And Now for Something Completely Different! Friedman BE OD Deluxe Clone

So this build (well, it was actually a double-build) represents a couple of firsts for me. First and foremost, this is the first pedal commission build I've done. A friend approached me and asked if I'd do a pedal for their brother for his birthday. We settled on an "IOU" where he got to pick the pedal and I'd get it together for him. I've built a lot of different pedals, but leaving a request open ended like that always leaves you open to surprises. At the same time, guitar tone and pedalboards are fairly personal, so people tend to like to pick their own. He ended up choosing the Friedman BE OD Deluxe as the pedal he wanted. "Great," I thought... "What's that???" I thought next. After a bit of research I found the information on it. The pedal emulates the Friedman BE-100 amplifier with a high-gain and lower-gain channel, and it's not particularly cheap retailing for around $270. So I set about to find a clone of this beast and get cracking.

Quick News Updates and Upcoming Production Schedule

The blog has been quiet for a few days while I've been working in the background on a few items, but I wanted to take a moment and give everyone an update on a few recent topics and make a few announcements. 

First up, as I indicated earlier in the month, I entered the StG-90 in the Warmoth guitar of the month contest on their forum. Well, the results are in and... I didn't win, but I did come in a strong second out of six with over 20% of the total vote (8 votes vs. the winning entry's 11). The winning entry was submitted by a previous guitar of the month winner, and was honestly pretty dang stunning. So for my first time out, I can't say I'm disappointed in how well the guitar did.

Renaming a Classic Big Muff Variant - Because... Reasons...

When I did my first build of a Tayda Big Muff Pi board back in January, I mentioned that the board included a set of instructions to allow you to build a total of seven (of the myriad) variations of this venerable circuit. I built my first one up as a Triangle, and it quickly became one of my favorite BMP pedals (okay, to be honest, there's none I don't like, but a few rise to the top). After finishing up that one, I'd devised a "cunning plan" to create not only a few more fun BMP pedals for my use, but a few to sell to "support the habit" as it were. Since I'm fairly good at Soviet green paint jobs (as you can see in my first Civil War / Red Army build as well as the enclosure I painted for a friend), I figured it would be fun to try and build a Sovtek BMP clone with as close to the original components as possible.

Double Dutch Distortion - Two Boss DS-1 Builds!

About a month ago, I published an article covering my build of the legacy version of AionFX's Comet - their original clone of the Boss DS-1 pedal. AionFX's design philosophy changed a few years back. Instead of making very modular boards with myriad options built in, the focus shifted to more approachable designs with only the most popular options explicitly spelled out in the instructions. This makes building effects pedals more approachable for people without extensive electronics experience - or an electronics degree - like me. At the end of the legacy Comet build, I'd indicated that I planned to build a couple of the modern version of this project, so without further ado, here are those builds!

Completing the Original Three - The Boss OD-1 Overdrive!

In 1977, Boss released its first three compact effects pedals for guitar. I'd previously built the AionFX clones of two of them: the PH-1r Phaser (the Emerald) and the SP-1 Spectrum (the Chroma). With two of three complete, you knew I'd eventually get around to finishing the set. AionFX's Parhelion is a clone of the Boss OD-1 Overdrive pedal with a couple of added features giving the pedal a little more flexibility. Note, the legacy version of this project (like the legacy version of the Comet board I built few weeks ago) was originally called the "Corona" (as in the corona of the sun), but when the new version of the project was released in 2021 the name was changed for, well, obvious reasons!

Warmoth Build in Guitar of the Month Contest

Just a quick update for today. I've been out of commission guitar-wise for a week since I cut my finger early last week. My level of self-recrimination has been very high. I've also been working on a couple of fun projects, but they're not ready to add to the page yet. I'm hoping to actually get some things finished and posted later this week. That being said, the Warmoth Guitar of the Month contests have started back up for the year at the Unofficial Warmoth Forum. March's theme is "Warmoth or other professionally finished" instruments. I took a couple of new pictures of the StG 90, my Gibson SG tribute I built back in November, with the finishing touches being added at the first of the year, and submitted it to the contest. This remains one of my favorite guitars because it has so much tonal range.