A Two for One Overdrive Pedal!

The JHS pedals SuperBolt has long been a staple of many pedalboards as it's a really decent overdrive pedal. A while back, however, JHS released the limited edition "TacoBolt" - a different take on the SuperBolt. It was more of a gated fuzz than a overdrive / distortion in a lot of ways. It was allegedly discovered when a normal SuperBolt had been mis-biased. TacoBolts at this point start at about $275 on Reverb, while SuperBolts are typically cheaper. I'd gotten a request for a TacoBolt from a friend, so I went in search of a good board.

A Different Blues Driver Mod!

I've previously built a few versions of the Galaxie mod of the Boss Blues Drive BD-2 pedal. The most common of which is the version I'd sold as a part of Steggo's ongoing support of Ukraine's defense. There are other versions of the circuit out there, and I'd at one point (in the sadly far too distant past) gotten a request for the Keeley modded version of the pedal. A quick search of the internet showed that one of my favorite sources of all information pedal, the Tone Geek, had a write-up detailing his version of the Keeley mod (as it was used by John Mayer). I thought this was a great start, but decided to see if I could take things just one or two steps further. So here's Steggo's take on the Tone Geek's take on the Keeley mod of the Blues Driver. 

An Interesting Take on the Klon Centaur - the Skelekloned Kentrosaurus

The Klon Centaur is one of the most popular overdrive circuits in the market today (largely because of the number of clones available). I've built several Klon clones of various types and by and large these all work extremely well. There is, however, an issue with the Klon. Because the design includes a charge pump, that charge pump and buffer can sometimes create interference when coupled with clock-driven modulation effects - like the vintage Electric Mistress and other similar effects. Since a lot of people (including me) like to couple a Klon with more vintage effects, I went in search of designs that eliminated the charge pump - and hopefully the interference with vintage modulation effects. I found a couple of options and this is the first one I've gotten built up.

Another Amazing Overdrive - Steggo's Layout of the Boneyard Emerald Green Overdrive

Chuck's Boneyard on the PedalPCB forum is an absolute wealth of information on pedal building as well as mods of famous (or not so famous) circuits. I've laid out boards for a few of the designs on the Boneyard and worked out a licensing arrangement to sell a few based on the schematics on the forum. All of the once I've breadboarded and laid out have been great pedals. A couple, however, reach the level of amazing pedals. The Celestial Engineering Timbre Man, which in Steggo livery is the Falcarius Overdrive, was the first to hit the "amazing" tier. The subject of this build report - Chuck's take on the Emerald Green Overdrive - is the second to hit that tier.

Heir and a Spare? Cloning the Prince of Tone

The Analogman Prince of Tone is a single channel version of the King of Tone - which is a two-channel pedal based on the Marshall Bluesbreaker pedal. While more common, and lower priced, than the King of Tone, the Prince of Tone still commands in excess of its $150 retail price on the secondary market. Since I'd built its big brother, I figured it was worth trying to build single channel version as well!

An Original Layout of an Amazing Boneyard Overdrive!

Learning to use the EasyEDA tool has opened up a lot of new opportunities for laying out unusual or unique designs. Recently there was a post on PedalPCB's Chuck's Boneyard detailing an update to an older Apocalypse Audio design. It looked interesting, so I decided to go ahead and test it out and all I can say is "Wow!" It is an amazing overdrive with a really strong and tight low-end.

Updating a Most Tranquil Steggo Pedal!

One of my favorite enclosures and pedals was the Steggo take on the Zendrive (which has since been re-introduced by Warm Audio as the Warmdrive). I'd initially used the AionFX board for my builds, but my friend at South Obolon FX released a version of this board and was kind enough to make me a Steggo version. I'd built one up a few months ago, but I've finally gotten a few more done for the shop!

The Return of the King (of Tone)

One of my earliest builds was a clone of the boutique Analogman King of Tone pedal. The King of Tone itself is a very sought after double overdrive pedal, with a variety of clipping options (most of which are set using internal DIP switches). The "real thing" is currently in Version 4, and on Reverb they still tend to start at around $600 for a real one and go up from there. The waiting list for an original remains long as well. My first build was in my "pre-dino" days - and I'd bought a kit from Germany that included an unpainted enclosure, the PCB, and all of the parts. I substituted some good matches for the original diodes rather than using the stock ones with the kit, though, as depending on who you ask the King of Tone has "magic diodes" much in the same way the Klon Centaur / KTR does. I'd always wanted to circle back and make a real "dino" version of the pedal, so I finally took the plunge.

Seeing Red - Cloning a Unique Overdrive Pedal

I was looking for a unique and fun overdrive project when I came across the PedalPCB Bloodshot overdrive. It's a clone of the Heavy Electronics Red Eyes - which is a very cool pedal. Not only is it a really responsive dirty overdrive pedal, but on the originals the red LED clipping diodes are mounted to the front of the enclosure, so you can see them as the pedal is used. I didn't go that route with my build, but it looks like it might be possible with a little creative wiring.

A Truly Dino Bluesbreaker Clone!

The Marshall Bluesbreaker is one of the all-time classic pedals which sought to re-create the sound of the legendary Marshall Bluesbreaker amplifier from 1962. Original units have gone out of production and command a fairly high price, and there are some recent re-issues that aren't terribly expensive, but aren't terribly cheap either. I'd previously built an AionFX version of the Bluesbreaker, the Cerulean, which adds some different clipping modes to the circuit, but I'd never built a "stock" Bluesbreaker clone. My friend at South Obolon FX was kind enough to make a Steggo version of his board, so I started from there for an awesome dinosaur version.

Second Son of Ben??? Steggo's Personal Preamp

A few weeks ago I finished up a Benson Preamp clone for a friend. He has an original unit, but wanted something smaller for his gigging board, so using the PedalPCB Son of Ben board I made him something that fits in a standard 125B enclosure size. His board has a lot of purple pedals on it, so I made his from a purple metallic enclosure with matching knobs using my laser etcher. I wanted to try something a little different on my copy - though it falls very much in the same theme.

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!

Dropping the Hammer - Cloning the Precision Drive

The Horizon Devices Precision Drive is an exceptionally nice overdrive pedal really geared toward metal styles. It is designed to pair well with both solid state and tube amps, and provides a wide array of tone and attack options for the player to optimize their sound. I'd had a request for a dinosaur version of the pedal, so I went in search of a good schematic or board and went from there.

Another New Design - The Falcarius Overdrive - Modified TSV808 With 3-Band EQ

As I mentioned yesterday in my entry on the Kosmoceratops, I've moved from simply populating boards laid out by 3rd parties (either professionally or by request) to boards I've laid out myself. One of my all-time favorite pedals it the TSV808 (the Secret Spinosaurus in its dino version), so when I found that "Chuck Bones" of Celestial Engineering had worked with others on a modified version of that circuit with a 3-band equalizer, I knew I had to try laying one out myself.

A Dino-Inspired Red Llama!

A little over a year ago I finished up my first clone of the Way Huge Red Llama pedal using the AionFX Yacana PCB. It was a really fun build and is actually a pretty useful little pedal which can be used either as a straight boost or a boost with overdrive (and ultimately distortion). My original enclosure was a very Tongue in Cheek reference to the Disney film The Emperor's New Groove, but I really wanted a dinosaur version to fit the overall Steggo theme. Fortunately my friend Dmytro over at South Obolon FX laid out a version of the board with some additional gain stages like on the AionFX board under the name "Groovy Emperor" (I'm sensing a theme here), and he was kind enough to create a special "Steggo" version of the layout as well!

Updated Geisha Drive Clone!

About a year ago, I posted a build using a hand-etched board cloning the out of production Way Huge Geisha drive. It was a really fun build, but recently I've been having trouble with my photoresist which has made creating hand-etched boards very difficult. I have an alternative in the works, but it's not ready to go yet, so watch the blog for more info there! In the meantime, South Obolon FX had laid out a version of the Geisha, and was kind enough to create a Steggo version of the board.

Cloning the Lovepedal JTM - a New One Knob Pedal!

As Steggo and Kyle announced earlier this week, there is a new entry in Kyle the Ankylosaurus' "one-knob pedal" line of effects - the Philovenator Overdrive. This one is a clone of the Lovepedal JTM with an added twist (which does add an extra control, but it creates a fairly fun and unique pedal in the process). The Lovepedal JTM itself is essentially mid-60's British tone in a box, but it's not exactly a cheap pedal with new examples running around $225 (US). The original just has one control that varies the volume at the clipping stage, so it was an ideal choice for a Steggo clone!

Announcing a New "One-Knob" Pedal!

Back in November, Steggo and Kyle introduced Kyle the Ankylosaurus' "one-knob" collection of pedals with three inaugural designs:

• The Astrodon Physicist - A Brian May treble boost pedal
• Acanthopholis Gold - An Acapulco Gold clone on a new board
• Archaeoceratops - An EQD Arrows clone

A fourth model will be fully released later this week (with a full build log forthcoming). As before, Steggo and Kyle couldn't wait to tell everyone about it! So without further ado...

Cloning the Fulltone OCD - The Ominous Carnivorous Dinosaur!

Founded in 1993, Fulltone made a variety of pedals over the years and was in many ways at the forefront of the boutique pedal market - in the US at least. The owner had been mired in some recent controversy and announced in August 2022 that it would be closing shop. If you go to the company website now, you get a Looney Toons "That's All Folks" banner, and that all of the individual pedals (which had been marked down) are sold out. The Fulltone OCD was a very popular overdrive pedal that, much like many popular pedals, underwent several parts transitions over the years. There are several variants, but I wanted to focus on some of the 1.X variants initially - especially the 1.4 which threw in a Germanium 1N34A transistor.

Mystery Meat - Cloning the New PRS Horsemeat

At the end of September, PRS announced their first three guitar effects pedals: a dual analog flanger called Wind Through the Trees, an optical compressor called Mary Cries, and a transparent overdrive called, of all things, Horsemeat. I'm forced to add yet another pedal to my list of awesome pedals with terrible names. That being said, in what has to be one of the shortest intervals between when a pedal is released and when it was first cloned, PedalPCB recently released the "Mystery Meat" - a clone of the Horsemeat overdrive pedal. With new pedals running just short of $250, and the few used ones out there starting at about $190, this is a great cloning candidate, so I decided to get cooking!