The Matter of Tone: Legend of the Pendragon Overdrive

Harry Klippton

Well-known member
Here's my paragon build. Same story as usual. I populated this months ago and was just waiting to get wired up. This one gave me a royal headache as only channel 2 worked initially. I checked all the socketed bits and certified my status as a socket hater, checked component values and tore my hair out with the multitude of discrepancies between the build doc, schematic and screen print on the board, still wasn't it.

Then I used an audio probe for the first time, and in conjunction with doing continuity tests, I found that there must be a broken trace between C8 and R11, so I added a jumper and sure as shit, it works now. Not sure what's up with the broken trace because I couldn't spot it under magnification, nor did I bugger any of the pads at any point.

That's a gold foil no film decal on a tayda box from my first batch with the gold foil. It's not perfect and goddamn gold is hard to photograph well. Next I'll probably yoink the charge pump just to check it out.

Pendragon.jpeg
Pendragon guts.jpg Pendragon jumper.jpg
 
I brought this to a friend on Friday for him to try out. I love listening to other people play pedals I've built- maybe more than playing them myself. It sounded great. There's a lot of versatility in this one, although I couldn't imagine needing one so bad I'd pay $600 on the used market.

I'm working on finishing up a couple more pedals this week with gold foil enclosures. Can't wait to show them off! I really love how the gold foil looks
 
Fantastic build Will.
You learn way more about circuits when they don’t fire right up. Excellent job in isolating the problem and finding a solution. Gold foil looks spiffy. How could you hate sockets? 🤣
 
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I brought this to a friend on Friday for him to try out. I love listening to other people play pedals I've built- maybe more than playing them myself.
That’s really interesting. I think it is really difficult to objectively listen when you are playing guitar because the act of playing takes up a lot of brain space. So watching a friend play means you can focus on listening only.
 
The Tower of Pisa probably pulled the trace on C8!:D
Yeah I kinda goofed that one huh? 😂 I think that cap surprises a lot of us the first time around so I had to make do
Fantastic build Will.
You learn way more about circuits when they don’t fire right up. Excellent job in isolating the problem and finding a solution. Gold foil looks spiffy. How could you hate sockets? 🤣
I try to learn something on every build, whether it's about the circuit or the finishing process or whatever. Sometimes the board forces me to learn something when it goes wrong!

I don't actually hate sockets but sometimes I think they add more headache. Early on, I was often hesitant to unsolder things while troubleshooting so I focused on improving that skill, and now removing a component is no big deal for me. Of course while troubleshooting this build, my diodes kept falling out and I had to add solder to the legs to thicken them up to stay in and then they wanted to be all crooked and janky 😂😂
That’s really interesting. I think it is really difficult to objectively listen when you are playing guitar because the act of playing takes up a lot of brain space. So watching a friend play means you can focus on listening only.
I really recommend this, plus it's fun to share! It's cool to see how to different people can make the same rig sound different too. It can be really inspiring
 
The Tower of Pisa probably pulled the trace on C8!:D
Cool Graphics!!!
I just fixed this so no one even knows it has a jumper!
Tip: Solder the Jumper on the Solder side of the Board like us sneaky Well Known Members do!!!

pendragon-guts-jpg.16691
 
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