rwl
Well-known member
- Build Rating
This is a report on my build of a Catalinbread Katzenkoenig. I'd seen this recommended in a few places, but there's no PPCB board available so I figured I'd give the layout a shot myself. There is an AionFX version (the "Poseidon"). But I like laying out PCBs so here we are.
This thing absolutely rips, it's a Tone Bender glued onto a RAT. I love it.
Since I laid out the PCB, you can download the gerber file here.
Inspiration
The Katzenkoenig is German for "Cat King," so I wanted a bird with a "King" name and a German sound. Enter the King Eider (the Eider is a river in Germany). The King Eider is a type of arctic duck with a pronounced colorful bill. It's sorta the duck version of a puffin.
I also thought the Catalinbread pedal looked cool, with a prominent cat and a flag in the background, so I wanted an homage to that.
In the end, I'm not a huge fan of how it turned out. The Eider is standing on a rock pinnacle that doesn't quite fit, and whole thing was hard to position in a way that worked with the controls. So it feels awkward to me. Of all my pedals, I think this is the one I most want to redesign at this point (even though it's a newer one). Someday...
The pedal is UV printed on a blue Tayda background. I like most of the Tayda color tones a lot, but their blues just don't do it for me. It's a shame, because y'know... I have a lot of bird pedals, and birds are in the sky a lot. So blue is a natural background color.
The Build
I ended up fabricating three different PCBs and populating the PCBs twice. Just a series of mistakes:
Also, I selected the wrong Tayda drill template for my layout. The drill template was for the 5-knob spacing, but my layout was for four knobs. So the holes on the enclosure were slightly misaligned. On my prints I have little dots for where to drill in case I want to drill manually, which were visible next to the drill holes. Luckily, close enough to be covered by washers.
Also, the part of the PCB with the LED was slightly too wide and it was a little wonky to fit in my audio jacks (I've since made it narrower).
So... just 4 measurement problems!
Since this is a gainy pedal I used insulated wire. I also ordered a heat gun and some heat shrink after some comments on my previous pedal and got to try using them. Pretty nice, though I need to get some more experience.
The Pedal
One of my favorites. Absolutely rips, and it can get LOUD. I like RATs, I love Tone Benders, and this is a bit of both. Lots of great sounds in it, and an additional clipping selector switch gives even more variety. As mentioned above, this has a reputation as a gainy pedal, so there's more background noise than I would like - but with insulated wire it didn't end ended up being as noisy as I was worried about (early demos on an Auditorium without an enclosure were also pretty noisy).
Firsts
(too many iterations!)
Pedal rating: 5/5
This thing absolutely rips, it's a Tone Bender glued onto a RAT. I love it.
Since I laid out the PCB, you can download the gerber file here.
Inspiration
The Katzenkoenig is German for "Cat King," so I wanted a bird with a "King" name and a German sound. Enter the King Eider (the Eider is a river in Germany). The King Eider is a type of arctic duck with a pronounced colorful bill. It's sorta the duck version of a puffin.
I also thought the Catalinbread pedal looked cool, with a prominent cat and a flag in the background, so I wanted an homage to that.
In the end, I'm not a huge fan of how it turned out. The Eider is standing on a rock pinnacle that doesn't quite fit, and whole thing was hard to position in a way that worked with the controls. So it feels awkward to me. Of all my pedals, I think this is the one I most want to redesign at this point (even though it's a newer one). Someday...
The pedal is UV printed on a blue Tayda background. I like most of the Tayda color tones a lot, but their blues just don't do it for me. It's a shame, because y'know... I have a lot of bird pedals, and birds are in the sky a lot. So blue is a natural background color.
The Build
I ended up fabricating three different PCBs and populating the PCBs twice. Just a series of mistakes:
- First PCB worked, but the layout was super ugly (I think I was drunk or sleep deprived when I laid it out). It confirmed that I liked the sound though.
- Second one arrived with the enclosure, and then I realized the knobs were positioned wrong relative to the enclosure (enclosure had the 5-knob spacing, board had a four-knob spacing).
- Third layout worked well.
Also, I selected the wrong Tayda drill template for my layout. The drill template was for the 5-knob spacing, but my layout was for four knobs. So the holes on the enclosure were slightly misaligned. On my prints I have little dots for where to drill in case I want to drill manually, which were visible next to the drill holes. Luckily, close enough to be covered by washers.
Also, the part of the PCB with the LED was slightly too wide and it was a little wonky to fit in my audio jacks (I've since made it narrower).
So... just 4 measurement problems!
Since this is a gainy pedal I used insulated wire. I also ordered a heat gun and some heat shrink after some comments on my previous pedal and got to try using them. Pretty nice, though I need to get some more experience.
The Pedal
One of my favorites. Absolutely rips, and it can get LOUD. I like RATs, I love Tone Benders, and this is a bit of both. Lots of great sounds in it, and an additional clipping selector switch gives even more variety. As mentioned above, this has a reputation as a gainy pedal, so there's more background noise than I would like - but with insulated wire it didn't end ended up being as noisy as I was worried about (early demos on an Auditorium without an enclosure were also pretty noisy).
Firsts
First duck pedal!
First pedal with heat shrink
(too many iterations!)Pedal rating: 5/5
