Since their initial creation in 2004, podcasts have seemingly grown in popularity every year. However, over the past couple of years, it feels like the guitar gear community has started latching onto it as being a fantastic medium for educating and entertaining their fans.

Why Podcasts Are Great For DIY Effects Pedal Builders

The best way to learn any new skills is to thoroughly immerse yourself in the community and the environment of that skill. With this in mind, when it comes to building DIY effects pedals as a beginner, you’ll want to consume as much information as possible. Whether that be sites like mine, electronics & DIY effects pedal books, pedal builder forums, YouTube channels or podcasts. 

One of the main benefits that I’ve found to listening to podcasts is that it can be done whilst doing other tasks. I listen to podcasts on my commute to work, doing housework/gardening and on my evening walks. 

There may be some podcast episodes that require a little more attention. However, for the most part, simply having it on in the background whilst doing other tasks is enough to soak up some of the expertise shared on the following channels.

My Favourite Podcasts For Guitar Pedal Builders

There are quite possibly hundreds of podcasts aimed at guitar players and even DIY effects pedal builders. However, the below are podcasts that I have been listening to for some time now and have been through the majority of their back catalogues to pull out the episodes that are especially interesting to me as a stompbox builder.

This is by no means a definitive list. But it’s a great starting point that you can use to help you get thoroughly invested in this community. 

Here are a few of my favourite podcasts for DIY guitar effects pedal builders.

The Chasing Tone Podcast

Whilst you may not have heard about The Chasing Tone Podcast, you will have heard about its founder. Brian Wampler of Wampler Pedals.

This podcast has been going since 2014 and has had a few different iterations in that time. The first iteration was a talk show between Brian Wampler, Travis Feaster and Max Jeffreys where they discussed the basics of guitar effects pedals, what they are, how they work and how to get the best out of them.

The most current iteration of the podcast see’s Brian joined by fellow podcaster Blake Wyland from The Tone Mob and Wamplers own Richard Oliver. Unfortunately, the content has gotten less about guitars & pedals and is more off-topic than it is on topic. They do have Patreon where you can subscribe for more content from them and it’s possible that they’ve moved the more guitar-related chat there. 

That being said, Brian is a master at what he does and if you’ve heard any of his stuff, you’ll agree. If you haven’t, go and check them out immediately. However, the back catalogue for The Chasing Tone podcast will keep you entertained for months (if not years) and it will give you a great baseline of what’s happened/happening in the industry of pedals.

You should be able to find this in your personal podcatcher of choice, but if not, you can find The Chasing Tone podcast here:

https://www.wamplerpedals.com/podcast/

The Tone Mob

Blake Wyland from The Chasing Tone podcast made his name in the industry through his own podcast called The Tone Mob which he’s been doing since 2015. He’s a super down to Earth dude and his interview style is incredibly relaxed. His guests genuinely sound stoked to be involved and this really comes across on the recordings.

This podcast is really fantastic as Blake takes you on a journey to learn more about the makers of gear you know and love. He asks all of the standard questions we want to know the answers to, but he also throws in the odd left-field question that really surprises some of his guests whilst the guests who are keen listeners of his show will have taken the time to think about them before coming on.

On a number of his episodes, he asks boutique pedal builders what their favourite Boss pedal is. What’s great about this is that every single builder who’s asked this question shows a huge amount of respect for Boss pedals. Even though they’re building pedals that sell for 2, 3 or even 4 times the amount of a standard Boss pedal, everyone has a favourite Boss pedal.

You should be able to find this in your personal podcatcher of choice, but if not, you can find The Tone Mob podcast here:

https://tonemob.com/podcast/

The Guitar Knobs

The Guitar Knobs podcast is something I found whilst following a specific builder and wanting to hear more about their story. However, after blitzing through their back catalogue of a few hundred episodes I came to thoroughly enjoy their show. It’s very well thought and the production quality has improved significantly over the years.

The premise of this podcast is that they interview the little guys that you won’t have necessarily heard of. They provide a fantastic platform for boutique builders of effects pedals, guitars, amps and more to raise awareness of their brands.

One of my favourite sections of their show is ‘Four On The Floor’. They ask every guest to name their four favourite effects pedals and it’s incredibly interesting to hear what each builder likes and as you progress, you start to recognise a few companies pop up over and over again.

A truly fantastic source of inspiration for giving you the confidence to go out there and try to make your hobby an actual career.

I’m sure you’ll be able to find this in your personal podcatcher of choice, but if not, you can find The Guitar Knobs podcast here:

https://www.theguitarknobs.com/podcast-episodes/

20 Questions With JHS’s Josh Scott

This podcast only ran for 29 episodes from 2015 to 2017. However, anyone who follows Josh, JHS Pedals, and his awesome YouTube channel will know that he really knows his stuff and isn’t afraid to share this knowledge. 

This knowledge share mentality also translates to the guests he had on his podcast and even though it’s a limited back catalogue, he had some incredible guests on. My personal favourite was the episode with Robert Keeley from Keeley Electronics. They really dove into the history of Keeley Electronics, how they got started and the bumpy road to get to where they are now.

If you love the pedal industry and enjoy hearing stories from the folks on the ground, this is a great podcast to fly through. He doesn’t just interview pedal builders but also features amp builders, guitar players and guitar builders. 

I’d highly recommend listening to this and to also subscribe to his YouTube channel, The JHS Show. You won’t regret it!

I’m sure you’ll be able to find this in your personal podcatcher of choice, but if not, you can find the JHS 20 Questions podcast here:

https://soundcloud.com/jhspedalspodcast

So there you have it, some of my favourite podcasts that have a huge amount of content available for DIY guitar effects pedal builders. If podcasts aren’t your thing and prefer to get your information from books, check out my guide on the best books to learn how to build DIY guitar effects pedals. Alternatively, if you like to spend your time watching videos on YouTube, check out my favourite YouTube channels for DIY guitar effects pedal builders.

If you know of any other podcasts that would be a fantastic addition to this list, please get in touch and let me know. I’m always on the lookout for additional ways to learn more about building effects pedals and the wider community.