rwl
Well-known member
- Build Rating
This is a report for the Abyss, based on EQD's The Depths. I saw this recommended in a few places and I've been going through a bunch of EQD pedals, and I hadn't built an optical vibrato.
Inspiration
With a name like "Abyss" or "The Depths" I wanted a bird that could go deep. Penguins are the deepest-diving bird, but I think they're a better fit for other pedals I have in mind. So instead I chose the Guillemot - specifically the Brunnich's guillemot, or Thick-billed murre. These small, football-shaped waterbirds dive up to 150m deep; one was recorded as diving 210m deep. They're the deepest-diving flying birds in the world. Gullemots are in the same family (the alcid or auk family) as puffins, and they look similar, although with a less prominent beak and no tufts of feathers. In the Pacific Northwest, a different species, the Pigeon Guillemot, is commonly scene along the Pacific coast.
Since the pedal is about the depths, I needed an underwater scene and chose to feature a guillemot diving, with a trail of bubbles. I'm very happy with how the design turned out. I just wish I could have found a darker blue enclosure.
The Build
No problems with this build and all parts were easy to find. There's not many components, either. IIRC this was my first build with an unprotected LED surrounded by 4 LDRs (vs a handmade vactrol situation), and I was a little nervous about that.
The Pedal
I like the pedal, but it has its limitations. I haven't played with it much after first demoing it a bit. I'm not sure whether these are limitations of optical vibrato, of this pedal, or of my build. But I still like it and need to experimeent more.
First off, the knobs allow a large variety of sounds, and there's a lot you can do with this. The manual has a few suggested knob configurations (although the PPCB knob layout is slightly different) that are fun to play with.
The two limitations that stand out for me are:
Firsts
Pedal rating: 4/5
Inspiration
With a name like "Abyss" or "The Depths" I wanted a bird that could go deep. Penguins are the deepest-diving bird, but I think they're a better fit for other pedals I have in mind. So instead I chose the Guillemot - specifically the Brunnich's guillemot, or Thick-billed murre. These small, football-shaped waterbirds dive up to 150m deep; one was recorded as diving 210m deep. They're the deepest-diving flying birds in the world. Gullemots are in the same family (the alcid or auk family) as puffins, and they look similar, although with a less prominent beak and no tufts of feathers. In the Pacific Northwest, a different species, the Pigeon Guillemot, is commonly scene along the Pacific coast.
Since the pedal is about the depths, I needed an underwater scene and chose to feature a guillemot diving, with a trail of bubbles. I'm very happy with how the design turned out. I just wish I could have found a darker blue enclosure.
The Build
No problems with this build and all parts were easy to find. There's not many components, either. IIRC this was my first build with an unprotected LED surrounded by 4 LDRs (vs a handmade vactrol situation), and I was a little nervous about that.
The Pedal
I like the pedal, but it has its limitations. I haven't played with it much after first demoing it a bit. I'm not sure whether these are limitations of optical vibrato, of this pedal, or of my build. But I still like it and need to experimeent more.
First off, the knobs allow a large variety of sounds, and there's a lot you can do with this. The manual has a few suggested knob configurations (although the PPCB knob layout is slightly different) that are fun to play with.
The two limitations that stand out for me are:
- The pedal seems to smother the incoming voicing. The voice knob makes a big difference in the sound coming out of the pedal. As a result, you can lose a lot of the nuances of a transparent overdrive (or can try to 'revoice' them). Also I found that sharper, brighter sounds didn't work as well. For example, I like running overdrives into a Chop Shop to tighten them up, but had to turn that off or I wouldn't like the tone.
- At most settings, the vibrato is not as as smooth as I would like. It feels like it "bunches up" or there's a louder pulse in the middle of the vibrato than I would like. I find this a little distracting.
Firsts
First optical vibrato
First 4-LDR/1-LED pedal
Pedal rating: 4/5
