16-bit Four Octave Synth - Cloning the EQD Bit Commander

Carrying on yesterday's theme of unusual modulation pedals, I'd also gotten a request for a clone of the EQD Bit Commander. This is an analog synth pedal that will turn your guitar's tone into a square wave with four octaves (two down and one up) of tone. It really gives you that early 80's video game sound in one fairly customizable package. 

Don't Fear the (Hoof) Reaper - A Double Fuzz With Octave

There are many combination pedals on the market today. Sometimes these combine two different types of pedals, other times they pair very similar pedals. I've done several of these in the past including a clone of the Cheese Source (a distortion + fuzz clone), a clone of the ThorpyFX Heavy Water (essentially a clean boost + dirty boost), and even a build inspired by the venerable Mu-Tron Bi-Phase (two of the same six-stage phaser in one box, with some extras). A few years ago, Earthquaker Devices decided to mate wto of their fuzz pedals - the Hoof and the Reaper together in one pedal, an sneakily added an additional octave up circuit (later released as the Tentacle) to the mix. The pedal was available in both the normal "Hoof Reaper" version, and with a "Cloven Hoof" variation - the "Cloven Hoof Reaper." PedalPCB has a board available for this project, the War Scythe, so I decided to take the plunge... well, twice!

Cloning the Famous EQD Monarch

The EQD Monarch is an out of production FET based overdrive pedal that gained a lot of popularity as a dirty boost without a lot of extra distortion or compression. It was also available as a DIY kit for many years through StewMac (and others), but while StewMac still offers many DIY effects pedal kits, the Monarch is no longer among them. I had a friend who wanted a Monarch clone - largely to allow a bandmate to leave his original unit in the studio and gig with a more easily replaceable copy - so I started doing some investigation on boards and kits available. As it turns out, the pedal is more than a bit finicky, and there were some flaws in the original design which likely led to a fair amount of frustration for both the users and the DIY community. Chuck Bones (of the PedalPCB Boneyard) did a great analysis of the circuit, suggested some modest improvements, and then took that a few steps further ultimately creating the Viceroy - a six-knob, two footswitch Monarch on steroids. Down the road, I plan to build the Viceroy, but for now I was more interested in getting a good direct clone of the Monarch working well - and across its full range.

Under the Sea! Cloning the Quirky EQD Sea Machine

I've been on a bit of a modulation pedal kick lately because I'd gotten some requests from friends, including this build, a clone of the Earthquaker Devices Sea Machine. Touted as a "super chorus" pedal, as with most EQD modulation pedals, this one isn't a one-trick pony and has several very unusual controls that provide a very wide tonal palette. While it is still in production, the "real thing" runs around $199 brand new, so it isn't exactly a cheap pedal - making it a decent candidate for cloning.

New Black-Ash Variant - Closer to the Original

Back in December I finished up a clone of the EQD Black Ash fuzz pedal. For that first validation build I went with all modern components, but the original Black Ash used a lot of vintage bits in its construction - including carbon composition resistors and what appear to be paper in oil capacitors. I wanted to experiment with the components a bit and decided to try to take the build a few steps closer to the original to see if it made much difference.

Hoofing It! Cloning the EQD Hoof...

It's either a little late or a little early for Fuzz Friday, but I just got this beauty together and had to get it out there. The Earthquaker Devices Hoof is an extremely popular silicon/germanium hybrid fuzz pedal. New copies run about $179, so it's not incredibly expensive, but it's not really cheap either. It's a neat sounding pedal, and since you can never have too much fuzz, I figured it would be a great addition to the pedal board if nothing else!

Tone... In.... SPAAAACCCE!!! Cloning the EQD Space Spiral

Looking at the pantheon of available DIY effects pedals, you'll see a lot of distortion and overdrive pedals, a large number of boost and fuzz pedals, but then there tends to be a drop off as you get into modulation effects like chorus, delay, and flangers. Part of the reason for this is a lot of the classic analog modulation effects rely on long out of production integrated circuits, so even if you recreate the board exactly, you're missing critical components to actually make the effect work. There are, however, clones of many more modern pedals with modern integrated circuits, such as digital delay effects based on the PT2399 chip. One of these is the Earthquaker Devices Space Spiral - which can do anything from slapback delay, to a reel to real chorus, to absolutely psychedelic reverb and delay. It's not an incredibly expensive pedal, only about $199 new, but as there's a dearth of Steggo modulation pedals at this point, I thought it would be a good one to try out!

Cloning the Rare EQD Black Ash

The EQD Black Ash was a limited production fuzz pedal using a variety of vintage parts including carbon composition resistors and paper-in-oil capacitors. The total production was limited to 1500 units, and prices are rapidly rising at this point, with examples starting at roughly $300 and going up from there. When it came to cloning this particular pedal, I'd considered going with a vintage build like I've done with a variety of other pedals, but I've found they often have a higher noise floor than pedals with modern components so for this build I decided to go with modern components to validate the design and sound. I may go back and do a vintage build at some point in the future, though!

On Target! Cloning the EQD Arrows

The Earthquaker devices Arrows is a simple tone sculpting pre-amp booster. It stacks well with other pedals, taking the mud out of heavy fuzz pedals or brightening light boost pedals. It can also be used on its own to really make your signal stand out – especially on neck pickups. This project is the last of the first three pedals in Kyle the Ankylosaurus' "one knob" collection, and as with some previous Earthquaker Devices builds, I ended up liking it a lot more than I thought I was going to.

More Deja Vu - A Truly Steggo Acapulco Gold Clone!

So this is the second official build report for the new "one knob" collection from Steggo, and this one goes back to where the blog started with a build of an EQD Acapulco Gold clone. In a lot of ways it's hard to believe how far the blog and Steggo Studios as a whole has come in a little over a year, and I'm looking forward to what the next year brings!

Cloning the Ubiquitous EQD Plumes

The Earthquaker Devices Plumes is an almost ubiquitous overdrive pedal with three different tone settings - LED distortion, boost, and silicon distortion. It is a neat little pedal, and its low price (around $100 new) makes it a great point of entry for newer guitarists. It has a good enough voice that you'd want to keep it around on the pedal board which doubtless contributes to its enduring popularity. For this build I'm using the PedalPCB Greengage Overdrive board. Once again PedalPCB laid out a nice board with plenty of room for all of the components.