A Custom Vintage Thagomizer!

Unless you've been under a rock, you'll know that the Colorsound Power Boost is one of Steggo's favorite pedals - especially with the volume knob mod. It can work anywhere from a mostly clean boost to a very nice dirty boost. It's also an essential piece of kit if you're wanting to try and replicate David Gilmour's pedal board. I've built several versions of the pedal, but the ones with vintage bits are usually my favorite. They're fun to build because, well if I'm being honest, I love to mess around with old components. To my ear they also sound a bit different, though I admit it could be confirmation bias. I don't think there's any inherent "mojo" in the bits, I just think they vary in different directions than modern components do. The vintage resistors and caps I've measured frequently tend to be a bit over spec, whereas most of the modern ones I've measured tend to be a bit under spec. 

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.

An Pair of Updated Thagomizers!

The Colorsound Power Boost is one of my favorite utility / boost pedals which I've built under the "Thagomizer" name in several varieties. Given all of these have the volume knob modification, the pedal can be used as a very nice clean boost and equalizer, or it can be used to add bit of a dirty overdrive depending on where the drive / gain knob is set. I worked with my friend in Ukraine, South Obolon FX, to finally develop a Steggo version of the power boost board with a charge pump, and I've now finally gotten a couple of varieties of the pedal together!

An All New Thagomizer... Almost Literally...

Unless you've been under a rock, you know I really like the Colorsound Power Boost circuit, especially clones that use vintage components. Unfortunately, there are a finite number of vintage components available in the world at this point, and eventually supplies will run out. Vintage components are also more expensive than their modern counterparts, so I wanted to build a Power Boost clone on the AionFX Nucleus board with new components to see what impact it made on the tone of the pedal.

New Allen Bradley Thagomizer I - With a Few Modern Replacement Capacitors

I knew the day would eventually come when some of the New Old Stock components I'd been using on my Thagomizers would start to dry up, I just didn't expect it to come so soon! While I'm pretty well set for resistors, tropical fish capacitors, ceramic capacitors, etc., it's the older validated (as opposed to dead) electrolytic capacitors which are drying up - which I guess shouldn't be a surprise. At this point the 22μF Bianchi - Phillips capacitors seem to be gone. I've therefore had to make a modern substitution, but it appears to be the same substitution my European source of parts is making on his sets with the Iskra and Phier resistors as well.

A Third Thagomizer!?!!??? Another Vintage Power Boost Build

I have a real weakness for vintage pedals. Over and above that, vintage pedals built from vintage components probably reach the level of my kryptonite (along with chocolate, or a good steak... good seafood... I'm doomed...)! I've made a few forays into that territory with my Big Muff Pi builds (most notably my recent Violet Ram's Head build) and my builds of the Colorsound Power Boost (also known as "The Thagomizer I"). The army green enclosure version uses Iskra resistors (as well as tropical fish capacitors and vintage axial capacitors) while the orange enclosure version uses Phier resistors (and the same mix of other components). I'd sourced these parts as sets from a wonderful chap in Italy, but the problem with vintage parts is there is a finite number of remaining NOS in the world. So if the supply of Iskra and Phier sets dried up, I wanted to have another option for building vintage Thagomizers - so I decided to go shopping and assemble my own set of parts.

The Thagomizer 2 - A Cornish ST-2 Clone

So as promised in my recent Thagomizer I update, there is indeed a Thagomizer 2, and I'm presenting the prototype build today. The Thagomizer I is a cone of the Colorsound Power Boost - at this point built with all vintage components. The Power Boost is very closely related to the Colorsound Overdriver, which I'd also previously built - though with all modern components. I first became interested in both of these pedals when researching David Gilmour's effects boards. In later years, however, David worked with Pete Cornish to develop a custom integrated pedalboard - which Pete later released as distinct effects pedals in their own right. The ST-2 is a major overhaul of the original Overdriver circuit with different component values (and therefore different voicing), a double buffer like the G-2, and an op amp gain stage tacked on to the end of the circuit. With new copies running over $500 (with a long wait) and used copies starting at about $650 - this is yet another pedal that screams for a good clone!

More Thagomizers Inbound! Vintage Colorsound Power Boost in a Modern Box!

In February I posted my first build of a Colorsound Power Boost pedal using the AionFX Nucleus board. I'd initially been interested in the pedal and is sibling, the Overdriver, as they were some of the early pedals used by David Gilmour. For my Overdriver build, I'd gone with all modern components and an enclosure which harkened back to the original case. For the Power Boost, I sort of went the opposite direction, I used all vintage components and created a unique dinosaur themed enclosure for it to sort of establish the "Steggo" brand version of the pedal. Honestly I really love this particular pedal, and I think in terms of build enjoyment it is right up there with the Big Muff Pi and Distortion+, so I decided I'd try and build a few more to "support the habit" as it were.

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.

Vintage Overdrive Build - The Colorsound Power Boost

When this blog entry goes live on Sunday morning, I'll likely be heading out with a friend to go pick up a vintage British sports car he just purchased - and then trying to drive it home several hundred miles... Wish us luck! In honor of the occasion, I thought I'd post a recent build of a vintage British effects pedal - in every way I can possibly make it! A few weeks ago I posted a build of the AionFX Plasma, a direct copy of the Colorsound Overdriver with an added volume control. Apart from the BC184 transistors, I built that pedal with all modern parts - metal film resistors, film capacitors, etc. I honestly love that pedal, but I wanted to take it a step back and try something fun - using as many vintage parts as possible to build its immediate predecessor, the Colorsound Power Booster. AionFX has released this PCB as the Nucleus, and as with the Plasma it is pretty much a direct copy of the original with a volume knob added. With even the reproductions running $700+, this is yet another great cloning opportunity.

Colorsound Overdriver - Vintage Boost!

The Colorsound Overdriver is an early boost pedal from 1972 that quickly found its way into the hands of guitarists like David Gilmour and Jeff Beck. I'm a big Gilmour fan (just in case my recent DG20 Strat build didn't make that abundantly clear!), and really wanted to add this particular pedal to my board. These gems appear to be out of production at this point, and even later versions from the 1990s appear to be going for $500+ on Reverb, so this pedal is an ideal candidate for cloning. AionFX has a PCB for this particular pedal marketed as the Plasma. There is a modern version which just builds the Overdriver, and a Legacy version which will do the related Power Booster circuit as well. For this build I went with the more recent incarnation of the board and decided to do the Power Booster as its own build later.