💖 Stay Alive ✨ Top Five of '25 💖

I made so few this year. The ones that stand out are the...

Drebbel Bass Preamp/EQ - works for every situation and can very quickly doctor my bass tone for any room. The boost switch isn't my bag. It's plenty loud already. But just about everything else has a time and place.

Kewpie Fuzz - pretty much stopped my obsession with making muff circuits. However I loaned it to someone pretty quick after building and never got it back. Easy come... easy go.

Deflector Reverb - one trick pony? I don't think so... I really like this when I'm playing in a big space getting some real room reverb. If I want a flavor change this does the trick and is tweakable enough to actually sound pretty subtle OR do the huge washy infinite space thing. Works well for ambient swells too.

I recently dusted off the iron and have lots of things in a partially built state. Hopefully 2026 is a bit more productive
 
I probably finished around 30-40 PCBs this year. As far as top 5 circuits? In no particular order, I will start with:

Chop Shop: Killer Overdrive. I only built it because everyone said it kicked ass. I haven't boxed mine up yet, but I knew it was a keeper the second I hit the first chord.

Dwarven Hammer: Another one I knew right away it was a keeper.

3-way splitter: Essential for running my rack effects in parallel.

Face Melter: This is the Steel Panther Pussy Melter. I don't care about steel panther, but I love melted pussy, and the pedal sounds good too!

Blackhat BTF Chorus (CE-2): I built several other chorus circuits this year but this one came out on top. Simple, straightforward lush chorus.
 
I haven't really kept track of what I built and when, so I compiled some notes so I could answer this. Looks like I built 37 pedals in 2023, 21 in 2024 and just 16 this year. That being said, I have played too little to really get a solid top 5 going on, but here are the standouts:

1.) Fuzzhead FX Stoner Bee: This one is definitely #1, I wrote a whole 3 song EP using just this. I can't say that it would be something everyone else would be blown away, but I really like it.

2.) & 3.) Kewpie + Mofeta: I technically finished the Kewpie on 2024, and I haven't played with them enough separately to say I'm blown away. But running the Kewpie into the Mofeta produces a really nice, thick fuzz that sounds like it's on the edge of blowing up.

4.) Going to put the Simple Relay SMD boards (by szukalski, based on Chuck's simple relay schematic I think) here. I've started using them more this year and they've been quite nice. The pedals sometimes are active on power up, but it's not a huge issue.

5.) Sasquatch II: Haven't had much time to play with this yet, but I quite like how it sounds with one germanium and one silicon transistor instead of the two germaniums the build doc says. Pleasantly surprised with it.

Honorary mentions go to the Two Tone Fuzz which I still need to audit more transistors for, and the Multiface + Octomix 2-in-1 pedal I made with an added LPF at the end.
 
Last year's
Lowtide - everytime I put this on, it just sings to me.
Uberdrive - my preferred clean boost
Kliche - decided I quite like the klon type, need to build another bass / unmodded at some point
Promethium - loving this with the high control at anything other than dimmed.
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This year, I have built... Ungula, Chop Shop, Son of Ben, Duocast, Abyss, Desolate Fuzz, Sea Horse, Pitch Witch, Parentheses, Skeptical Buffer, Cobalt, Amentum, Aft pre, Kliche, Antithesis Fuzz, Carcass Fuzz, Nein Fuzz, Frajeelay, Creampie Fuzz, Muzzle, Headphone amp, Unicab, Doxie pre, Lowtide Mini

I bought a bass and built Frequency Interchange, Median Compressor, Obsidius

From Aion I've built Empyrean Deluxe, Heliodor, Azure, Maelstrom (as VMT).

And a Moonn Dromtydning.

Pretty good innings actually. I have sold off - Son of Ben, Abyss, Desolate Fuzz, Sea Horse, Pitch Witch, Parentheses, Cobalt, Amentum, Aft Pre, Antithesis, Carcass and Frajeelay
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I'd say my 5 for this year would be;

Duocast - I reckon my most versatile dirt pedal, low gain, heavy fuzz, and with the 27v mode somewhere in between.
Nein fuzz - I have this set pretty high, I interchange it with the creampie on my bass and guitar boards.
Lowtide - still my favourite modulator for clean guitar
Creampie fuzz - never expected this to be so heavy for so few parts.
A toss up between Empyrean Deluxe and the Maelstrom for bass preamps.

This thread is always dangerous to my wishlist.
 
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i.
Aleph Null Troglodyte Self Oscillating Reverb.
- coolest belton / PT2399 reverb i’ve tried yet.
- does it all.

ii.
EQD Tone Reaper / Scythe
- haven’t built it yet, but my breadboard build blew my balls off in a magnificent way.
- low parts count, only x1 NPN Ge required (leaky is best)
- humungous cutting fuzz tone. supposedly a take on a Mk III tone bender.

iii.
effectslayouts (Aleph Null) Tape Delay MkI
- currently this is my favourite PT2399 based delay.
- plays nice with just about everything. takes a fuzz face full volume with no bullshit.
- there's a newer MkII version available from Aleph Null, which has an improved warble (modulation) design, although the Mk1 warble is just fine.

iv.
Spirit Box (EQD Ghost Echo)
- combo of reverb & delay/echo. i'd say it's primarily a reverb with pre-delay (w/ corresponding feedback oscillation).
- was pleasantly surprised by this one, seems to be fairly applicable - enough so that's earned a spot on my board to serve as a delay/reverb thing.
- in a way it's like sorta like the baby version of aleph null's troglodyte reverb.

v.
EQD Black Ash (Carbon Black Fuzz)
- similarly to the Tone Reaper / Scythe, this is a fantastic take on a tone bender.
- huge low end, thicc & crunchy, rips hard.
- sounds awesome with (low) drop tunings.

special mention goes to:
effectslayouts EF120 Overdrive (Dunwich Amps DA120 'Matamp in a box')
- coolest mosfet distortion i've tried yet.
- there's nothing i don't like about how it sounds.
BUT:
- if it didn't have that redundant F.A.C. control, it might've taken the last slot from the Black Ash.
i get why it's there and that it's trying to be true to an emulation of the OG amplifier, but the way this control is implemented is kind of a bummer, especially given how much real estate it takes, and the bs associated with a 2P6T rotary switch (not a fan of rotary switches).
 
My 2024 favorites were the Dung Beetle, Low Tide Mini, Chop Shop, 6-Band Eq, FunBox. Any of these could easily be in my list this year, but many of them drifted off my board or didn't see as much use this year. We'll see if some make their way back. I think I built around 35 pedals this year, and boxed about 25. My favorites (based on amount of use in 2025 and overall joy of using them) are below, in no particular order. My only constraint here is I'm limiting myself to boxed pedals. I've included stars for pedals built or boxed this year:

1. *Aion Redshift Deluxe - Really versatile phaser that verges on Ring Mod territory. Plus I'm really happy with the enclosure design I came up with for this one.
2. *PPCB War Scythe - Really fun triple pedal, I love the tone bender in particular. I'm also really happy with my box design here as well. I suspect that there's probably better muffs and tone benders if I wanted an "improved" version, so this might be one where I try to build a custom version eventually.
3. PPCB Paragon Mini - I futzed around with a lot of bluesbreaker style overdrives, but I think it's hard to beat the KoT for me when I'm looking for a moderately overdriven tone. While I've kicked around a bunch of other pedals, I keep coming back to this. It's also nice to have two footswitches, one that I've set up to be gainier and the other more clean, with the ability to easily toggle them or include both.
4. Dudson Narrowcast - This was on my honorable mention last year, and this year I'd say it's moved into the top tier. My favorite tube-sounding pedal this year. I'll have to box up a few more and play more side-by-side with the Supreaux Deux; we'll see if this stays on the list.
5. *PPCB Hydra - When I built this, I was a little bit skeptical it would be useful, and frankly I don't really use it as a the delay per se. But with some settings close to those recommended by @Paradox916, it adds a nice fullness or resonance, which means it's on pretty much all the time.

Honorable mentions
1. 6-Band Eq - This was an always-on pedal for me, but I think mostly through force of habit. I didn't really play around with it much and just left it untouched. That sounds good, but I think I probably would not have noticed that much if it were off.
2. *Supreaux Deux - A RunOffGroove tube-sounding pedal. Edged out by the Dudson Narrowcast for this year, we'll see which I prefer a year from now...
3. *El Sol - Dead simple pedal but it's such an intense distortion. Build report coming soon. I think I prefer this to the Cthulhu, which sounds a little muddier. I'd like one heavy fuzz pedal on the list, but I already had enough overdrives.
4. *PPCB Electrovibe Mini - My favorite vibrato sound. I could see this edging out the Hydra at some point.
5. This isn't DIY, but getting a responsive tuner has been amazing for practicing bends and getting more familiar with the fretboard (I went with a polytune, they've been on sale for cheap).
 
I only built two completely new pedals this year, the rest were all re-dos in existing enclosures. Everything was of my own design as well, including PCB layouts.

* HPF/One Band Parametric EQ/ Resonant LPF

* Piezo/Magnetic Pickup Blender w/Resonant LPF for piezo side, effects loop for magnetic side

And then I bought a Spark2 amp, which is absolutely great for being a $250 thing.

Neither pedal build is in a permanent enclosure yet, so no pictures for now. Serious health issues wiped out the latter half of the year, hoping for much better productivity in 2026.
 
I built about 50 pedals this year. Narrowing it down to top 5 is tough.

1 shalllow water- it has been on my board since the day I built it, and I don’t see it being replaced anytime soon.

2 chlameau - it is not currently on my board but it is such a weird pedal and I have a lot of fun with it,

3 curds and whey distortion - I love the sounds I get out of this thing

4 Nein fuzz - I just keep playing with this and finding new sounds in it not sure I love it but so many sounds I like that it hasn’t left my board as I keep experimenting with it.

5 sand spur fuzz - this was the first pedal I built a little less than 12 months ago and it started my obsession with this hobby. I’ve built two of them now just because I thought the workmanship on the first one I did was pretty shotty. For some reason the second one doesn’t sound as good. I assume it is the transistors I used, but at the point I built both of these I still didn’t understand that he and leakage mattered.
 
Looks like I built around 20 pedals in 2025, maybe a few more depending on how you count. My five favorite circuits, in no particular order:
  1. Mercurial Boost, based on Catalinbread Varioboost. I use this for a lead boost via boosting the mids: allows me to stand out a bit without killing the band/audience with sheer volume. I went on to make a custom PCB for this circuit. Now I'm waiting on delivery of a miniaturized SMD version that will go into a 1590B enclosure with top mount jacks.
  2. Chuck D Bones modified Dark Esbat, based on TCE Spark Booster / BCC TI Boost. The stock circuit is marketed as a booster, and it certainly can be used that way. But the "mids" switch pushes it more towards a low-gain overdrive; it's essentially Bluesbreaker topology with a Baxandall EQ section. Chuck's mods retain the goodness of the stock pedal, and add more versatility, particularly as an overdrive. I liked this a lot when I first built it, but I kept building new toys, so it didn't get a ton of play time... until recently, when I stacked it with the Spice Runner/Saucy Box (see below) - what a great pairing!
  3. AionFX Cepheus, based on the Cornish CC-1. A very transparent low-gain specialist, with some unique(ish) circuit elements. I liked the circuit enough to make my own PCB, and then make yet another custom PCB.
  4. Effects Layouts Spice Runner, based on the Way Huge Saucy Box. As much as I hyped the Cornish CC-1 circuit, the Spice Runner/Saucy Box promptly took the low-gain spot on my board. The Spice Runner/Saucy Box is almost as transparent as the CC-1, but has simpler controls and I prefer the clipping tonality. Of course I made my own custom PCB for the circuit (which was my first "stacked" PCB design). And then I made an SMD version of the circuit.
  5. What has become my go-to bypass circuit: buffered electrical bypass. This is an always-on buffer with an electrical (as opposed to mechanical) circuit switching scheme.

Special mention for the Custom 3-in-1 (Naga Viper, Scarab Deluxe, Super Duper) I built for a client. This was a challenge to fit an always-on buffer plus three whole circuits (all with soft-touch relay bypass) into a single 1590BBS enclosure. I tuned the Naga Viper circuit a bit to tame some of the high end, to make it sound good as a standalone boost/light drive. The client loves it, so it was a huge success for him, and also a success for me in terms of design challenge.
 
I like threads like these because I get to hear about ones I haven't built yet that I have either been interested in, or didn't know I needed :)

I only built 3 this year for a variety of reasons. They are the Aion Solaris, PedalPCB Cast Iron and an Effects Layoutss Prismatic that is modded to the XTS version. All good!

I have 5 on deck for next year.
 
2025 was again a productive build year for me. I've had a lot a fun building with stripboard so here's my top 5 stripboard builds.
*In no order
*most are bare enclosures for now but will be painting and decal'ed in warmer weather months. So, just gut shots. Not pretty but all work perfect.

5. Black Arts Destroyer - Blown out loud and noisy. The circuits sound great separate but together its like trying to prevent the apocalypse.
4. Black Arts LTSR - I'm an unapologetic Muff connoisseur. This one rules. Not sure why this one is not mentioned more. Smooth thick but clear.
3. Devi Ever Shoegazer - Just a combo of a Soda Meiser with a Torn's Peaker. I was really surprised how much I liked this one. So much fun. Lower gain has a lot of fun fuzz then turn it up it gets more octave. Turn it up more it gets glitchy and weird. Both sound great together. Plus great layout. I also just built the Devi Ever Godzilla which is also great.
2. BJFe Sparkle Face Fuzz - This is my new favorite Fuzz Face variant. Wow. The ability to turn down the woof using the saturation knob is brilliant. Sounds so good and can be so versatile.
1. Basic Audio Alter Destiny - like all these this one is surprising that there is not a PCB out there for it. Its a Muff that is focused on clarity. It still has the thick Muffness but its got fantastic high end. Super clear and super versatile.

I did a whole bunch more stripboard, PPCB, Dirt Monger, etc so was hard to narrow down to 5.
 

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