Josh Scott has a way of talking about pedal building that makes the entire hobby feel both deeply personal and surprisingly professional. In this episode, he casually drops that he's employing 40 people in America, providing for families through pedals — then immediately pivots to say this is still his favorite creative outlet, comparing it to photography and music. The contradiction is part of what makes him compelling: he's running a manufacturing operation but treating circuit design like oil painting.
The most distinctive claim in this piece isn't about electronics at all — it's that you don't need formal education to learn this stuff. "I am a believer in education can come in many different ways," Scott says, then immediately adds: "not everyone does good with school I did not do good with school some people do well with school." This is the kind of honest admission that builds trust with an audience of hobbyists who might feel intimidated by the technical depth of other builders. He's essentially saying: I failed at school too, and it worked out fine.
The Questions That Actually Matter
Scott spends a significant portion of this episode answering questions that reveal how his audience actually builds pedals. The Strata Blaster question — which he describes as "a fatboost that was found inside of the ellic guitar" — gets a surprisingly thorough answer. He directs viewers to Google images and explains fet transistor circuits with the casual confidence of someone who has done this thousands of times.
The potentiometer question is where things get interesting. Scott clarifies that while you can use just two lugs on a pot, professionals often use all three "for safety" — as a fallback if the circuit breaks. This is the kind of practical knowledge you won't find in a schematic alone: the institutional wisdom that comes from actually building pedals for decades.
You want to in my opinion in a professional build because if it falls if if the circuit breaks or the pot breaks that ground can help you it can be a fall back.
This is exactly the insight that makes this show worth 15 minutes. Scott isn't just explaining what a potentiometer does — he's explaining why professionals make certain choices, which reveals the actual decision-making behind pedal circuits.
The Multimeter Debate
The Fluke question gets one of the most practical answers in the entire episode. Scott's defense of the expensive brand is twofold: standardization across departments so everyone shares commonality, and durability that saves money long-term because "they do not break they're Invincible." But he immediately follows with practical advice:
are there cheaper things on Amazon and stuff yeah absolutely do those work yeah and you should probably start there that'd be my advice if you know you love this hobby if you know that you're going to start a Pedal company or you're going to take this really seriously buy a flute that's that's my advice.
This is classic Scott — he's giving tiered advice based on commitment level. Not everyone needs professional-grade tools, but he makes the case for why you'd upgrade.
The Education Question
Perhaps the most vulnerable question in this episode comes from someone who says they feel like they're "assembling" rather than building, following schematics without understanding why components are where they are. Scott's answer is refreshing:
I don't have a formal education and I am a believer in education can come in many different ways.
He goes further: "this is such a good creative Outlet," describing it as something that gives you "a feeling" — something he ranks alongside oil painting and portrait photography. This framing transforms pedal building from technical training into therapeutic creativity, which opens the door for people who might feel excluded from traditional engineering education.
The DSP Rabbit Hole
When asked about building a pedal with octave effects using clean tone, Scott drops what amounts to a career path: "DSP that's the only way learn to code you could start with fv1 spin that is f as in Frank V is in Victor -1 and that is also called spin that is a chipset." He then names specific brands — EarthQuaker Devices, Robert Keeley, R3 series — as examples of companies that have mastered this. The response is part answer, part industry landscape tour.
This is where the episode becomes genuinely useful for someone considering going deeper into pedal building: pointing toward the actual rabbit hole to go down, with specific brand names and a timeline estimate of "like two or three years."
Critics Might Note...
Some viewers might find Scott's casual approach — the constant self-correction, the sticky notes, the random tangents about poop (yes, he actually included that question) — either endearing or distracting. The raw authenticity he promises in the opening doesn't always serve the content: "I want this show to be raw and real I want you to see me stumble not no I want to just be honest." That commitment to rawness sometimes means less focused answers than polished tutorials might provide.
Additionally, his take on education could use more nuance. While he correctly notes that formal schooling isn't required for technical skills, he doesn't address the structural advantages some people have — access to equipment, time for experimentation, community resources — that aren't equally distributed.
Bottom Line
This episode works because Scott treats his audience as capable of handling real answers to intermediate questions. The strongest part is his honest admission about education: you don't need college, but you also shouldn't assume everyone has the same path to this hobby. His weakest moment is less a flaw than a missed opportunity — he could have gone deeper into what "learning" actually looks like for autodidacts.
The real value here isn't in any single answer but in the cumulative effect of watching someone with 40 employees and decades of experience treat pedal building as both a business and "my favorite hobby still much as I love photography." That framing — making room for creative expression inside a professional operation — is what distinguishes this series from typical electronics tutorials.