Thanks for the replies.

Yea, I realize I have to learn a bunch, I am gonna do a battery powered amp first with a speaker I found on an old walkie talkie. But I don't see how theres a risk of getting shocked if I always work on the amp unplugged. Correct me if I'm wrong though.

My experience is basically 2 fuzz pedals that don't work quite right, but well enough that I don't care.

Just realized I posted this in the wrong section, sorry, someone please move this  xP

I only want a volume knob, nothing else, can I just run some transistors in a row and put some high ohm pot at the end for volume? The idea was to make a portable, loud enough to gig amp with a pedalboard for all EQ, distortion and effects.