- Build Rating
Yesterday I completed the Aion Perelandra Deluxe, which is an amalgamation of the various Xotic BB Preamp versions that have been released over the years. In particular, it adds an active mid boost control, as well as three clipping options. Very similar to the PedalPCB XB-MB Preamp, but that doesn't have clipping options. (Although, with a little ingenuity, you can easily add the clipping options, as MichaelW demonstrated.)
Pretty straightforward build. I've actually had this PCB since June, just never prioritized building it. One thing that jumped out at me, that I appreciate, is that the overwhelming majority of components are very common values (e.g. most resistors a multiple of 1 or 4.7). So I had all the parts on hand (including the dual-gang pot), except the B1M drive pot. I used an A1M instead. Same max value, different taper. With what little I've played with it so far, I do kind of wish I'd held out for the right pot. That said, I haven't decided if it will be a permanent fixture for me or not. If I decide it will be, then I'll probably make my own PCB with integrated relay bypass and maybe a voltage boost or something.
As for the tone: I think the active mid boost control is the killer feature here. Somewhere I read that with the mid boost at 9:00, it's roughly equivalent to the more common version without the mid boost. To my ears, even with the mid boost all the way down, there is still a bit of a mid-hump. My understanding is that the BB Preamp is basically a tube screamer with the tone control hardwired to minimum (or near min), and then the active Bandaxall tone stack grafted to the end. Personally, I'd like to see something a bit more transparent with all controls at noon. That, combined with the clipping options (especially the no-clipping) would make it really flexible all-in-one kind of pedal, serving as a boost, overdrive, and EQ.
As for the clipping options ("comp"), I found myself gravitating to the no-clipping setting, which is essentially opamp overdrive. I expected that to be harsh and unusable, but I actually like it. It does have the "splatty" decay noise, but I find that charming.
I think my build looks decent. I used stereo I/O jacks because that's what I had on hand. I put a skull on it because I couldn't think of anything else. I did use the comic sans font as a nod to the Xotic pedals.
Pretty straightforward build. I've actually had this PCB since June, just never prioritized building it. One thing that jumped out at me, that I appreciate, is that the overwhelming majority of components are very common values (e.g. most resistors a multiple of 1 or 4.7). So I had all the parts on hand (including the dual-gang pot), except the B1M drive pot. I used an A1M instead. Same max value, different taper. With what little I've played with it so far, I do kind of wish I'd held out for the right pot. That said, I haven't decided if it will be a permanent fixture for me or not. If I decide it will be, then I'll probably make my own PCB with integrated relay bypass and maybe a voltage boost or something.
As for the tone: I think the active mid boost control is the killer feature here. Somewhere I read that with the mid boost at 9:00, it's roughly equivalent to the more common version without the mid boost. To my ears, even with the mid boost all the way down, there is still a bit of a mid-hump. My understanding is that the BB Preamp is basically a tube screamer with the tone control hardwired to minimum (or near min), and then the active Bandaxall tone stack grafted to the end. Personally, I'd like to see something a bit more transparent with all controls at noon. That, combined with the clipping options (especially the no-clipping) would make it really flexible all-in-one kind of pedal, serving as a boost, overdrive, and EQ.
As for the clipping options ("comp"), I found myself gravitating to the no-clipping setting, which is essentially opamp overdrive. I expected that to be harsh and unusable, but I actually like it. It does have the "splatty" decay noise, but I find that charming.
I think my build looks decent. I used stereo I/O jacks because that's what I had on hand. I put a skull on it because I couldn't think of anything else. I did use the comic sans font as a nod to the Xotic pedals.
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