t
matter to us: ElectroSmash says that,
”The project was created with the aim of
having fun and learning about guitar pedals... [it]
does not feel like a finished pedal that you could buy
in a shop.”

SOUNDS
At £49.95 for the full kit (you could also pay £9.95
for the PCB on its own and source the parts yourself
if you preferred), the Pedal Pi is outrageously good
value. Most shop-bought effects, such as the
current incarnation of Ibanez’s classic Tube Screamer
distortion pedal, will set you back double that, and
then there are ten other effects built in – more than
that actually, because the range of effects is limited
only by the imagination and programming skills of
whoever writes the code.
The code samples are listed in order of
complexity, ranging from a simple, clean tone, which
demonstrates how to get a signal into and out of the
pedal, to a looper effect. The most fun we had was
playing with the various kinds of distortion. The fuzz,
distortion, and bit-crusher effects have a processed
quality that feels very 80s and early 90s. Think
Smashing Pumpkins and Rage Against The Machine
rather than Stevie Ray Vaughan and you’re in the right
ballpark. We love it.

SOFTWARE
You don’t need any prior knowledge of coding to
get started working on new effects. Just open the
fuzz.c file-in a text editor, change a few numbers,
recompile, and run the code, and you’ve got a brand-
new effect. The degree of control this gives you is
intoxicating. Bedroom Brian Enos will love tweaking
delay lengths and distortion characteristics, for no
practical reason other than you can. As a first coding
project for a guitarist who’s interested in learning to
program, this is a hell of a lot more interesting than
the standard ‘Hello World’. For anyone else who has
tried Python and wants to go further, it’s an ideal
step-up into compiled languages, and the process of
building the pedal is also a great excuse to pick up a
soldering iron.

Top

Even with our sub-

par soldering, the

Pedal Pi worked first

time – testament to

the clear instructions

Below

If you specify at the

time of purchase,

ElectroSmash will

substitute one of the

capacitors, making

the Pedal Pi suitable

for bass guitars

FIELD TEST

With almost no soldering

experience, we found

the Pedal Pi pleasingly

straightforward to

put together.

”

”

The Pedal Pi

is a wonderful

bit of kit, full of

potential and

opportunities for

noisy learning.

10 / 10

VERDICT

• Clean-
  Transparent tone


• Booster


• Distortion


• Fuzz


• Bit-Crusher


• Delay

THOSE

GUITAR

EFFECTS

IN FULL