rwl
Well-known member
- Build Rating
This is a report for a version of the Mad Professor Sweet Honey, based on my own PCB design. I had a Joyo version of this pedal before. This pedal was on my radar because it was widely beloved on Reddit, and the Joyo version was recommended as a good cheap beginner pedal when I first started playing with pedals. It was my favorite pedal among the first batch of cheap clones I bought, but I ended up selling it because I was running out of space and wanted to go as close to pure-DIY as I could.
Inspiration
It was pretty natural to pick a honeycreeper as the mascot for this pedal, given the name. I chose the Green Honeycreeper in particular, because it was a species I was able to see in person, and I prefer to do designs based on birds that I've seen myself. Honeycreepers are a type of songbird that are common in Central and South America. They don't just eat honey, but also fruits and insects. They're bright, pretty birds, but otherwise unremarkable.
I'm very happy with the design - I think this is among my favorite prints so far. This design was also part of the first batch of designs that doesn't feature a full-front background. I've grown to realize that many of my earlier pedals worked better as posters than as pedals. And I was starting to dread figuring out what to do with the background, so why not just omit it in such cases? It was a small leap for me to create a UV print that wasn't essentially a bunch of stacked rectangles (white/color/gloss) and I wasn't sure if the white would show around any of the edges (it doesn't). The paint color is cream, which fits the warm tone of the pedal, I think.
The Build
It's an easy pedal to make and the PCB worked on the first try. All the components are easily sourced and there aren't many. The only challenge is the OP275 opamp. I sprung for that to get the full experience, (~$7 on Mouser), but I'll have to try swapping with a TL072 and some of the other usual suspects to see if it makes a difference or if I potentially prefer one of the others. Likewise, I socketed the diodes but haven't experimented with alternatives.
If you would like to build it yourself, I've shared the gerber files, BOM, and instructions here.
The Pedal
I really like it. It's a nice natural-sounding low-gain overdrive, with a sweet, mellow, warm tone. The closest sound among other pedals I've built is probably the Sugarbag. I think I prefer a little more gain by default, but the Honeycreeper is nice for a mellow sound, and works well for playing chords. If you put a booster in front of it, you can get more clipping if that's what you're after.
Firsts
Pedal rating: 4.5/5
Inspiration
It was pretty natural to pick a honeycreeper as the mascot for this pedal, given the name. I chose the Green Honeycreeper in particular, because it was a species I was able to see in person, and I prefer to do designs based on birds that I've seen myself. Honeycreepers are a type of songbird that are common in Central and South America. They don't just eat honey, but also fruits and insects. They're bright, pretty birds, but otherwise unremarkable.
I'm very happy with the design - I think this is among my favorite prints so far. This design was also part of the first batch of designs that doesn't feature a full-front background. I've grown to realize that many of my earlier pedals worked better as posters than as pedals. And I was starting to dread figuring out what to do with the background, so why not just omit it in such cases? It was a small leap for me to create a UV print that wasn't essentially a bunch of stacked rectangles (white/color/gloss) and I wasn't sure if the white would show around any of the edges (it doesn't). The paint color is cream, which fits the warm tone of the pedal, I think.
The Build
It's an easy pedal to make and the PCB worked on the first try. All the components are easily sourced and there aren't many. The only challenge is the OP275 opamp. I sprung for that to get the full experience, (~$7 on Mouser), but I'll have to try swapping with a TL072 and some of the other usual suspects to see if it makes a difference or if I potentially prefer one of the others. Likewise, I socketed the diodes but haven't experimented with alternatives.
If you would like to build it yourself, I've shared the gerber files, BOM, and instructions here.
The Pedal
I really like it. It's a nice natural-sounding low-gain overdrive, with a sweet, mellow, warm tone. The closest sound among other pedals I've built is probably the Sugarbag. I think I prefer a little more gain by default, but the Honeycreeper is nice for a mellow sound, and works well for playing chords. If you put a booster in front of it, you can get more clipping if that's what you're after.
Firsts
First non-full-bleed UV print
First PCB based on a commercial pedal
Pedal rating: 4.5/5
