Here's FXDB's interview with Chris, Pascal & Fabrice of Gamin'3:

How did Gamin'3 start?

We started by building pedals for ourselves (we are all guitarists), then for friends, finally for other musicians...

We build only the pedals we love, the ones with which we want to play.

Here's FXDB's interview with Tomokaz Kawamura of One Control:

How did One Control start?

I had a business selling pedals for a few years already when I built the first prototype and tested it extensively. When I was finally satisfied with the tone I found a factory that could build it on for me in bulk. We started two years after the first prototype was built and I was the only employee at my company but I had a lot of help from pedal builders that I already knew.

I am no talented guy but I have ton of very talented friends who helped me: Bjorn at BJF, Nicholas at Catalinbread, James at Amptweaker, Brian at Subdecay and more and more... I got a ton of advice from them, so our products are very good quality.

Here's FXDB's interview with Mark Smith of Smitty Pedals:

Where does the name come from?

My wife came up with the name. You would think that it is called that because my last name is Smith but actually I don't like to be called Smitty. Smitty Pedals is named in honor of my dad who died of cancer at a pretty young age. He was always called Smitty.

Here's FXDB's interview with Michael Thorpe of Mode Machines:

How did Mode Machines start?

We started doing this mid 2010 after we had been working on many analog projects. We co-designed the Moogerfoogers with Bob Moog many years back, when he was working for some weeks at our store "Touched by Sound", but we have also been working and co-designing products for various other brands, such as:

• Braintec
• MAM Music and More
• TBS Touched by Sound
• HDB Audio
• Vermona
• Yamaha
• Stanton Magnetics
• FAT Freeform Analogue Technologies
• NEXT!

Our team and engineers were mostly responsible for all the MAM (Music and More) products and during the year 2009 we got together again and decided to make our own products with a brand new name.

Our work has been a big cooperation between us and Jürgen Haible (famous Synth DIY'er) who unfortunately passed away end of 2011. RIP.

Here's FXDB's interview with Alex Bajger of Bayger:

How did Bayger start?

From the age of 15 years, I was as a guitarist and enthusiastic radio amateur interested in the sounds of electric guitar and fascinated by the effect on people, when it can get tones that sends people, at least for a moment, into the realm of fantasy. And therefore since my youth I rebuilt tube amplifiers, built boosters and experimented with electric guitars and pickups. And that has lasted to this day. The peak of this work was the development of tube amps (The Blue series) and tuning guitar effects for the George Dennis company.

I certainly had good luck with the people around me. For many years I worked more or less with one of them: Mr. S. Turon.

I am inspired by more people, especially great guitarists for what they can get from an electric guitar and of course designers, people like Jim Marshall, Leo Fender,... without whom this would not be possible. Also Les Paul, Mr. Rickenbacker, Jim Dunlop, the Vox company, Colorsound, Paul Rivera, Mr. Soldano, Mr. Bogner, Nick Epiphani,Steven Fryette - and from the history of the Czechoslovak Republic - musician and friend Mr. Martin Koval, Mr. George Kubala, the Regent Company, the Tesla company, Mr. George Krampera - and then later many other companies and great people who made gear and enabled artists to realize their music and their expression in a beautiful and original sound.

Here's FXDB's interview with Derek Donohue of California Valveworks:

How did California Valveworks start?

I've always loved guitar and got my first guitar when I was 11. In college I got really into guitar and songwriting, especially after my friend Eric Sargent (from Ekoostik Hookah) and I became roommates, as he was already enviably good. At the time I was pursuing a major in physics, so I was learning E&M theory and electronics. On occasion I would muse about building a pedal board full of my own effects pedals. It kind of worked out that way and kind of didn't.

A few years later when boutique pedals were starting to become a thing, I was in a phase where I was really enamored with some of the classic guitar tones like Townsend, Brian May, and Jimi Hendrix. Believe it or not I was working as a nuclear physicist at the time, and making decent money, so I set out to own the same gear those guys used. I ended up (much to my wife and neighbors' dismay) with a Hiwatt, a Fender Band Master, a Rickenbacker M-11 and Vox AC15, trying to capture old tones. But when I started looking into the pedals they used, it occurred to me "hey, this stuff is super simple and I can make my own". These words have gotten me in trouble so many times, but in this case they proved to be true. Like many amateur DIYers I started with building treble boosts out of my love for Brian May and Queen. I built one for myself that took days, and sounded like crap. But I learned a lot and pretty well had it mastered by the time I was totally done. I built another one for Eric to try, and one for my brother since it was around Christmas time 2006. For the one I built for my brother, I found some 'chicken head' knobs and decided to use it. I gave it to him, I asked him what he thought and he said something to the effect of "who wouldn't like a free range master with a chicken head knob?" That was how the name Free Range Chicken was born. It became our first and most successful pedal, and the springboard for what California Valveworks does and all it has become.

Who inspired or helped you?

When I set out to make a treble boost, I bought an Analog Man Beano Boost, and having spent some time in product development really dug into the quality, detail, assembly, components, etc. Analog Man makes quality stuff and I have always held his pedals up as the standard of quality we try to meet or exceed. I've never met or talked to him, but I tip my hat to him for his great pedals and inspiring me to make my own.

Like all DIYers I buy a lot of parts from Small Bear Electronics, who has been indispensable to me, as has John at Effects Connection. Eric is a walking encyclopedia of gear knowledge and has maybe the best ears in the known universe. He has been a major factor in determining our direction and assuring our pedals can meet the challenge of the big stage. Also, many of our customers have kept in touch and provided valuable input over the years. We aren't the biggest operation in the world but we will hear feedback from anyone who cares enough to provide it. In that regard California Valveworks is as much the product of its own customers and peers as it is of anything I've done. I'm just the guy who sweats over the soldering iron.

Here's FXDB's interview with Joseph Halliday of Hello Sailor Effects:

How did Hello Sailor Effects start?

One day I just decided I wanted my own pedals to look great as well as sound great so I decided to design new enclosures for my pedals and it took off from there, I have always been fascinated by the inner workings of pedals.

My main inspiration was Rodger Mayer, he makes some of the best fuzz pedals which are my personal favourite type of effects and he comes from a military background like me.

Here's FXDB's interview with Mick W. of MW Hand-Built Pedals:

How did MW Hand-Built Pedals start?

I starting working over a decade ago as custom service for building and modifying electronic musical equipment. What started out as a request to build a 'reliable' fuzz pedal that captured both the sound of Hendrix/Vaughan and worked great alongside a modern rig, became a decade long obsession.

I had great support from Regent Sounds (Denmark St/SoHo/London) who over the past couple of years have stocked all the Fuzzytone range.
Richtone Music has also stocked the Fuzzytone (available to buy online and in store).

Here's FXDB's interview with Gaël Loison of TouellSkouarn:

How did TouellSkouarn start?

It all started by repairing an old mono tube amp I found in the attic!

I learned most from the DIY Stompboxes forum and reading on internet.

Here's FXDB's interview with Gerben Tigchelaar of Black Velvet:

How did Black Velvet start?

I started building pedals during my Bachelor course in electrical engineering, where I specialized in music systems. At a certain moment I had developed a distortion pedal which I thought was really great (the Blue Edition). That's when I started Black Velvet. After a number of requests I introduced a second version of the same pedal with more low frequencies in its response, which became the Orange Edition.

I did learn a lot from Dolf Koch during my internship at Koch (the amplifier brand).