It's Not Only a Boss Clone - It's a Yellow and Blue Pedal

Generally I like to try and compartmentalize my hobbies away from politics. Honestly, I try to compartmentalize a lot of things because in today's world it is far too easy for politics to pervade all topics, all the time, with the maximum possible emphasis. I'm also a graduate / fan of Ohio State University, so to feature the colors yellow (or maize) and blue is a big step in even the worst of times. That being said, the crisis in the Ukraine is as abominable as it is appalling. I sincerely hope the international community finds the political and strategic will to take meaningful action to first return the situation to status quo ante and then continue sanctions against Putin and his oligarchs to weaken their power structure and ability to cause further harm. Therefore in support of the people of the Ukraine, I'm making it a point today to feature a blue and yellow pedal. I wish I could take more meaningful action.

As I'd mentioned in a previous blog entry, I'd been having trouble with one of my Boss pedals, and this is the culprit. AionFX's Sapphire is one of the new Boss pedals released toward the end of last year. Overall I've always had great success with AionFX pedals, with very few not working immediately (and those that didn't work have generally been easy to debug). This one caused me some issues. The first pedal fired up okay (well, at least the light came on), but while I got sound in bypass mode, I got nothing in active mode. I audio probed back to Q4 which seemed to have an issue. Unfortunately in trying to de-solder Q4, the trace broke pretty much ruining the board - so this is take two! The BD-2 is still in production, so stock units can be had for reasonable prices (~$115 new), but building is always cheaper (assuming you don't have to build it twice, but even then...). However, the AionFX project also supports one of the most common modifications of the BD-2 pedal - the Galaxie mod which replaces a lot of the passive components and givens the pedal a different sound and character. I'm planning on building one of those too now that I've got the stock version working!

Fuzz Friday!!! The First Clone of the Boss FZ-3

I'm still working my way through various Boss clones, and I still have several more to do for the "first wave" of clones. The first wave has been pretty much based on AionFX boards, but there there will be a "second wave" where I go a bit further afield. For this particular build, I'm using the Aion Argent clone of the fairly rare Boss FZ-3 fuzz pedal. Initially produced in 1997 as a successor to the FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz (a far more complex build that I posted earlier this month), it was discontinued after a couple of years. Like many other discontinued Boss pedals, this one eventually developed a small cult following including  John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins). Despite their relative rarity, original units can be had for between $200 and $300. AionFX is apparently the first company to offer an accurate PCB of the unit as previous traces had some key errors limiting functionality.

Take the Bypass - P2 Clone - Now With Cornish Bypass

A little less than a week ago, I posted a build of the Cornish P-2 as traced and published by Effects Layouts. For that first build I used a PCB Guitar Mania 3PDT stomp switch board as I wanted to make sure that the PCB itself actually worked. That build quickly became one of my favorite pedals, so I wanted to take the next step and try it with the actual Cornish Bypass (originally traced as part of Effects Layouts G-2 project). I am hoping to offer a few of these for sale in the not so distant future, so I wanted to make sure the board worked properly with and without the Cornish Bypass.

2nd Generation Boss Overdrive - Cloning the OD-2r Turbo Overdrive!

It's been over a week since I posted my last Boss clone, and sadly I'm still debugging one of the Boss PCBs I've been working on to no resolution yet. I'll keep banging away at it though. In the meantime I've finished up another one of the recent releases from AionFX, the Aurum project, which clones the Boss OD-2 pedal's Turbo mode. The original OD-2 had a "Turbo" mode which could be turned on or off - this particular clone only includes the circuitry for that Turbo path. The non-turbo mode is not included, even as a toggle switch. The standard BOM also will build the OD-2r version of the pedal, as the volume control on the original OD-2 had to be pretty much cranked to 100% to get unity volume coming out of the pedal. The OD-2r fixed that issue, and that fix carries through to the standard Aurum build. That being said, if you want the original, AionFX calls out where parts should be substituted to build that version of the pedal.

Old School Big Muff Pi - Or Hold My Beer, I'm Gonna Try Something

I know, I know, yes - it's another Big Muff Pi clone. I like them, a lot. There will be more in the future. For this one, however, I decided to do something a little different. I'm still using the AionFX Halo board for this build - largely because I wanted a rock solid PCB for this experiment. If it ended up not working, I wanted it to be because of an issue with components rather than an issue with the board itself. The difference comes in my component choice. If you look at a lot of the early BMPs (like the one in the photo below), you'll see a lot of carbon resistors and ceramic capacitors. My first BMP build used older Allen-Bradley resistors, but all modern film capacitors. Later, I built a Ram's Head variant on a home-etched PCB - again with old school resistors but the capacitors were Panasonic film capacitors (not new by any stretch of the imagination, but not ceramic either). So this time around, I decided I'd try and go with ceramic capacitors across the board to see how the sound changed.

Early V1 BMP - Photo from Kitrae's page

Modern Clone of a Very Early Fuzz - The Roland Bee Baa

In 1972, Roland began introducing effects pedals. According to some, part of their failure to gain a real foothold in the U.S. market stemmed from the fact that the Japanese parent company chose poor English names for their pedals. The Japanese auto manufacturers often managed to avoid the same issue in this era, for example the 240Z / 260Z / 280Z, etc. instead of the "Fairlady Z" as it was known in Japan. One of the most unusual, and according to some the worst, was the Bee Baa - a fuzz pedal with two primary modes. One which evoked a swarm of bees, the other a flock of sheep - subject to listener interpretation, of course. Honestly, I think the name is hilarious, but given this was the 1970s, "Bee Baa" likely didn't scream "rock and roll." For this build, I used the AionFX Ibex PCB. The documentation only dates to last October so this is a relatively new project, and there were still a couple of mis-labeled capacitors (though the values were correct - a couple of films caps were called out as electrolytic and vice versa). 

Going Basic to Clone the Cornish P-2

Pete Cornish is a well-known pedal builder and designer out of the UK with an A-list of clients that includes the likes Brian May, Pete Townshend, and, one of my personal favorites, David Gilmour. All Cornish pedals are hand made in the UK to an extremely high standard, and are incredibly expensive. The subject of this build, the Cornish P-2, is essentially one of the ultimate evolutions of the Big Muff Pi circuit, and it runs for anywhere between $800-$1200 on Reverb depending on condition. I've seen new prices available from the Cornish website, but it is unclear how long the wait time is. As I mentioned in my entry on photoetching last month, I etched up several P-2 boards along with a couple of Cornish Bypass boards as well. I've managed to populate one board so far, and while I'm using a conventional bypass 3PDT daughterboard (from PCB Guitar Mania) for this first build I plan additional builds with the actual Cornish Bypass.

Brown Alert??? Cloning Lovetone's Brown Source

So, I'm going to chalk this up as one of the pedals with one of the worst names, yet having one of the best sounds out there. The Lovetone Brown Source was originally released in 1995, and tried to capture the "brown sound" - that elusive distortion tone that so many rock guitarists try to achieve. The term itself was originally coined by Eddie Van Halen, and many different pedals, amps, and combinations thereof have been used over the decades to try and find that perfect organic tone. Actual vintage Lovetone pedals start at $700 and go up into low four-digits from there, so this is yet another pedal screaming for a decent clone. In July of last year, AionFX released four Lovetone clones, including one of the Doppelganger which I completed last year and posted a review of in October. This project, the Obelisk, was released at the same time, and I finally managed to get it completed!

The Original Big Muff - The Venerable V1 Perf

I know, I know, it's been only around three weeks since I posted a Big Muff Pi build, but I do enjoy the circuit and seem to have very good luck with them, regardless of the source of PCB. For this particular build I wanted to try and go as old school as possible, with the earliest V1 model - a "triangle" BMP built on perf board. Once again I'm using the AionFX Halo PCB for this build, and I'd already had an enclosure worked up in my most recent batch from Tayda. 

Abra Kadabra! It's a Sabbra Cadabra Clone!

I'd originally intended to post another Boss project today, but I've had a very uncharacteristic failure to function issue with a Boss / AionFX build. I'm still working on that debug off and on, but in the meantime here's another pedal that I recently finished up. I'm hoping to get back to the Boss builds later in the week and get the dead one debugged.

Distortion pedals are a staple of rock pedal boards everywhere, and there are tons of options both vintage and modern to help the player get whatever particular sound they're looking for. This particular project is a clone of the Catalinbread Sabbra Cadabra, which helps the player capture Tony Iommi's tone in a convenient 125B-sized box. Originally released in 2014, the pedal is still in production and isn't terribly expensive. However, you can file this one in the "it's cheaper to build" - at least a bit - category. For this build I used the AionFX Ceres project board and original MPF4393 transistors purchased directly from AionFX. 

Vintage Overdrive Build - The Colorsound Power Boost

When this blog entry goes live on Sunday morning, I'll likely be heading out with a friend to go pick up a vintage British sports car he just purchased - and then trying to drive it home several hundred miles... Wish us luck! In honor of the occasion, I thought I'd post a recent build of a vintage British effects pedal - in every way I can possibly make it! A few weeks ago I posted a build of the AionFX Plasma, a direct copy of the Colorsound Overdriver with an added volume control. Apart from the BC184 transistors, I built that pedal with all modern parts - metal film resistors, film capacitors, etc. I honestly love that pedal, but I wanted to take it a step back and try something fun - using as many vintage parts as possible to build its immediate predecessor, the Colorsound Power Booster. AionFX has released this PCB as the Nucleus, and as with the Plasma it is pretty much a direct copy of the original with a volume knob added. With even the reproductions running $700+, this is yet another great cloning opportunity.

Vintage Boss Distortion - In More Ways Than One!

The Boss DS-1 Distortion pedal has a very mixed reputation. While it wasn't one of the first three small form-factor effects pedals released by Boss like the Spectrum I posted a couple of days ago, it's almost as old - dating to 1978. The major difference is that the DS-1 distortion pedal has been in continuous production since then. So why clone a pedal that's in production and can be had for low price of $59 at Sweetwater? In 1994, the pedal underwent a major revision necessitated by the discontinuation of the TA7136P IC pre-amp chip (that wasn't even actually an op-amp). The re-designed and re-voiced pedal is regarded as, in AionFX's words, "a poor quality beginner's pedal." For that reason, most modern clones are designed to capture the pre-1994 version of the pedal, which does generally go for over $200-300 on reverb, or one of the myriad of modifications that have been made to the pedal over the years, or both!

One of the Original Three - Cloning the Boss SP-1 Spectrum

Three Pedals for the Shredder-kings under the sky,

Seven for the Metal-lords in their halls of stone,

Nine for Power Groups doomed to die...

Excerpt from Lord of the Pedal Board...

In 1977 Boss entered the world of compact guitar effects pedals with the release of three pedals - the OD-1 Overdrive, the PH-1 Phaser, and the SP-1 Spectrum. In honor of the 40th anniversary of their release, Boss produced a limited run anniversary set of 1500 units with reproductions of all three of these pedals. They had to make a few changes to the circuit and some component substitutions, of course, but the final circuit adjustments were all still performed by hand on the new production units just as they were with the originals. The SP-1 was essentially a parametric equalizer pedal that could really create some unique sounds if fed into a boost pedal. With original copies costing anywhere from $500-$800 - and the limited reissues at nearly the same price point, this would seem to be an ideal candidate for DIY clones.

A Slightly Easier Boss Chorus - The CE-2

This build is based on another gem in the recent Boss releases from AionFX. The Azure project is a slightly modified clone of the Boss CE-2 chorus. The original pedal was released in 1979 with a bass version following in 1987 using the same basic circuit. Unlike the Dimension C with only four modes that toggle, the CE-2 is a more conventional pedal with potentiometers controlling Rate and Depth. The Bass version included a Mix function to blend clean signal back in, which is brought over in the Azure project (as it can build both versions). Setting the Mix knob to full makes the effect identical to the original guitar circuit. You can get an updated version of this pedal as a Waza Craft for about $220, and prices for originals go north from there. So again, this is a great candidate for a clone.

Cloning the Mad Professor's Distortion

Despite the recent trend, I am actually still building clones of pedals that weren't produced by Boss. This build is based on the Aion Protolith, a clone of the Mad Professor Stone Grey Distortion. It was a fun (and quick) little build - especially in light of all of the recent complex pedals I've been building. The Stone Grey Distortion's lineage goes back to a circuit in a 1980s Japanese electronics book. This was adapted in 2009 by Bjorn Juhl and then sold to Mad Professor for general production in 2011. 

Death Pedal - Cloning the Boss HM-2

So, think of this as a "bonus" Boss pedal blog entry. In my review of the AionFX Emerald, I'd indicated that it was my second Boss pedal build after the Dimension Chorus and later edited the post indicating that there was one other Boss pedal I'd completed. I'd forgotten that this particular build, the AionFX Graviton, was a Boss pedal for a couple of reasons. First, it was one of my very early builds and second, I went with a completely non-Boss inspired original enclosure design for the pedal itself. The project itself is a clone of the somewhat niche Boss HM-2 "Heavy Metal" distortion pedal. It was only originally produced from 1983 to 1991 with little fanfare, but apparently the Scandinavian Death Metal scene has decided to pick it up, crank all of the knobs to 11, and run with it. Waza Craft new production versions of this pedal will set you back almost $200, with original Boss models exceeding that. So once again this is a great candidate for cloning.

Aion's Hypercube - Boss FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz Clone

This entry continues the litany of builds focusing on AionFX's Boss pedal clones. The Hypercube is an adaptation of the Boss FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz originally released in 1993 and discontinued in 1997. Like many older Boss pedals, this one gained a cult following and is now starting to really creep up in value. NOS boxes are going north of $500 on Reverb, but used offerings are generally falling in the $300-$400 range. This project is not one of the recent six releases, and I'd picked it up a while back but never gotten around to getting it built. However, with the new litany of Boss releases, I decided now was the time to loop back and get this beauty built!

Another New Boss Clone - The OD-3 Overdrive!

The Boss OD-3 Overdrive pedal is a newer (well, relative to most other Boss pedals I've built recently!) pedal first released in 1997. The AionFX Heliodor clone was released in November alongside five other Boss clones in DIY PCB form. As I mentioned in my recent Emerald (Boss PH-1R Phaser) build, I went ahead and picked up the whole set (along with a few other surprises), and this is the second one of that set I've managed to complete. Unlike many of the pedals I've built, the OD-3 is still in production and is available new from Boss. It's not terribly expensive (you can pick one up for $113.99 from Sweetwater), but building it is still cheaper than buying one outright. The only downside is you can't really replicate the Boss-style enclosure easily - unless you happen to have a dead one lying about.

A Nightmare on Echo Street - PCB Guitar Mania's Echo Dream Clone

So this particular build has to rank up there with the absolute weirdest pedals I've ever put together and played, and it can be a real wolf in sheep's clothing depending on how you set the controls! Based on the Death by Audio Echo Dream 2, PCB Guitar Mania's Echo Nightmare PCB (available in trough-hole or SMD formats) is a pretty faithful adaptation of the original based on my playtesting so far. You're able to get a huge variety of tones and delay times with the pedal, and add fuzz. You can even kill the dry signal and only hear repeats if that's your jam (though I'm still struggling to understand an application for that functionality in anything outside extremely experimental music!). 

Set Phasers to Stun! The Boss PH-1r

In November of last year, AionFX announced six new boards based on classic Boss pedals - with four of the six never having appeared as a DIY PCB before. Needless to say I picked up the whole set. In addition to the new PCBs, AionFX also offered special JFET sets which would facilitate building these pedals, as in many cases the circuits required JFETs no longer available in anything but SMD form. The PCB boards themselves support adding an SMD if you're up to it, or you can buy pre-soldered SMDs from AionFX on through-hole mini-boards - just add your own jumpers!

For this first entry in the series, I'm going through my build of the Emerald - a clone of the Boss PH-1r Phaser pedal originally released in 1980. These pedals are not exactly rare or incredibly expensive - good examples run around $200 on Reverb, with mint examples still falling below the $400 mark - but they have been hard to clone because they require four matched JFETs to function properly (and matching through hole JFETs is hard enough, I can only imagine what a pain in the aaa... butt... matching SMDs would be). Fortunately, AionFX offers matched sets of JFETs for only $8 - which is totally worth it from where I sit!

The Electric Druid Digital Delay - Another Great Teaching Pedal!

If you're new to electronics, getting started building your own effects pedals can be fairly daunting. Fortunately there are several companies and individuals working to make things a bit more approachable. I'd previously written about building the Anasounds Tremolo pedal, which includes not only decent instructions but online videos which will walk you through the whole process. While it lacks a full video course, Electric Druid's Digidelay project includes some of the best instructions I've ever seen for an effects pedal (or any other electronics project for that matter). Each step is clearly detailed, and in-build power tests are included so you can check reference voltages to ensure the pedal is working long before you even add the pots!

The Pedal Board's New Groove - Way Huge Red Llama Clone!

So here was a fun, easy, and fast build for a really neat little pedal. The Aion Yacana is a slightly modified version of the Way Huge Red Llama, originally released in 1992. There's actually a decent demo video of the pedal on YouTube that I recommend for anyone looking to build this pedal. If you turn the drive knob down, it basically puts more signal into your amp while retaining your amp's intrinsic character. If you start adding drive, it will add some hair / distortion to the signal as you start bringing in the IC on board (that does most of the heavy lifting for the effect pedal). Aion FX version adds a boost toggle switch not on the original that provides additional gain ranges. This primarily impacts the range of the drive knob, and based on my test compared to the demo video, the downmost position appears to mirror the basic pedal most closely.