[AionFX Spectron] Meatball Mountain

[fydo]

Build Rating

5.00 star(s)

Hello fellow builders!
This is one I've wanted to build for quite a while. It's often ranked near or at the top of lists of the best envelope filters. I had a bunch of obstacles during the build but it all worked out fine - and maybe have an idea for a useful mod!

Here it is:






So, why the weird name? When I showed my wife a picture of the original Meatball, she thought the white envelope graphic on it looked like a stylized mountain. Since then I've had the name "Meatball Mountain" stuck in my head, so I decided to roll with it. This enclosure was among the batch of my first time trying Tayda's drilling and UV printing services, and I think they did a great job! There were a few mistakes though (not Tayda's fault)

I used the AionFX drilling template as a measurement, but I must have made some errors when translating the rear hole locations.
Firstly, the In and Out jack holes were placed too far out so they interfered with the screw posts in the corners of the enclosure. After a combination of drilling the hole larger to "move" it over, grinding the screw posts a bit, and shaving the sides of my box jacks, I managed to make it fit.
Secondly, all of the rear jack holes were too close to the edge (top?) of the enclosure so the lid wouldn't fit when the Neutrik jacks were in place. I was able to work around this by bending all the lugs on the Neutrik jacks down flat (I put some white electrical tape on the enclosure lid too, just in case)
Thirdly, I found that the Neutrik jacks are just a little too close to each other, and I am unable to use my pancake jack patch cables. I've been looking at getting better patch cables so this is a good excuse to upgrade

I was relieved when the pedal fired up perfectly for the first time, except for one thing: in my opinion, AionFX has the LED order backwards In the original Meatball, the red power LED is centered, with the green "sense" LED to the left of it. On the Spectron PCB it's the other way around (power on left, sense on right) so I decided to lengthen my LED wires and swap those around.

It was a big build but very worth it! I love the sound of this pedal.
I had an idea for a small mod. I think the external trigger jack would be even more useful with the addition of a "external trigger passthrough" jack on the other side of the pedal. This would work similar to how it works on the Muzzle pedal, with an additional isolated (another Neutrik) jack that simply links up with the ground & tip of the external trigger input. This way you could use the external trigger feature without needing to split your signal with your tuner or otherwise. Is there any reason why this mod wouldn't work? Cheers!

Edit: Also, I feel the need to mention that have a nice pair of chickenhead knobs on the way to replace the two knobs on the rotary switches.

 

[DGWVI]

I had an idea for a small mod. I think the external trigger jack would be even more useful with the addition of a "external trigger passthrough" jack on the other side of the pedal. This would work similar to how it works on the Muzzle pedal, with an additional isolated (another Neutrik) jack that simply links up with the ground & tip of the external trigger input. This way you could use the external trigger feature without needing to split your signal with your tuner or otherwise. Is there any reason why this mod wouldn't work? Cheers!

I'm not sure this would work the way you're describing. Or, at least not be necessary due to it already having the effects loop between the input stage and filter portion. With the FX loop, you're already able to insert whatever you'd like pre-filter, while the signal is already split at the input buffer to send an uneffected signal to the envelope detector.

The way it's set up, you don't need to split your signal, unless you have to use the external trigger for whatever reason. The mod you describe would really only serve to allow you have a separate buffered, yet otherwise uneffected, output

Edit- I've got one of these one the way, and your thread has excited me for it. Haven't really gotten on with most MuTron type filters in the past, despite loving what I've heard others get out of them

 

[jimilee]

That’s an awesome build and an awesome pedal. I built one, but then had to hunt down the original manual to learn how to work the damn thing.

 

[fydo]

I'm not sure this would work the way you're describing. Or, at least not be necessary due to it already having the effects loop between the input stage and filter portion. With the FX loop, you're already able to insert whatever you'd like pre-filter, while the signal is already split at the input buffer to send an uneffected signal to the envelope detector.

The FX loop is great, but one drawback is that when the Spectron is off, so is the FX loop. So if you've got a nice always-on light gain that you'd want on all the time but also not affect the envelope trigger, then having this separate output would allow you to turn off the Spectron but still have that gain pedal active.

For example:
Guitar -> Spectron Ext. Trigger -> Spectron "new Ext. Trigger Passthrough" -> Fancy light gain -> Spectron "In"

 

[fydo]

Thanks for the great comments and reacts!

I got a nice private message asking about the Tayda UV print file, and of course I'm happy to share it! I removed my funny mountain graphic so it'll look a little more like a real Meatball

On Tayda's website you'll only need to say yes to the white print as there are no other colors on this design.

Edit: Also here is a version in .AI and .SVG formats, albeit earlier in the process (fonts not converted to shapes, etc) which might be more useful if you want to change things around. I uploaded it to my website since the forum doesn't like .AI or .SVG file attachments. You'll likely need to hunt down the "Daytona" font that I used for the Lovetone'ish lettering.

https://fydo.net/misc/Tayda-1590XX-Meatball-orig.ai.zip
https://fydo.net/misc/Tayda-1590XX-Meatball-orig.svg.zip

 

[Fingolfen]

I've got that board 90% populated, but need to finish it... though I wasn't doing the trigger mod... may have to rethink...

 

[flemming]

I've had this board mostly populated for a while now, but I haven't settled on the graphics yet so I've just let it sit. Thanks for inspiring me to get off my ass Nice job and thanks for sharing.

 

[Phil hodson]

I've had this board mostly populated for a while now, but I haven't settled on the graphics yet so I've just let it sit. Thanks for inspiring me to get off my ass Nice job and thanks for sharing.

Im the same, hopeing to get this UV printed and back soon so I can finish it!

 

[tcpoint]

Sounds like there are a lot of us in the same boat. I think I just need to finish wiring mine up. Hopefully, I didn't repurpose any of the jacks.

 

[Phil hodson]

Sounds like there are a lot of us in the same boat. I think I just need to finish wiring mine up. Hopefully, I didn't repurpose any of the jacks.

Totall, I got the majority of the components in and then hit a brick wall with the enclsoure. I wanted to make a good job of it. Seeing folks making amazing builds like this does give me the insentive to get of fmy arse and get something done about it.

 

[K Pedals]

Yeah I’ve got a couple of them I need to finish up too…

 

[DGWVI]

The FX loop is great, but one drawback is that when the Spectron is off, so is the FX loop. So if you've got a nice always-on light gain that you'd want on all the time but also not affect the envelope trigger, then having this separate output would allow you to turn off the Spectron but still have that gain pedal active.

For example:
Guitar -> Spectron Ext. Trigger -> Spectron "new Ext. Trigger Passthrough" -> Fancy light gain -> Spectron "In"

Definitely get that. I dealt with sorta the same thing with my recent Junk Trunk / Gas Tank build.

Since I'm building one of these soon, I picked up some of these Buffered Splitters to make life easier. I'm just gonna hack it into the input for simplicity sake, and have the other out going to the trigger

 

[fydo]

though I wasn't doing the trigger mod... may have to rethink...

If you do end up adding the Ext. Trigger jack, don't forget to cut the appropriate trace on the PCB! I almost forgot and it would have been a headache to do after I had all the wiring done.

Definitely get that. I dealt with sorta the same thing with my recent Junk Trunk / Gas Tank build.

Since I'm building one of these soon, I picked up some of these Buffered Splitters to make life easier. I'm just gonna hack it into the input for simplicity sake, and have the other out going to the trigger

Sounds great! I'm looking forward to seeing it

 

[Fingolfen]

If you do end up adding the Ext. Trigger jack, don't forget to cut the appropriate trace on the PCB! I almost forgot and it would have been a headache to do after I had all the wiring done.

Honestly that's why I haven't added the external trigger at this point as I wasn't sure I wanted to cut the trace! *lol*