Aion fx Halo (73 Rams head/gilmour)

[Locrian99]

Build Rating

5.00 star(s)

I bought a few of these boards during their Black Friday sale. I’m a sucker for a muff with a mids switch. I pretty much followed the bom on the documentation which is the 73 gilmour mods. I did however change the 12n to a 10n as I didn’t have a 12n (I didn’t even look to see if this was the only change from the regular 73). Building the board was pretty straight forward. Pretty uneventful easy build there. I’m not a fan of footswitch daughterboards. Unfortunately the way this one is set up seems some what necessary. Debated using the two extra ground pads on the daughterboard for jack grounds, opted to do the a star ground thing similar to their build docs but not exactly the same (my dc jack has a larger hole so both jacks are through there). Glad I went this way.

Pretty happy with the sound of the pedal. It sounds like a muff. The only way I had played with this variant is in a muffuletta as I recall the sound is similar. I’ve owned a Black Russian since 99 and was really the only muff I’d played until recently. This one sounds a bit rawer to me but pretty similar in the end, I certainly wouldn’t have both on my board. One thing I wasn’t expecting was I ended up with the scooped mids with the switch being “up”. Wonder if this is because I used a type 2 on-on-on. But the switching works fine just would make sense with down being scooped up being boosted.

This is going to be shipped to my uncle as a gift. Hoping he likes it while I figure out getting some good germs for a tonebender for him. Just did a white enclosure with some cheesy clip art of a sheep.

 

[Fingolfen]

That's one of my favorite builds as well... I've done... a few...

... of course, I've done some different versions as well... but that's still one of my faves. I've mostly done it with vintage parts - I should try one with more modern bits...

 

[KR Sound]

My first version was the 73 Gilmour, and I made this version for a friend of mine. I’m building a Green Russian for another friend, then I plan on Fran’s NYC and the OpAmp ones after that. Love the Muff.

 

[Locrian99]

My first version was the 73 Gilmour, and I made this version for a friend of mine. I’m building a Green Russian for another friend, then I plan on Fran’s NYC and the OpAmp ones after that. Love the Muff.

I always kind of forget my first diy build was a cheap op amp muff kit off Amazon. Still surprised that thing worked nearly right off the bat.

 

[iamjackslackof]

Hoping he likes it while I figure out getting some good germs for a tonebender for him

Gross, you shouldn't try to give your uncle germs on a tonebender. You should get him some germanium transistors instead

 

[Feral Feline]

It's okay, so long as both the pedal and the uncle have masks on and the pedal's in/out jacks are washed along with uncle washing his hands.



Very clean looking build, Locrian99!

Killer graphic and I love its placement.

 

[Route14]

Looks great. I keep wanting to use the extra ground pads but never do. The star ground thing is a little annoying but so is running more wire the length of the enclosure. I’m also not a fan of the switch being higher up. I never use batteries so drilling the switch lower makes more sense to me. I might start doing that as well.

 

[Locrian99]

Looks great. I keep wanting to use the extra ground pads but never do. The star ground thing is a little annoying but so is running more wire the length of the enclosure. I’m also not a fan of the switch being higher up. I never use batteries so drilling the switch lower makes more sense to me. I might start doing that as well.

Funny you mention that. So I was debating putting a battery in here as he doesn’t have a power supply. I decided in the end not to he said he would get one but I have several so I’ll just send one with it. But yes I will when I build the next lower the switch. It sits way too high. And some space between the board and daughterboard I think will be nice. That daughterboard wiring took me way longer than it should have lol. Couple solder sucker uses new wire etc lol.

 

[cdwillis]

Looks good! I think their boards look really nice. I'm not sure I like some of the wiring setups like some others have said.

When I moved away from simple vero board builds, the first board I bought was an Aion Halo board. I butchered it so bad with my cheap soldering iron and I soldered the daughterboard on upside down

 

[Locrian99]

Looks good! I think their boards look really nice. I'm not sure I like some of the wiring setups like some others have said.

When I moved away from simple vero board builds, the first board I bought was an Aion Halo board. I butchered it so bad with my cheap soldering iron and I soldered the daughterboard on upside down

Their wiring setup wasn’t nearly as bad as I first thought it was going to be. But I still don’t love running the wires from one end to the other. Surprised with their docs showing top mounted jacks they wouldn’t change it. But the board really was nice to work with. Pads took solder really well. And the layout was nice granted it’s a muff so the layout shouldn’t be too challenging.

 

[KR Sound]

Funny you mention that. So I was debating putting a battery in here as he doesn’t have a power supply. I decided in the end not to he said he would get one but I have several so I’ll just send one with it. But yes I will when I build the next lower the switch. It sits way too high. And some space between the board and daughterboard I think will be nice. That daughterboard wiring took me way longer than it should have lol. Couple solder sucker uses new wire etc lol.

I usually move them down a 1/2” or so because most of my friends don’t use batteries. Here’s a Russian version I’m making for a friend and it’ll also leave more room for artwork.

 

[Locrian99]

And I went to put the back on it and the jacks were too close to the lid. I had to file down the ridge to make it work. I’m sure this was my error in the template I remember thinking they seemed close. I could’ve left it probably but the 16th of an inch gap was noticeable after it was all screwed down.

 

[Feral Feline]

And I went to put the back on it and the jacks were too close to the lid. I had to file down the ridge to make it work. I’m sure this was my error in the template I remember thinking they seemed close. I could’ve left it probably but the 16th of an inch gap was noticeable after it was all screwed down.

I've done that more times than I care to admit, filing the lid-ridge.

There is another way that can work sometimes... you put small washers or wire between the jack and the enclosure so the jack doesn't stick out as far and it leaves a little room for the lid-lip. Details in this thread:

1590B Top-Mounted Jacks

1590B Top-Mounted Jacks

www.madbeanpedals.com