Not Just a Phase - Mu-Tron Bi-Phase Clone By PedalPCB

As I'd mentioned in my previous blog entry, I hadn't built many modulation pedals recently, and I figured it was time to remedy that. This is one I'd had going in the background for a while, but given the size and uniqueness of the build, I had to order additional parts and bits to actually make it happen. Based on the vintage Mu-Tron Bi-Phase, the PedalPCB Duo Phase an involved build, but in some ways is on the easy side for a modulation pedal - more on that in a bit. The Bi-Phase pedal itself, is a vintage unit that's found its way on both synths and guitars alike. Originals are long out of production, and vintage units run for quite a bit of money these days. There are apparently Chinese copies out there, but even those aren't exactly cheap.

Technical expert Steggi posing with her handiwork

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!

Anasounds Trémolo - A Decent Teaching Pedal

There are a lot of different sources for guitar pedals and kits out there, but one I've come across recently, Anasounds, is just a bit different in a lot of ways. They only have two kits available, well, technically three, but I'll come back to that, and they appear to be mostly focused on hand-built pedals with a fairly wide range available. However, with those two kits, they demonstrate a major focus on the "how to" part of pedal building, including understanding the circuit, tracing it, and really understanding the underlying electronic principles. Their instructions are extensive including methods for testing the circuit at every stage of the build - which is very cool! The downside is that if you go by the instructions, you're building the circuit boards in sub-sections - which can lead to some challenges later on getting components to fit in tight spaces. I've built both of their main kits at this point, and this blog will feature the first build - the Anasounds Trémolo.

A Doppelganger Doppelgänger - Building Aion FX's Quadratron

The Lovetone Doppelganger is a four stage optical phaser pedal with a huge number of tone options. Once again, this is currently a very expensive pedal, with examples going on Reverb north of $1000. However, Aion FX offers a version which you can build for a fraction of the cost of the original, though it is a challenging build! As you can see below, the PCB itself is vary large, though it isn't packed as tightly as some other manufacturers' offerings are. As this is a fairly complex build, I'm actually going to go through the process step by step rather than glossing over some of the more gory details.

Dinosaural Compressor OTC-201 Clone - With a Real Dino!

So this was another really fun build that may now be usurping some of my other compressor pedals as my favorite - at least for my single-coil guitars. That being said, my stock MXR Dyna Comp is still fairly amazing when I pull out my Les Paul. This build recreates a rare, though not ridiculously expensive ($300-$400-ish), compressor pedal - the Dinosaural OTC-201. Aion FX sells this as the Convex in both PCB and kit forms. I went ahead and picked mine up as a PCB as I wanted to hand pick some of the components and get as close to the original as possible.

Aion Oceanid - Cornish OC-1 Optical Compressor Adaptation

Here's a project I literally finished up last night. Granted, the PCB had been populated a couple of weeks ago, but it took me a while to get the enclosure to a point where I was happy with it. The Aion Oceanid is quite a bit more complex than Acapulco I detailed in my previous blog entry, and is an adaptation of the Cornish OC-1. This brings me to one of the major benefits of building your own guitar effects pedals. The cheapest I've seen a Cornish OC-1 for sale is about $750. Some Cornish pedals blast through the $1000 mark. The Aion PCB will cost you $12, and the rest of the components (assuming you get good quality ones) should run you $50-$60, meaning you get a boutique pedal for an order of magnitude less cost - assuming you're willing to put the time in to build it.