Aion Convex - Dinosaural OTC-201 Major Steggo Update!

Almost exactly a year ago I posted my first Dinosaural OTC-201 build. Since that time, the pedal has literally lived on my board. It is one of my most used and useful pedals, and has in the intervening months completely taken over compressor duties on my board (in fact, I recently sold my MXR Script Dyna Comp as I simply wasn't using it). If you can find one of these beauties, they still run in the $300-$400 range, but a quick check revealed none for sale. So, I decided it was high time I moved on from the borrowed graphics of the first version, and create a truly Steggo version of the pedal!

By and large the build went as before using the AionFX Convex board. Unfortunately I didn't have any BC307B transistors, so I had to use the suggested 2N3906 substitution (which are also running low in the parts bin). I did, however, use the original BC549C transistors (as I think I've cornered the market on those). The resistors are mostly Yageo 1% metal film, and this time around the film capacitors are all WIMA. As before I used the Xvive Vactrols from Cabintech.

The off board wiring follows the standard pattern I've used for all AionFX builds. Because this pedal has a buffered bypass option, it uses all six of the connections between the daughter board and the main PCB. I'm continuing to use ribbon cable for these as it is the easiest way to connect them, and it looks good.

At this point I've built two of them - one for me and one to share, and those of you who remember the previous build (or clicked the link) will note that the enclosure is the same color as the previous build (matte violet from Tayda). I honestly really liked the style of the artwork on the first pedal I built, but as I'd borrowed it from Teeturtle, I couldn't use it long term. 

Image from AionFX Tracing Journal

The other problem with my first build is I used the original name for the pedal - Dinosaural OTC-201. With a company name like "Dinosaural" you'd expect really cool looking pedals, but instead you get the rather bland and boring enclosure above. So I needed art that was an homage to my original pedal, and a killer new dinosaur themed name worthy of Steggo himself! No pressure!

Fortunately my wife is an amazing artist, and worked up not only an awesome Stegosaurus, but some suitably apocalyptic incoming meteors as well. So that had the art covered, and since this pedal essentially chased my script Dyna Comp off of the pedal board, I figured only one name would work - the Dino Comp, of course! As this is a real boutique pedal, it's naturally a script Dino Comp as well!

So, there you have it. My pedal board will now have a suitably Steggo compressor pedal. The original build will likely end up in my travel kit of prototypes I'm working on assembling at this point. Just need to get that new power supply for the travel board!