HM-2 w/ Loggerhead Shrike

[pricklyrobot]

Finally finished up this guy. It’s an Aion Graviton board.



Generally, on all of my fuzz and distortion builds I do some kind of raptor. But for this one I though I should probably have the most metal bird of them all, the avian abattoir-ist, the butcherbird himself: your very own Loggerhead Shrike!!!

Loggerhead Shrike Overview, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

The Loggerhead Shrike is a songbird with a raptor’s habits. A denizen of grasslands and other open habitats throughout much of North America, this masked black, white, and gray predator hunts from utility poles, fence posts and other conspicuous perches, preying on insects, birds, lizards, and...

www.allaboutbirds.org

I did this mod:

Just bypassing the distortion section so you can use the EQ by itself. Got the idea from this old thread:

M

Thread 'HM2 / Promethium distortion mod - bypass distortion?'

Aug 20, 2020

Hi everyone,

I have just got a Promethium distortion pcb in the mail, I've waited long enough for Boss to make a Waza HM2, so I'll just make one myself.

I was thinking of also making a tagboard HM2 EQ only for use with other distortions, or just for some 'HM2 flavor' without the clipping, but then I thought, shouldn't it be possible to just bypass the distortion section of the pedal with a SPST switch? I've (poorly) drawn over the schematic from the build docs in mspaint, just jumping from the input buffer to after all the clipping, would this work? Or do I need to use a larger switch...

• mnemonic
• Replies: 37
• Forum: Modifications

I didn’t bother labeling the toggle, because I think its location makes its function intuitive.

Overall, this was a pretty straightforward build. No real difficulties. It fired up on the first try
Did the knobs down the side just for something a little visually different.

Soundwise, I’ve dialed in one or two sounds so far that don’t sound like every other distortion. It definitely does “chainsaw on the other end of a tinny old telephone”
Got some cool sounds running it into a Phase 90

 

[rwl]

Very cool! I'm waiting on a Northern Shrike tayda print for the War Scythe . Shrikes are definitely the most metal birds around.

 

[pricklyrobot]

Oh yeah, I meant to post this in case it’s helpful for anyone else:

I just marked up the image with my Apple Pencil. A little tedious, but not too bad. Wish Aion did this themselves…
The Mouser-ready BOMs are the main thing that lures me back to Aion projects.

 

[Erik S]

Cool bird!

Looks like they can be found everywhere in North America except the 6 states I frequent. That feels a little personal.

 

[pricklyrobot]

Cool bird!

Looks like they can be found everywhere in North America except the 6 states I frequent. That feels a little personal.

If you don’t have the Loggerhead, you should have the Northern. No one in the US need go shrike-less!

 

[pricklyrobot]

Took a trip to Romania last month and saw 3 different shrikes!!!

I think they potentially have 5 (maybe 6) shrike species there, depending on location and time of year.

 

[BuddytheReow]

Birds are cool! Great job!

 

[Feral Feline]

Another Cool Build and now I know what kind of birds are in my yard.

Really dig the control placement to your own preference — what DIY is all about.

Is this the build with your custom standoffs, the one from your "mounting PCBs" thread?

 

[pricklyrobot]

Is this the build with your custom standoffs, the one from your "mounting PCBs" thread?

It is, yes.
I only used one, under the right-hand side of the board. The pot wiring is enough to keep if propped up on the left-hand side.