Blauer Stahl- madbean blue steel

Build Rating
5.00 star(s)
I had previously built the original version of the blue steel from @bean . It has been a mainstay on my board and become my go to overdrive with humbuckers. The added brightness, the more open texture of the drive, the more neutral mid-range and the touch sensitivity all make it a great base overdrive for me. So when he released the revised layout I had to build one.

The first thing I decided to do was to ditch the subs switch. As I usually use humbuckers with it, I find the the stock circuit has more than enough low end. Perhaps people using single coils might find that useful. I also prefer having as few controls as possible, so having the stock layout made sense. The updated SMD jfet footprint is great, like aion, and space saving. I also went with a relay bypass from @szukalski . With Brian's new standard layout I only had to swap the 9v and ground leads.

I love the sound of the pedal. I think it really shines with humbuckers. The looser texture of the drive coupled with the added compression of humbuckers makes for a very nice overdrive that cleans up well. I also think the added brightness of the circuit melds well with the darker nature of something like a Les Paul or 335. I really like boosting it with an OD-3 or SD-1 for some midrange punch.

For the enclosure I went with a matte black tayda box and UV print. I went with a new design this time and used Nightcrawler. He really pops and I'm really happy with how it came out. Being as Nightcrawler is German I adjusted the name. Fantastic pedal and another great layout from madbean pedals.
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Another reason why I like build reports. Sometimes I'll build a pedal, try it for two minutes, give a shrug and then put it on the shelf with the others. Then I'll see a report about it.

So I just went to the shelf and plugged in the BD-2 for a revisit. Indeed, it's quite nice with humbuckers. There was a sweet spot where I was in OD territory on the HB, and when I switched to SC it was practically clean.

You always have a great write-up. Besides the 'what' is built and 'how' it's built- the 'why' you like to use it, and the 'how' you like to use it. Of course it's top-notch and super-clean too.
 
Another reason why I like build reports. Sometimes I'll build a pedal, try it for two minutes, give a shrug and then put it on the shelf with the others. Then I'll see a report about it.

So I just went to the shelf and plugged in the BD-2 for a revisit. Indeed, it's quite nice with humbuckers. There was a sweet spot where I was in OD territory on the HB, and when I switched to SC it was practically clean.

You always have a great write-up. Besides the 'what' is built and 'how' it's built- the 'why' you like to use it, and the 'how' you like to use it. Of course it's top-notch and super-clean too.
Thank You. I think a lot of people get so excited to show off what they built that the extent of what it sounds like is based on whether it passed signal and all the knobs work. I will generally wait to post a build report for 2-3 weeks before I give my thoughts because I want to try them with as much gear and different context as possible. I figure someone will find it helpful. I don't particularly like the BD-2 with single coils as it's too bright and gravely, and I think the mods, especially the bass switch is to help give SC guitars more heft. I really believe this pedal was designed with humbuckers in mind.
 
I like that you took advantage of the smd JFETs! Even though I still have a bunch of TH I'm mostly doing SMD in my own builds now. Looks great.
 
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