rwl
Well-known member
- Build Rating
This is a report on my build on the Aion Redshift Deluxe, which is based on the Blackout Whetstone Phaser, which in turn is based on the EHX Small Stone. I wanted to build some of the more advanced Aion boards and I liked my Circulator build, so I thought I'd try - and it was worth it. Right now this is one of my favorite pedals.
Inspiration
I'm pretty proud of the name for this pedal, the theme, and the artwork. In fact I think this is my favorite build so far. The pedal is named after the Saw-Whet Owl, a tiny, very cute owl, and this comes from the original "Whetstone" name. And then I incorporated the Redshift name from Aion into the Soviet propaganda theme (a red shift, so to speak).
I have a birding co-worker who gave me some good locations to find Saw-Whets in a nearby park. My girlfriend (who's the serious birder between the two of us) and I went birding there. Merlin (a bird sound recognition app) picked up a Saw-Whet, so she swears we heard one, but I really only trust my eyes or very obvious calls for ID. So we may or may not have been in the presence of a Saw-Whet.
I've felt a little constrained on 125B layouts, which can't really fit much artwork - but on the other hand I really love the 125B form factor for pedals. So I figured when I make larger pedals, I'd give myself some more creative freedom and try different styles of artwork. I have another 1590XX enclosure being printed right now that I'm also psyched about and I'm happy with the art on my Superheterodyne Receiver.
The Build
No problems here, the build worked just fine right away. Although the board looks complicated there's really not that many components. I think it's big just because there's so many controls. I'm still gonna dock a star because I hate the reference numbers and wiring on Aion boards, they just make building less fun. Also the daughterboard wiring is intense.
The Pedal
It's really amazing, this is one case where my satisfaction with my enclosure design matches how much I like the pedal (often I'm very proud of designs for pedals that aren't my favorite). There's so many sounds in this thing, and they all sound so smooth. On my smaller pedalboard, this guy is always on. The two footswitches are interesting, one is bypass, and the other simply toggles between the two rate settings. But the rate setting is important because that alone is enough to change the feel from phaser to something very close to a ringmod. All in all, I'm very happy with this and it's totally worth the 1590XX form factor.
Firsts
Pedal rating: 5/5
Inspiration
I'm pretty proud of the name for this pedal, the theme, and the artwork. In fact I think this is my favorite build so far. The pedal is named after the Saw-Whet Owl, a tiny, very cute owl, and this comes from the original "Whetstone" name. And then I incorporated the Redshift name from Aion into the Soviet propaganda theme (a red shift, so to speak).
I have a birding co-worker who gave me some good locations to find Saw-Whets in a nearby park. My girlfriend (who's the serious birder between the two of us) and I went birding there. Merlin (a bird sound recognition app) picked up a Saw-Whet, so she swears we heard one, but I really only trust my eyes or very obvious calls for ID. So we may or may not have been in the presence of a Saw-Whet.
I've felt a little constrained on 125B layouts, which can't really fit much artwork - but on the other hand I really love the 125B form factor for pedals. So I figured when I make larger pedals, I'd give myself some more creative freedom and try different styles of artwork. I have another 1590XX enclosure being printed right now that I'm also psyched about and I'm happy with the art on my Superheterodyne Receiver.
The Build
No problems here, the build worked just fine right away. Although the board looks complicated there's really not that many components. I think it's big just because there's so many controls. I'm still gonna dock a star because I hate the reference numbers and wiring on Aion boards, they just make building less fun. Also the daughterboard wiring is intense.
The Pedal
It's really amazing, this is one case where my satisfaction with my enclosure design matches how much I like the pedal (often I'm very proud of designs for pedals that aren't my favorite). There's so many sounds in this thing, and they all sound so smooth. On my smaller pedalboard, this guy is always on. The two footswitches are interesting, one is bypass, and the other simply toggles between the two rate settings. But the rate setting is important because that alone is enough to change the feel from phaser to something very close to a ringmod. All in all, I'm very happy with this and it's totally worth the 1590XX form factor.
Firsts
First build with chickenhead knobs (I thought they fit the Soviet vibe).
Pedal rating: 5/5
