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.

Son of a Ben - Cloning the Benson Preamp

Benson Amps is an amazing boutique amplifier and pedal builder based in Portland, OR (very near to where Steggo is based!). One of their guitar pedal offerings is a pre-amp based on the Chimera 30 amplifier, and it is an awesome pre-amp. I have a friend who has an original unit, but was looking for something a little smaller to put onto his pedal board for gigging, so he asked if I could build him a version in a smaller form factor. Fortunately PedalPCB offers a board that fits in a 125B enclosure, so the project was a go!

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.

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. 

Rainbows and Unicorns? Cloning the Rainbow Machine

Earthquaker Devices has a lot of unusual modulation effects. I mean a lot of unusual modulation effects. One of the most unusual is the Rainbow Machine which is described as a "polyphonic pitch mesmerizer." It's a tough pedal to dial in, but it does have a fairly dizzying array of sounds on tap - with the pitch control being perhaps the most important. I'd received a request for a dinosaur version of the pedal, so I decided to take the plunge and see what I could make happen with it.