DEMO AionFX Polyphemus (Pigtronix Philosophers Tone) - Demo Added

[MichaelW]

Build Rating

2.00 star(s)

Well I built this pedal because @Bricksnbeatles said I needed one.

I really wasn't familiar with this circuit but it was designed by Howard Davis of Deluxe Memory Man fame.

It's an optical compressor with a blendable overdrive.

I rarely ever say this about any of my builds as I can usually find something I like about the pedals I've built. But honestly I think this thing sounds like crap.
(No knock on Bricksy....)

I'm not sure if I did something wrong or what. I guess I need to go listen to some more demo's of the real thing and see how far off I am.

Part of it was my expectations, I was expecting more "compressor" but this is really an overdrive pedal.
You can't turn the drive part off and even at it's lowest blend setting there's grit.

The overdrive sounds are thin and fizzy and underwhelming at best. I built it to the BOM, it uses a LOT of 1N914's and a single Ge diode. I used an ITT Red Band for the Ge, which is one of my favorite 1N34A subs.

There's quite a bit of compression on tap and you can get a ton of sustain with it, but in general the whole pedal sounds like there's a wool blanket over it.

The closest usable sounds I can get out of it is to turn the drive all the way down and run it in front of another drive pedal, but I don't see the point when there's so many other better sounding dedicated compressors I can use.

At full volume the pedal barely reaches unity gain, maybe a hair under.

I dunno, maybe I just don't get it, or I'm using it wrong. It was a fun build, but destined for the drawer.

Sorry Aion, this one's a total "miss" for me.

 

[Locrian99]

They can’t all be zingers. If there is an issue. Always the worst to troubleshoot the it just doesn’t seem quite right.

 

[Laundryroom David]

Well I built this pedal because @Bricksnbeatles said I needed one.

I really wasn't familiar with this circuit but it was designed by Howard Davis of Deluxe Memory Man fame.

It's an optical compressor with a blendable overdrive.

I rarely ever say this about any of my builds as I can usually find something I like about the pedals I've built. But honestly I think this thing sounds like crap.
(No knock on Bricksy....)

I'm not sure if I did something wrong or what. I guess I need to go listen to some more demo's of the real thing and see how far off I am.

Part of it was my expectations, I was expecting more "compressor" but this is really an overdrive pedal.
You can't turn the drive part off and even at it's lowest blend setting there's grit.

The overdrive sounds are thin and fizzy and underwhelming at best. I built it to the BOM, it uses a LOT of 1N914's and a single Ge diode. I used an ITT Red Band for the Ge, which is one of my favorite 1N34A subs.

There's quite a bit of compression on tap and you can get a ton of sustain with it, but in general the whole pedal sounds like there's a wool blanket over it.

The closest usable sounds I can get out of it is to turn the drive all the way down and run it in front of another drive pedal, but I don't see the point when there's so many other better sounding dedicated compressors I can use.

At full volume the pedal barely reaches unity gain, maybe a hair under.

I dunno, maybe I just don't get it, or I'm using it wrong. It was a fun build, but destined for the drawer.

Sorry Aion, this one's a total "miss" for me.

View attachment 52953

View attachment 52954

Great build as always. Some days you get the bear; some days the bear gets you!

 

[Bricksnbeatles]

I recommended this one? Whoops— I don’t remember that

Definitely sounds like they’re something weird going on, just in the sense that it should have a decent amount past unity gain available. Tone is of course subjective so I can’t really say if it’s off in that regard, but the volume issue makes me think something isn’t functioning as intended.

I’ve never had a philosopher’s tone myself, but a good friend of mine had one for years and I played thru his rig many times— it should be able to get decently loud. Don’t remember too much about it, but I do remember he used it as an all in one boost/comp/drive for solos with no level issues.
Sorry to hear this one didn’t scratch the itch for you. Sounds like you need to build an Orange Squeezer to ease the heartbreak . I can unequivocally say that you will dig that circuit.

 

[MichaelW]

This was from the build docs"

"Volume is the overall output level. Be aware that even at maximum volume, it doesn’t go much higher than unity gain, so it’s not suitable for use as a booster."

I think it's working correctly, I just don't like it, heheh.

I'll post a demo here in a bit.

 

[Bricksnbeatles]

Interesting. I just looked and there have been a handful of versions of the philosopher’s tone circuit. My friend had the horizontal gold colored one— perhaps different versions had different output levels and this is based on a different one.

Edit: or if his was otherwise modded— pigtronix used to be headquartered 10 min from us, and he would stop by there to get things changed up once in a while.

 

[Laundryroom David]

Interesting. I just looked and there have been a handful of versions of the philosopher’s tone circuit. My friend had the horizontal gold colored one— perhaps different versions had different output levels and this is based on a different one.

Edit: or if his was otherwise modded— pigtronix used to be headquartered 10 min from us, and he would stop by there to get things changed up once in a while.

I was wondering about that b/c I remembered seeing different versions. Curious.

 

[MichaelW]

Ok added a demo.

It's also a demo of my "Fat Strat" project. So you can put up with my clammy noodling, or skip ahead to the pedal demo

 

[music6000]

Ok added a demo.

It's also a demo of my "Fat Strat" project. So you can put up with my clammy noodling, or skip ahead to the pedal demo

You did a Great job putting this one together, Classy Build!

Brett usually goes into some detail but this woud be one of his shortest demo's I've seen & it displays the character you describe.
Watch the clarity drop out when he engages it & the Tone control is cranked:

 

[MichaelW]

You did a Great job putting this one together, Classy Build!

Brett usually goes into some detail but this woud be one of his shortest demo's I've seen & it displays the character you describe.
Watch the clarity drop out when he engages it & the Tone control is cranked:

He definitely seems to able to get it cleaner than mine. I should try it with a Tele.

 

[HamishR]

I actually bought a Pigtronics pedal many years ago. I can't remember what it was, just that it was spectacularly awful. I emailed them to check it was working right and they very sniffily said it was and implied that I wasn't sophisticated enough to understand it or something. So no more Pigtronics pedals for me!

 

[MichaelW]

I actually bought a Pigtronics pedal many years ago. I can't remember what it was, just that it was spectacularly awful. I emailed them to check it was working right and they very sniffily said it was and implied that I wasn't sophisticated enough to understand it or something. So no more Pigtronics pedals for me!

I must be a country bumpkin then.......

 

[SillyOctpuss]

This was from the build docs"

"Volume is the overall output level. Be aware that even at maximum volume, it doesn’t go much higher than unity gain, so it’s not suitable for use as a booster."

I think it's working correctly, I just don't like it, heheh.

I'll post a demo here in a bit.

I had this with the peacekeeper pedal. I didn't like the first one and assumed I'd done something wrong. I did some troubleshooting and couldn't find a problem. I still thought I must have done something wrong though so built a second one and it sounded better but I soon realised I just didn't like it. It just sits on a shelf now mocking me.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

I actually bought a Pigtronics pedal many years ago. I can't remember what it was, just that it was spectacularly awful. I emailed them to check it was working right and they very sniffily said it was and implied that I wasn't sophisticated enough to understand it or something. So no more Pigtronics pedals for me!

This happened to me with bare knuckle pickups. I'd had pickups from them before and really rated them but I'd gone for a new set that Tim recommended and really didn't like them. I even fitted them in a second guitar and they still sounded thin and screechy. When I contacted them to try and change them they were not very helpful and basically told me I was wrong and like you implied I wasn't a sublte enough player to appreciate the tones.

I haven't bought any of their pickups since because they were dicks about it.

 

[HamishR]

Funny you should say that... I bought some Bareknuckle Mules after reading rave reviews. They did absolutely nothing for me. Sounded like underpowered SD '59s. I don't mind underwound pickups either. The HBs in my Les Paul are just amazing, and they're not particularly powerful. They're whatever Gibson put in a 2018 R9 - they're not Burstbuckers. They're bright and clear but pack quite a punch. Same as the lo-wind stock P90s in my ES-225. But the Bareknuckles I tried were just bland.

I am loyal to those who treat me right. I don't expect much but I don't expect crap! Dr Z amps are a no-go for me - I've had a couple, found them difficult to dial in (and they only had 3 knobs!) and customer service was abysmal. Smarmy and sarcastic.

I guess that's why places like this stand out.

 

[szukalski]

I can see what they’re going for and the appeal but it ain’t my thing. Sounds like a Neurocyton to me. One of those pedals that you can get a usable sound from, then you look at your pile of pedals and question “why bother?”

The Fattie sounds great though!

 

[music6000]

How Good is the Philosophers Tone
All the reviews rave about how good it is!!!
Wait a minute, it's not even the same Circuit anymore!!!
Where's the Grit control????

This is the Current version that has been available for 6 years!


Famous for its noiseless clean sustain, the Philosopher’s Tone has staked its claim in the crowded world of compressor pedals. In addition to Volume and Sustain controls, the Philosopher’s Tone features a parallel Blend knob that allows the musician to mix their instrument’s original tone with the compressed sound effect. This technique restores natural pick-attack and allows more extreme sustain settings to remain musical. The Treble control provides up to a 6db cut or boost at 2kHz for fine-tuning the frequency response of the effect. The Philosopher’s Tone features true-bypass switching and internal 18V power rails for maximum clean headroom, even when used with hot pickups and line level signals.

 

[Feral Feline]

Good looking build MW, sad to hear it isn't your cuppa.


I've wanted this circuit for AGES, and was going to order it from TH Custom (it was out of stock when I ordered some stuff from THC previously). I never got around to ordering it 'cause there was nothing else I wanted from THC, so when I saw AionFX was giving the circuit a go, I pounced!

Just got the board a couple days ago and now there's a review with others echoing — "It's not the shizzle".

Bummed. I had such delusions of grandeur for this pedal. Hopefully it will work better on bass?

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Funny you should say that... I bought some Bareknuckle Mules after reading rave reviews. They did absolutely nothing for me. Sounded like underpowered SD '59s. I don't mind underwound pickups either. The HBs in my Les Paul are just amazing, and they're not particularly powerful. They're whatever Gibson put in a 2018 R9 - they're not Burstbuckers. They're bright and clear but pack quite a punch. Same as the lo-wind stock P90s in my ES-225. But the Bareknuckles I tried were just bland.

I am loyal to those who treat me right. I don't expect much but I don't expect crap! Dr Z amps are a no-go for me - I've had a couple, found them difficult to dial in (and they only had 3 knobs!) and customer service was abysmal. Smarmy and sarcastic.

I guess that's why places like this stand out.

I've had stormy Monday and riff raff sets from Bare knuckle and they were great. I just won't buy anymore after being talked down to.

The pickups in your R9 will be alnico iii custom buckers, they're really great pickups.

 

[MichaelW]

How Good is the Philosophers Tone
All the reviews rave about how good it is!!!
Wait a minute, it's not even the same Circuit anymore!!!
Where's the Grit control????

This is the Current version that has been available for 6 years!

View attachment 53009
Famous for its noiseless clean sustain, the Philosopher’s Tone has staked its claim in the crowded world of compressor pedals. In addition to Volume and Sustain controls, the Philosopher’s Tone features a parallel Blend knob that allows the musician to mix their instrument’s original tone with the compressed sound effect. This technique restores natural pick-attack and allows more extreme sustain settings to remain musical. The Treble control provides up to a 6db cut or boost at 2kHz for fine-tuning the frequency response of the effect. The Philosopher’s Tone features true-bypass switching and internal 18V power rails for maximum clean headroom, even when used with hot pickups and line level signals.

This sounds more like what I was expecting. I wonder if it's even an optical??