Another BMP Variant? Cloning Frantone's The Sweet

It's been a while since I've done a Big Muff Clone (in my world two months is an eternity!), and I figured it was time I finished up a project that's been collecting dust - Frantone's The Sweet. Frantone is an independent pedal builder who does a lot of very cool fuzz effects (though there are others thrown in there). I was intrigued by her big muff variant as it includes a couple of germanium transistors and I honestly wanted to see what it would do. Unfortunately there isn't a commercial PCB available, but since when has that stopped me?

Steggo Studios Tayda UV Printing Tutorial

A lot of people have asked about the art on my enclosures. Almost all of my enclosures are UV printed by Tayda. They do some amazing work, but there is a learning curve to getting it "right" - so I've put together this tutorial on the steps and programs I use to get my enclosures together. I will have a PDF version of this tutorial as well and I can send it out.

Steggo Studios Tayda UV Printing Tutorial

This guide is designed for individuals wanting to create enclosures using Tayda Electronics’ (https://www.taydaelectronics.com/) UV printing service using Adobe Illustrator. At this point, Illustrator is the only program that is known to work correctly 100% of the time with the Roland VersaWorks printers used by Tayda. This tutorial will assume that you have a basic working knowledge of how to use Illustrator, but I’ll include a few fun tips and techniques as well.

Step 1 – Start with the Right Template!

Tayda has both Adobe Illustrator and PDF versions of their UV templates. Each size of enclosure has its own template, and they’re available online when you order the UV print job:

https://www.taydaelectronics.com/hardware/enclosures/enclosure-uv-printing-service.html

Another Filthy Rodent - Cloning the Old School Rat / Dirty Rat

The Pro Co Rat distortion pedal in one of the most ubiquitous effect pedals sold. It remains inexpensive in its base version (about $79 new), though modified pedals quickly climb over $100. For example, the germanium diode equipped "Dirty Rat" version retails for $179. With prices for the basic unit so low, it therefore only makes economic sense to clone one of the modified boutique variants of the Rat. Though cloning a basic pedal is always fun if you want to make your own unique looking version of the pedal. I've previously cloned the Rat using an AionFX Helios board. The AionFX board had multiple clipping diode options and the Ruetz mod (Sweep knob) built in on the front. Opinions vary on the efficacy of the Ruetz mod, but having multiple clipping options is always fun. For this build, I went with a different board that retains most of the functionality of the AionFX board, but in some ways is a bit more true to the original.