DEMO Spirit Box (EQD Ghost Echo)

[owlexifry]

Build Rating

5.00 star(s)

so this reverb/delay circuit features a BTDR-2H belton brick + PT2399, and that sounded like a pretty good time to me, so i had to give it a try.

turns out it’s actually a real treat to play.

and with only 3-knobs [mix(depth), dwell, pre-delay/attack] it’s one of those things you can just plug in and let loose.
it doesn’t sound bad at any setting.

a very satisfying PCB layout.
3-inline knobs at the edge, brick sits nicely behind the board, plenty of space, and beautifully symmetrical.


a couple weeks ago i took it to band practice to try it out in a big room, and during a break i had a little noodle with it and a couple other guys were like heck that thing sounds really good, you’ve gotta use that in a new song. (which is kinda odd cos we don’t have any clean parts)

so this here is what i came up with the other day for an intro..

https://soundcloud.com/alexshriffs%2Fpedalpcb-spirit-box-eqd-ghost-echo-direct-into-daw

with double tracking, i can’t actually hear any PT2399 related-artefacts in this DAW recording (which is nice, cos usually it's fairly obvious).
i’m impressed with this circuit. only trouble is, it’s a bit quiet. comes out less than unity. so yes, i did put a little bit of compression on this one, but only to bring up the volume.

and here’s the usual whatever demo i had already done a while ago.

 

[Ale_jellybelly]

There's a mod in the fuzzdog build docs to bring up the volume to unity

https://pedalparts.co.uk/docs/SpectreVerb.pdf

 

[owlexifry]

There's a mod in the fuzzdog build docs to bring up the volume to unity

https://pedalparts.co.uk/docs/SpectreVerb.pdf

ohh hell yeah cheers


R4 is 10K per schematic/pcb.

fuzzdog doc suggests trying 18K, so i’ve just gone and done that.
yep, much better. volume is pretty much at unity.

 

[Paradox916]

Really nice arpeggios man. Love it. Not a fan of belton bricks but you make it sound good.

 

[owlexifry]

Really nice arpeggios man. Love it. Not a fan of belton bricks but you make it sound good.

thanks man
i don’t really get the negative experience about belton bricks, yeah its no FV1 or DSP, but still makes a lot of fun and useable sounds, for me at least.

maybe i just haven’t done enough FV-1… (still earnestly awaiting the arrival of the -in progress- Dispatch Master PCB)

 

[Aleph Null]

It's like the opposite of murdered out. Demo sounds really nice.

 

[Paradox916]

thanks man
i don’t really get the negative experience about belton bricks, yeah its no FV1 or DSP, but still makes a lot of fun and useable sounds, for me at least.

maybe i just haven’t done enough FV-1… (still earnestly awaiting the arrival of the -in progress- Dispatch Master PCB)

don’t get me wrong I would use one live but I don’t get to do that anymore, and after using rack gear and plug-ins, it’s hard to go back to even FV-1 pedals, for digital reverb ( and even delay) they just can’t touch the processing power, headroom and clarity. I know this makes me a total snob and I have no right to to be. That said as quirky as the ghost echo is, it was fun for a bit.

 

[owlexifry]

It's like the opposite of murdered out. Demo sounds really nice.

well, it is a ghost echo.... so i had to go with a white theme

using rack gear and plug-ins, it’s hard to go back to even FV-1 pedals, for digital reverb ( and even delay) they just can’t touch the processing power, headroom and clarity.

yeah that makes sense. i guess when you're used to pristine plugins/rack gear, the jankyness of inferior devices is probably not that welcome.