Cepheid Chorus/CE-2 clone I built a few weeks back for a friend. Uses the Cool Audio v3207 chip. Everything went smoothly except for the daughter board. I recommend not using a daughter board on this build because of the 47n cap in the lower left of the board. I was able to get around it by angling the footswitch but probably not ideal.
My only other word of caution is to decide which chips you are going to use and solder the pads before populating the board. I was sitting on a MN3007/MN3101 and I thought I might use them on this build but once the Cool Audio chips came back available I grabbed a few and used those. By then I had already started to populate the board and my brain didn't think that decision all the way through. Thankfully everything was fine and I was able to get in there and jumper the pads. In theory I like the little pads but in practice I might feel better about the jumper technique other boards use.
To calibrate the pedal I recommend using a very clean amp setting. I was using a tube amp and I was having trouble determining if the break up was the pedal or the amp. I ended up going into a JC120 amp sim on my computer to adjust the trimpot to where I was getting good modulation with no noise or crackle.
I also made a REALLY quick comparison video using a very traditional chorus setting. I'm lucky to have a vintage CE-2 (although probably not for long!) so I threw that in as a bench mark. I also used an Aion FX Azure I built last summer and a Caesar Chorus I built last year. I think they all sound pretty much the same with the exception of the Julia which has some very useful tweaks to get some great sounds.
On the Azure I socketed a few of the caps to do the modulation and bass mods in the future although I don't find myself wanting to. I like having the mix knob but with guitar I almost always go full mix. I'm okay with the rate LED on the Cepheid but it's not a deal breaker for me. If it were up to me I would just leave it out. The rate knob is perfectly fine for indicating what speed my modulation is at. If I had to pick one I would take the Julia. It sounds a touch cleaner to me and the other features give it more sounds you can't get in the other pedals.
My only other word of caution is to decide which chips you are going to use and solder the pads before populating the board. I was sitting on a MN3007/MN3101 and I thought I might use them on this build but once the Cool Audio chips came back available I grabbed a few and used those. By then I had already started to populate the board and my brain didn't think that decision all the way through. Thankfully everything was fine and I was able to get in there and jumper the pads. In theory I like the little pads but in practice I might feel better about the jumper technique other boards use.
To calibrate the pedal I recommend using a very clean amp setting. I was using a tube amp and I was having trouble determining if the break up was the pedal or the amp. I ended up going into a JC120 amp sim on my computer to adjust the trimpot to where I was getting good modulation with no noise or crackle.
I also made a REALLY quick comparison video using a very traditional chorus setting. I'm lucky to have a vintage CE-2 (although probably not for long!) so I threw that in as a bench mark. I also used an Aion FX Azure I built last summer and a Caesar Chorus I built last year. I think they all sound pretty much the same with the exception of the Julia which has some very useful tweaks to get some great sounds.
On the Azure I socketed a few of the caps to do the modulation and bass mods in the future although I don't find myself wanting to. I like having the mix knob but with guitar I almost always go full mix. I'm okay with the rate LED on the Cepheid but it's not a deal breaker for me. If it were up to me I would just leave it out. The rate knob is perfectly fine for indicating what speed my modulation is at. If I had to pick one I would take the Julia. It sounds a touch cleaner to me and the other features give it more sounds you can't get in the other pedals.
![IMG_1607.jpg IMG_1607.jpg](https://forum.pedalpcb.com/data/attachments/37/37129-2941f378d0962dc97c10d4b46fbd0e98.jpg)
![IMG_1608.jpg IMG_1608.jpg](https://forum.pedalpcb.com/data/attachments/37/37130-73db9c19dfbc47cea5b99b64bddd70fc.jpg)