MichaelW
Well-known member
- Build Rating
This is a two-for build post and demo.
Both of these builds were inspired by the generosity and kindness of a couple of forum members.
First Clinton (@blackhatboojum) sent me one of his Boss HF-2B Flanger boards. (At the suggestion of @Guardians of the analog
This is a FANTASTIC flanger. It's similar to the Boss BF-2 (PPCB Byzantium and MBP Fraudhacker) but the modulation is only the higher frequencies and the bass frequencies are left alone. (Incidentally, it's the same circuit as the Boss Bass Flanger). It uses the MN3204 BBD (which Clinton also very kindly provided.
The BF-2 is the swirliest, whooshiest, jet engine-ist flanger and is a ton of fun to mess around with. But it can be a bit overwhelming with its modulation. The HF-2 is essentially the same circuit but filtered to allow the bass and low mids to be unmodulated. Thus it's a much more "usable" flanger for me. Just total awesome sauce. It works great in front of the amp or in my FX Loop (where it's currently sitting). I did the demo with it in front of the amp.
Thank you @blackhatboojum! And thanks to Chris (@Guardians of the analog) for the 1590BB enclosure!)
The second pedal in this build report is the Animal Pedals Diamond Peak overdrive, with some @Chuck D. Bones mods. Chuck sent me some stuff a few weeks back and threw in a couple of MPS6530 low-HFE si NPN transistors "in case I wanted to build the Diamond Peak". I hadn't even heard of it until then so I had to go look it up in the Boneyard in this thread. I saw the build report from @MattG and he has kindly provided the gerbers for his PCB Layout. So I ordered some of these boards from JLPCB. The circuit is a Skreddy (Marc Ahlfs) circuit and shares some commonalities with his Hybrid Drive and Lunar Module circuits. Chucks mods really opens up the tonal possibilities. It can go from clean boost all the way to fuzzy saturation. Really cool overdrive.
Thank you @Chuck D. Bones and @MattG!
(Incidentally, I have a couple more of these PCB's that I can pop in the mail to whoever wants to build this)
I did not use Matt's soft relay circuit so that's why the board only looks half populated
For the demo I used my "Blackie" strat. If you read my build report for this guitar, it was SUPPOSED to be a beater pickup tester guitar. Well, turns out that I think I built it TOO nice. I'm loving how it plays and sounds. I've got a set of Bootstrap "Golden Ale" pickups in it.
These are vintage wound (5.6k) A2 for the neck and middle and an overwound (7.4k) A5 neck pickup. Man, I LOVE these pickups. Much more than I thought I would as I'm usually an A5 guy for Strats. The combination of the mellow vintage neck and middle with a beefier bridge pickup just sounds sooo sweet. And yah, like all Bootstrap pickup sets, these are a $50 set of pickups. Just an incredible value.
So my quandary now is whether or not to build yet another "beater pickup tester" Strat as I am loathe to change anything on Blackie right now. Maybe in an obnoxious color like Graffiti Yellow or something so I won't fall in love.......hahaha.
Both of these builds were inspired by the generosity and kindness of a couple of forum members.
First Clinton (@blackhatboojum) sent me one of his Boss HF-2B Flanger boards. (At the suggestion of @Guardians of the analog
This is a FANTASTIC flanger. It's similar to the Boss BF-2 (PPCB Byzantium and MBP Fraudhacker) but the modulation is only the higher frequencies and the bass frequencies are left alone. (Incidentally, it's the same circuit as the Boss Bass Flanger). It uses the MN3204 BBD (which Clinton also very kindly provided.
The BF-2 is the swirliest, whooshiest, jet engine-ist flanger and is a ton of fun to mess around with. But it can be a bit overwhelming with its modulation. The HF-2 is essentially the same circuit but filtered to allow the bass and low mids to be unmodulated. Thus it's a much more "usable" flanger for me. Just total awesome sauce. It works great in front of the amp or in my FX Loop (where it's currently sitting). I did the demo with it in front of the amp.
Thank you @blackhatboojum! And thanks to Chris (@Guardians of the analog) for the 1590BB enclosure!)
The second pedal in this build report is the Animal Pedals Diamond Peak overdrive, with some @Chuck D. Bones mods. Chuck sent me some stuff a few weeks back and threw in a couple of MPS6530 low-HFE si NPN transistors "in case I wanted to build the Diamond Peak". I hadn't even heard of it until then so I had to go look it up in the Boneyard in this thread. I saw the build report from @MattG and he has kindly provided the gerbers for his PCB Layout. So I ordered some of these boards from JLPCB. The circuit is a Skreddy (Marc Ahlfs) circuit and shares some commonalities with his Hybrid Drive and Lunar Module circuits. Chucks mods really opens up the tonal possibilities. It can go from clean boost all the way to fuzzy saturation. Really cool overdrive.
Thank you @Chuck D. Bones and @MattG!
(Incidentally, I have a couple more of these PCB's that I can pop in the mail to whoever wants to build this)
I did not use Matt's soft relay circuit so that's why the board only looks half populated
For the demo I used my "Blackie" strat. If you read my build report for this guitar, it was SUPPOSED to be a beater pickup tester guitar. Well, turns out that I think I built it TOO nice. I'm loving how it plays and sounds. I've got a set of Bootstrap "Golden Ale" pickups in it.
These are vintage wound (5.6k) A2 for the neck and middle and an overwound (7.4k) A5 neck pickup. Man, I LOVE these pickups. Much more than I thought I would as I'm usually an A5 guy for Strats. The combination of the mellow vintage neck and middle with a beefier bridge pickup just sounds sooo sweet. And yah, like all Bootstrap pickup sets, these are a $50 set of pickups. Just an incredible value.
So my quandary now is whether or not to build yet another "beater pickup tester" Strat as I am loathe to change anything on Blackie right now. Maybe in an obnoxious color like Graffiti Yellow or something so I won't fall in love.......hahaha.
.
