Updating an Old Favorite - A Cornish-Inspired Silicon Big Muff

Before the release of the PedalPCB Polonium 2 distortion board (which I've built up as the Protoceratops 2, and which now has taken up permanent residence on my pedalboard), there was a loose consensus on the internet as to what the Cornish P-2 looked like from a schematic standpoint. I'd previously built up several hand-etched versions using the Effects Layouts PCB, and really enjoyed them. In hindsight with a clone in hand, there are several differences, and the Effects Layouts design always included the "probably" disclaimer anyway. It's therefore likely more proper to call this an "Cornish-inspired" variant, as it really is kind of its own thing.

A New Violet Ram's Head 2 Big Mutt

So since it's been several months since I built a Big Muff clone (granted, the combo pedal I just finished includes a Big Muff, but it is more than just a Muff clone), I figured it was time to go ahead and test out some alternate configurations of the Loud Cancer board - and try out some different potentiometer orientations as well. One of my favorite variants of the BMP is the Violet Ram's Head 2, so I decided to give it a whirl!

The Dark Side of the Steggo??? A New Gilmour Inspired Combo Pedal!

 Combination pedals are a great way to get multiple amazing circuits in one box. I've built a few pedals that are either physical combinations of two separate PCB's, or clones of pedals that involved multiple PCBs in the past. However, all of these combinations were essentially clones of existing pedals that were combination pedals in their own right, including the Steggo versions of the Cheese Source, Hoof Reaper, and Heavy Water. However, I wanted to do something that was a combo of two different pedals to help create a specific sound, so I went back to the pedal board of one of my favorite guitarists, David Gilmour, for inspiration.

A Custom Triangle Big Mutt Phi!

The Triangle version of the Big Muff Pi is one of the more popular versions of the venerable circuit. I've built one in the past using a Tayda board, and it came out really pretty well. A friend was in the market for a Big Muff clone, and so I brought in pretty much my complete stable of variants to my favorite local guitar store (Five Star Guitars) so he could try them all on relevant amplifiers. In the end, he decided he wanted a triangle variant. He also wanted something in a form factor slightly larger than my standard 125B Big Mutt Phi build, so I decided to just go back to the Tayda board and come up with a suitably cool 1590BB2 enclosure for it!

Cloning the Cornish P-2 - For Real This Time!

Pete Cornish's effects and pedalboards have been used by a wide array of guitar luminaires including David Gilmour, Tony Iommi, Brian May, Paul McCartney, and Mark Knopfler. While some of his designs are completely original, like the CC-1 Overdrive and OC-1 Compressor, other designs are based on existing circuits, like the SS-3 (loosely based on the MXR Distortion+) and the G-2 and P-2 (both based on the Big Muff Pi circuit using germanium and silicon diodes respectively). AionFX offers many Cornish boards, and as a fan of Cornish pedals, I've built many of them including the OC-1 compressor, the SS-3, and the G-2 (both in non-dino and dino versions!). Unfortunately AionFX did not offer a board for the P-2 and after hunting around, there were no commercial boards available. The only board I could find was the Effects Layouts version, which had the "probably" disclaimer and appears to have been based some speculative circuit diagrams on the net. I'd built a few pedals using hand-etched boards, both with and without the effects layouts Cornish buffer, and had really loved the sound. I still wanted to have a faithful clone of the original, though, and with a little gentle dino-sized nudging, PedalPCB has recently released the Polonium-2 board based on a trace of the actual P-2 pedal itself.

For a Pachycephalosaurus this counts as a "gentle nudge"

Finally a Dino Themed G-2 Clone... No Really!

I've been threaten... errr... promising to get around to finishing up my dinosaur themed G-2 clones for a while now, but they kept getting put on the back burner for other projects. This past weekend I decided it was high time to get them finished up! For more details on the pedal itself and some of the challenges one encountered making a reasonable clone of it, please refer to my original build from last May.

It's BMP Time Again!!! A '73 Gilmour Ram's Head Build for Steggo's Personal Board

I've definitely built more Big Muff Pi pedals than any other type, and in more variants. The circuit goes together well, and with all of the modifications over the years, there are a ton of options that can make subtle (and in some cases not so subtle) differences in the sound of the effect. Last November I finally came up with a suitably "Steggo" name for the venerable BMP, the Big Muttaburrasaurus Phi, or the "Big Mutt Phi" if you prefer. The enclosures I'd used were a modified version of an earlier take of roughly the same art that I'd intended on using with the AionFX Halo PCB that I've used on many successful builds. Since I had one of the enclosures for the Halo PCB available, I decided to go ahead and use it for a personal build - with only a few ulterior motives.

Finally a True "Steggo" BMP Clone!

Any long time readers of this blog will know that I really like the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi in all of its forms. It is one of the main pedals of choice for some of my favorite guitarists, including David Gilmour, and is a key ingredient in their overall sound. I've built several BMP clones over the years, but all of them have had enclosures that mirrored the original in one way or another. Recently I've tried to do a "make over" of any of my "Steggo" pedals with a focus primarily on creating fun dinosaur names for them, and I've finally come up with a dinosaur themed BMP clone!

Dimetrodon Distortion - Production Prototype!

I'm very excited to release this new version of the Dimetrodon Distortion to the world. It represents several firsts for me, and it is something that I'm pretty much ready to put into (small) volume production either in a couple of standard configurations or bespoke builds. The original versions of the Dimetrodon Distortion consisted of two boards, a hand etched Distortion+ or Drivestortion board with a hand etched BMP Tone Stack (the DD1A) or an Effects Layout commercial Drivestortion board with a hand etched BMP Tone Stack (the DD1B). While I'll continue to make several of those (as I already have the boards, and have an interesting idea - which I hope to detail in a future blog assuming I get it to work!), I thought it would be cool if I could combine the boards into a single etch and not have to use hookup wire to connect the two together. So, I decided to try and merge my graphics skills with what I've learned about electronics and circuit design over the past year or so!

We've Sprung a Leak! Cloning the Very Precise Cornish G-2

It's been, what, three weeks since I posted a clone of a Big Muff Pi variant? Must be time for another one! This time around, I'm building the AionFX Cygnus, a clone of the Cornish G-2. This particular build has honestly been one of my more challenging builds for a variety of reasons. First off, it's a Cornish pedal, and Pete Cornish's designs are always absolute works of art with an amazing transistor-based buffer design. The component count is usually very high as well, and the circuits are typically extremely well balanced, and as long as you have high-quality components you can usually guarantee a good build from the outset. However, because the G-2 uses Germanium diodes for the clipping stages, that adds an additional level of complexity to the build, which I'll go into later. As you can't touch a real G-2 for under $500, this one screams for a good clone.

Ukrainian Army BMP Auction is LIVE!

My Ukrainian Army BMP serial number 2 went up for auction on the Pedals for Ukraine Instagram site this morning. Bidding starts at $50 and goes through Thursday May 7 at 11:59PM. The bidding takes place via replying to the comment with the most current high bid. I'm hoping that the pedal will bring in some decent money for relief efforts in Ukraine.

The Oddball Muff - The Op Amp Version...

Another Big Muff Pi variant! I know those of you who read this blog semi-regularly are shocked... shocked! That being said, this one is actually a bit different. In 1977, Electroharmonix engineer Howard Davis was tasked with redesigning the normal BMP circuit to use op-amps rather than transistors for the gain stages. While some purists do not consider the op-amp version to be a "real" Big Muff, it's simply called the version four on Kit Rae's page. One of the best known users of this particular variant is Billy Corgan who used the V4 on the 1991 Smashing Pumpkins album Siamese Dream among others. For this build I'm using the AionFX Corvus board in the base build configuration for the project incorporating the tone bypass toggle and the variable gain-stage modification developed by Analogguru. Original versions of the pedal can cost upwards of $500, but new versions can be had for about $100 - so it's a decent DIY opportunity, but nothing compared to more boutique offerings.

Dimetrodon Distortion - A Classic Hybrid Distortion Pedal

In my update about a week ago, I included some teasers for upcoming pedals that I had not yet included on the blog. One of these was the Steggo-san Overdrive which I featured a few days ago. In terms of overall appearance, that is still one of my favorite pedals. In terms of sound, today's pedal ranks right up there. The Dimetrodon Distortion combines the classic MXR Distortion+ circuit with the tone stack from a Big Muff Pi creating something of a hybrid pedal. I've worked up a couple of different prototypes of this design so far, and I think I've decided which way I want to go long-term, because if offers me the widest range of options for this particular circuit going forward.

Ukrainian Army BMP SN 002 Going to Auction

Over on Instagram there's been an auction of sorts going on to benefit Ukrainian relief efforts called "Pedals for Ukraine." A few weeks ago, I finished up my first early 90's Sovtek Big Muff Pi clone and at the time was trying to figure out a way to give back since I'd sourced a lot of the key components from Ukraine. Well, now that serial number 002 is completed, I've decided rather than trying to sell the pedal and give half to relief, I'm going to just donate it to the Pedals for Ukraine effort so all the funds get to those who need it - and someone gets a really great sounding pedal to boot!

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.

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

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.

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. 

Adventures in Photoetching - or - Making Old School PCBs for Fun

At the first of the year I published an article on two new versions of the EHX Big Muff Pi effects pedal I'd completed. One was built on a home-etched board a friend had sent me using a pattern from the Effects Layouts blog. At the time I mentioned that I had done photo-etching in the past starting when I was in graduate school (getting a Ph.D. in chemistry - so applying chemistry to something guitar pedals, electronics, and music is "really cool" in my book!). Since I had some experience in the area (most recently around four years ago when I etched not one, but two sets of double-sided detail parts for 1/100th scale T-72 tanks), I decided it was time to dust off the old equipment and get cracking. This time I decided I'd try and take advantage of a few options unique to PCB etching (since I'm only doing single-sided boards!). 

Board etching in Ferric Chloride