comradehoser
Well-known member
I was thinking of titling this one "Over the Hedges" as we have 6 non-PPCB circuits here. As per me, the circuits are built and functional, and I'm reporting on the circuits rather than my ability to execute the aesthetics. Sorry, ladies and germs! I have to get onto building my PTP circuits, I don't have time to make things look purty!
Anyways
First up, the Effects Layouts EF-120 (Dunwich DA120 Mosfet version emulation of the Matamp GT120) on the left, EL Pepperbox (Dunwich Volt Thrower/Rat) middle, and EL Widogast (Dunwich Wizard/Big Muff).
I'm not going to go on at length on the pepperbox and widogast, as they have been much loved and intensively reviewed previously. Both offer variations on tried and true holy trinity of dirt circuits and EL does a good job rendering them in 125B size. Tested both with guitar and bass, both circuits are recommended if you don't already have a rat and/or muff and their variants. Bear in mind that I believe these were all intended to be first and foremost for bass, or at least bass-oriented. [edit: I forgot the big basic thing: rotary switch on the EF120 selects in principle input caps to let in more or less bass--and originally it was very interactive with other tone and boost controls; Pepperbox/rat selects clipping; widogast selects input caps (I think)--definitely affects the bass content and range in the muff.]
The EL120, though... haven't had time to really test the targeted use case (bass), but on guitar, it's a no. Kinda fizzy, flat, basic b**** tones, almost digital emulation flavors here. I don't know how to rescue this one (but I'm sure chuck would know!), as I think there's something awry in the design. Might just be Mosfet selection and placement. I also question the viability of the parallel arrangement of the selector caps, as discussed at length with me, stickman, and zanshin in a seperate thread on the GCI Apostle, as the original amps had very clearly a linear cap arrangement. I wrote to the GCI forum and Nick Williams about the reasons for converting to parallel, but didn't hear back, so I don't know the rationale for the choice. There is some difference between the rotary selections on bass; on guitar, it's really really hard to hear a difference at all.
If you want a Matamp/Orange 120 pedal, this is not the one. The GCI pedal is much more interesting ( I recommend the serial rotary cap arrangement mod), if a little more rough around the edges, as is our very own Boneyard Viceroy, for that matter (interesting, that is).
I ordered the Octobot on the left, there, for fun along with the Dromtydning, and because it was late, Nils threw in the F(X)=Fuzzyness2 (supposed to be a superscript 2, i.e. squared) on the right. The Octobot is what I am now gathering is the arrangement of most all PLL pedals. It is very similar to the Data Corruptor. You have three signals at once, and the pots just govern the volume of each: fuzz, one octave down, and two octave down. Tracking is pretty good, surprisingly, especially on neck pickups, and especially above the 12th fret. This is like a simplified heterodyne receiver, except that it has less ambient motorboating and noise. The fuzz has a very usable quality.
The Starve pot is useless after about 1/16 of a rotation, it just reduces everything to chopping noise pulses... I love experimental noise, but this feature is harsh, boringly mechanical, and sucks. I'll probably think about how to mitigate it after I listen to some demos of the OG pedal (Robot Devil) to see if this was the original intent or if something went askew in the translation.
The F(X), though! Now this is a pedal I can get behind and recommend to anyone of the fuzz persuasion. Here we basically have a fuzzface, with a tone toggle (middy/scooped), and two toggles governing clipping: LED, open, and Bat on one side, and Mosfet, open, and asymettrical Si (4148 in this case) on the other side. Fuzz, loud, and tone pots do their thing, the "8-bit" pot is (I think, I'm too lazy to check the schem right now) a bias. Goes from smoother to more ragged tones to pretty gated. Not exactly "8-bit", but it's a really good control to have.
Love this pedal! Lots and lots of different useful tones to play with. Not as out there and tricksy as the Fuzz Factory (such as the Aion Flare, which I also highly, highly recommend) but it's very fun and very interesting. A bit tricky to solder in spots due to Moon's layouts, and you have to mind the cross-body switch wiring, but I just give this three thumbs up.
Finally, the Andromeda Deluxe/Nordland ODR-C (revised and improved version of the Nobels ODR-1). Yes, it's yet another low-to-mid gain overdrive (YALTMGO), le yawn.
Oh, but it HAS a bunch of amp-like breakup texture, decay, and sustain, and it DOES go from light breakup to chuggy land. It IS guitar butter on ear toast, my dudes and dudettes, at all levels. I do just like striking a chord and listening to the gradually fading majesty of that classic guitarry rawk SOUND.
And, it POSSESSES unconventional controls like "spectrum" and "overdrive de-compress." Yes. The controls all do something, and the something is really good.
I really REALLY like the sounds coming out of this one. If it means I'm abdicating my doom and post-punk coolguying pretensions for dadrock, well color me bad.
This one is going to be a Precious.
Anyways
First up, the Effects Layouts EF-120 (Dunwich DA120 Mosfet version emulation of the Matamp GT120) on the left, EL Pepperbox (Dunwich Volt Thrower/Rat) middle, and EL Widogast (Dunwich Wizard/Big Muff).
I'm not going to go on at length on the pepperbox and widogast, as they have been much loved and intensively reviewed previously. Both offer variations on tried and true holy trinity of dirt circuits and EL does a good job rendering them in 125B size. Tested both with guitar and bass, both circuits are recommended if you don't already have a rat and/or muff and their variants. Bear in mind that I believe these were all intended to be first and foremost for bass, or at least bass-oriented. [edit: I forgot the big basic thing: rotary switch on the EF120 selects in principle input caps to let in more or less bass--and originally it was very interactive with other tone and boost controls; Pepperbox/rat selects clipping; widogast selects input caps (I think)--definitely affects the bass content and range in the muff.]
The EL120, though... haven't had time to really test the targeted use case (bass), but on guitar, it's a no. Kinda fizzy, flat, basic b**** tones, almost digital emulation flavors here. I don't know how to rescue this one (but I'm sure chuck would know!), as I think there's something awry in the design. Might just be Mosfet selection and placement. I also question the viability of the parallel arrangement of the selector caps, as discussed at length with me, stickman, and zanshin in a seperate thread on the GCI Apostle, as the original amps had very clearly a linear cap arrangement. I wrote to the GCI forum and Nick Williams about the reasons for converting to parallel, but didn't hear back, so I don't know the rationale for the choice. There is some difference between the rotary selections on bass; on guitar, it's really really hard to hear a difference at all.
If you want a Matamp/Orange 120 pedal, this is not the one. The GCI pedal is much more interesting ( I recommend the serial rotary cap arrangement mod), if a little more rough around the edges, as is our very own Boneyard Viceroy, for that matter (interesting, that is).
I ordered the Octobot on the left, there, for fun along with the Dromtydning, and because it was late, Nils threw in the F(X)=Fuzzyness2 (supposed to be a superscript 2, i.e. squared) on the right. The Octobot is what I am now gathering is the arrangement of most all PLL pedals. It is very similar to the Data Corruptor. You have three signals at once, and the pots just govern the volume of each: fuzz, one octave down, and two octave down. Tracking is pretty good, surprisingly, especially on neck pickups, and especially above the 12th fret. This is like a simplified heterodyne receiver, except that it has less ambient motorboating and noise. The fuzz has a very usable quality.
The Starve pot is useless after about 1/16 of a rotation, it just reduces everything to chopping noise pulses... I love experimental noise, but this feature is harsh, boringly mechanical, and sucks. I'll probably think about how to mitigate it after I listen to some demos of the OG pedal (Robot Devil) to see if this was the original intent or if something went askew in the translation.
The F(X), though! Now this is a pedal I can get behind and recommend to anyone of the fuzz persuasion. Here we basically have a fuzzface, with a tone toggle (middy/scooped), and two toggles governing clipping: LED, open, and Bat on one side, and Mosfet, open, and asymettrical Si (4148 in this case) on the other side. Fuzz, loud, and tone pots do their thing, the "8-bit" pot is (I think, I'm too lazy to check the schem right now) a bias. Goes from smoother to more ragged tones to pretty gated. Not exactly "8-bit", but it's a really good control to have.
Love this pedal! Lots and lots of different useful tones to play with. Not as out there and tricksy as the Fuzz Factory (such as the Aion Flare, which I also highly, highly recommend) but it's very fun and very interesting. A bit tricky to solder in spots due to Moon's layouts, and you have to mind the cross-body switch wiring, but I just give this three thumbs up.
Finally, the Andromeda Deluxe/Nordland ODR-C (revised and improved version of the Nobels ODR-1). Yes, it's yet another low-to-mid gain overdrive (YALTMGO), le yawn.
Oh, but it HAS a bunch of amp-like breakup texture, decay, and sustain, and it DOES go from light breakup to chuggy land. It IS guitar butter on ear toast, my dudes and dudettes, at all levels. I do just like striking a chord and listening to the gradually fading majesty of that classic guitarry rawk SOUND.
And, it POSSESSES unconventional controls like "spectrum" and "overdrive de-compress." Yes. The controls all do something, and the something is really good.
I really REALLY like the sounds coming out of this one. If it means I'm abdicating my doom and post-punk coolguying pretensions for dadrock, well color me bad.
This one is going to be a Precious.
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