The Hypercube is in many ways similar to the Dimension C build in that it consists of multiple PCBs that are stacked using three and six pin male and female connectors. Unlike the Dimension C build, this one includes a more traditional bypass board for the 3PDT switch, though the layout and components are very different from most other AionFX offerings. Needless to say, this is rated as an "Advanced" build.
Starting with the topmost board, you can see the outlines for the potentiometers and toggle switch on the same side as the rest of the components. This layout is somewhat unusual, but in order to get the project to fit into a 125B enclosure, rather than having the components facing the bottom of the enclosure, they actually face the top. As you can see above I'm still burning down several of those angled 10K ohm resistors. I was initially a little concerned that they might be too tall, so I measured some of the other components and verified that I'd have plenty of clearance.
The top board is fairly dense with an IC, six transistors, two diodes, and a host of passive components. You can see the box outlines for the male pin connectors (which are added later). For this particular build, I went with the recommended substitute transistors (a mix of J201, 2N3906, and 2N5088 transistors) as I wasn't able to easily source any of the originals. Based on my sound check after completion, the pedal's tone doesn't appear to suffer at all for the substitutions. It is also worth nothing that the bypass board is a bit different from what you typically see in an AionFX kit. Normally you have an LED resistor, a Schottky diode, a 100n MLCC capacitor, and maybe one other resistor. This one includes a "capacitance multiplier" like what was implemented in the original circuit - likely to reduce noise.
Flipping the top board over, the female three and six pin connectors are visible. These allow the two PCBs to communicate with each other, and it was one of the most difficult parts of the earlier Dimension C build. That build was further complicated by wires actually running to both of the PCBs which tended to try and push them apart. Fortunately I picked up a lot of tricks for getting the female connectors lined up properly, which made the next steps of the build much easier!
With the female connectors in, the easiest way to get everything lined up perfectly is to add the male connectors and then place the top PCB on the short pins of the male connectors. Once everything is lined up soldering the male connectors to the top PCB is fairly straightforward. The key it to ensure that the pin connectors are attached to the correct side of the board.
As you can see from the photo above, the male connectors neatly line up in their designated spaces on the top PCB. I recommend waiting until all of the other components are in place on the lower PCB before attempting to add the male connectors. I added the six pin female connectors to the upper boards before adding all of the capacitors so I'd have more room for my soldering iron, but I left the three pin female connectors until the end.
With the pin connectors in place, much of the rest of the build is far more conventional for an AionFX project. There are a total of four wires running from the bypass board to the upper PCB, and the traditional four wires coming out of the bypass board for power, ground, input, and output.
Once the potentiometers and mode toggle switch are soldered down, the lower PCB simply clicks into place. As there are no wiring connections pushing them apart, the friction of the connection appears to be good enough to hold the board in place. If I ever have any trouble with the lower board slipping, I'll just add a layer of insulation under it to keep it pressed into the female pin connectors.
As with all of my recent Boss pedal builds, I've gone with an homage to the original enclosure for my build. I'm particularly proud of this one as I was finally able to do something I'd never been able to make work on a Tayda UV printed enclosure. As you can see in the photo above, the labels for all of the controls are in white on what appears to be a black background. The only catch is, UV printers put down white first, then colors (including black), and finally any gloss coat. Therefore if you want white lettering showing through on a color, you need a transparent portion of the layer in Illustrator. I thought I had it figured out, and this result shows I actually managed to get it right!
Overall the pedal sounds great. Both of the Fuzz modes have a lot of character, so it is really like two fuzz pedals in one. The Gain Boost is just a clean gain mode with no fuzz - so you can actually use this pedal as a boost or a fuzz. Which sort of brings me to my one criticism of the board, project, and documentation. As with most AionFX boards (and for that matter - any most commercially available PCBs) - the "Mode" toggle switch is just labeled "Mode" on the drill template and documentation. I decided to go ahead and order my enclosure based on the labeling on the original Boss pedal. Unfortunately, in this build the Clean and Fuzz I settings are reversed from the original, so my labels are reversed. In the final analysis, it's not a huge deal, and if I ever make any of these to sell I'd fix it, but I'd really love to see the PCB makers clearly label their toggle switches which would make ordering enclosures a lot easier.
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