rwl
Well-known member
- Build Rating
This is a report on my build of the AionFX Azure, based on the Boss CE-2. This was among the top chorus pedals I saw people talking about, so I was excited to build it.
Inspiration
The inspiration was straightforward: Aion called it the "Azure", the Boss pedal is blue so why not go with the Azure Kingfisher? Kingfishers are probably my favoriate family of birds. You can see them sitting in trees near the water hunting fish. They're loud, fast-flying birds with strong personalities and disproportionately huge beaks, and some are very colorful. Just a lot of fun to observe.
The design itself is one I'm very happy with. I boxed this one up in December and I think this was my favorite design from that batch of prints. I'm casually working on a set of synthwave-styled pedals, with the goal of being able to put together an all-synthwave pedalboard. So far I have this pedal, and the Circulator that fit the theme, plus a few more I'll post later...
I'm happy with how the print came out (Tayda print on the metallic candy print). If I was to do the design differently today, I think I'd try _not_ printing the sun and letting the magenta from the underlying paint job shine through, since it's so sparkly. But I'm not sure how that'd play with the faded Kingfisher.
The Build
A straightforward build; the only pain points being the typical Aion stuff with component labels and more obnoxious wiring.
While testing this pedal I blew an electrolytic capacitor, though I can't recall why. Besides being surprised by the noise, replacing it wasn't a problem. It's the only time I blew a cap.
The Pedal
Probably my favorite "simple chorus" (vs things like the Low Tide that can give a sort of chorus effect, or the "superchorus" Seahorse/Caesar). Prior to this I'd only built the Aion Lithium in this class of pedals; I feel this has a warmer feel and is more useful than the Lithium. I'm more likely to leave it as an always-on effect. That said, I think the other more complicated choruses are probably better pedals overall, since they're more versatile.
I'm still really happy with the sound and that it matches a design I like as well.
Firsts
Pedal rating: 5/5
Inspiration
The inspiration was straightforward: Aion called it the "Azure", the Boss pedal is blue so why not go with the Azure Kingfisher? Kingfishers are probably my favoriate family of birds. You can see them sitting in trees near the water hunting fish. They're loud, fast-flying birds with strong personalities and disproportionately huge beaks, and some are very colorful. Just a lot of fun to observe.
The design itself is one I'm very happy with. I boxed this one up in December and I think this was my favorite design from that batch of prints. I'm casually working on a set of synthwave-styled pedals, with the goal of being able to put together an all-synthwave pedalboard. So far I have this pedal, and the Circulator that fit the theme, plus a few more I'll post later...
I'm happy with how the print came out (Tayda print on the metallic candy print). If I was to do the design differently today, I think I'd try _not_ printing the sun and letting the magenta from the underlying paint job shine through, since it's so sparkly. But I'm not sure how that'd play with the faded Kingfisher.
The Build
A straightforward build; the only pain points being the typical Aion stuff with component labels and more obnoxious wiring.
While testing this pedal I blew an electrolytic capacitor, though I can't recall why. Besides being surprised by the noise, replacing it wasn't a problem. It's the only time I blew a cap.
The Pedal
Probably my favorite "simple chorus" (vs things like the Low Tide that can give a sort of chorus effect, or the "superchorus" Seahorse/Caesar). Prior to this I'd only built the Aion Lithium in this class of pedals; I feel this has a warmer feel and is more useful than the Lithium. I'm more likely to leave it as an always-on effect. That said, I think the other more complicated choruses are probably better pedals overall, since they're more versatile.
I'm still really happy with the sound and that it matches a design I like as well.
Firsts
First Kingfisher pedal
First blown capacitor
Pedal rating: 5/5
