DIY Effects: Delay Pedal in a Fossil Watch Tin with Gas Can Amp


I’m a sucker for delay. Some guys can’t get enough fuzz or will pay a gazillion dollars for the ‘perfect’ overdrive, but my weakness is for anything that let’s my guitar get repeated ad nauseam in all manner of zaniness*.

I usually have at least one delay pedal with me on stage, but I’ve always wanted one that really pushed the envelope, which is where guitarPCB’s ‘D’lay’ circuit comes in, as there are some really zany mods that can be added with the stomp of a switch. See the video above for what I mean, as I added as second stomp switch that, when held down, lets the repeats in my signal ramp up like crazy (you can read about the mods here). It’s already been a lot of fun at the last few shows.

Not only is it a very fun pedal to use, but take a look at that awesome tin! Fossil was kind enough to send me a box full of their watch tins after I expressed that they were perfect for building pedals (in my humble opinion, anyway). You’ll be seeing a lot more of these beauties!

Not only that, but I recently found a weird old amp at Goodwill called “The Can” and couldn’t resist checking it out. It’s a solid state amp from the 80’s that’s shaped like a gas can. Made in the Crate factory in St. Louis, there were supposedly only 10,000 of these made. It’s actually pretty cool sounding too!

Fossil Watch Tins

DIY Effects: Homemade MKC1 Mini Klon Pedal

DIY Klon Centaur pedal with mods

With all the hype the Klon Centaur pedal gets I couldn’t help but try my hand at a project based on its likeness. This isn’t really a clone, as guitarpcb.com (where I get a lot of circuit boards for these projects) has stripped their MKC1 down to the bare essentials, while also adding some really useful modifications, like a bass toggle and extra stomp for even more gain.

I can’t really say how close to the “real thing” this circuit is, but a) it’s a great sounding overdrive and b) this build reminds me how perfect Fossil watch tins are for building pedals.

I’ve started gigging with this bad boy and it works very well with my BYOC 250 (the first pedal I built) to create some great lead sounds.

DIY Klon Centaur pedal in a Fossil watch tin with mods

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