Fingolfen
Well-known member
How about another trio of Boss clones? Here's my "original three" of the compact effects from 1977. All of these are AionFX boards.
As Boss pedals, or honestly any pedals, go the Aion Heliodor (OD-1) is a fairly simple and straightforward build. The component count is low. The OD-1 was one of the first pedals to incorporate diode clipping in conjunction with an Op Amp, something also later seen in the MXR Distortion+. The AionFX board adds a couple of additional features in the form of toggle switches - the clipping switch alternates between three sets of clipping diodes, and the EQ switch modifies the gain structure. The board is designed to mimic the early version of the effect which used the Raytheon RC3403. I managed to lay my hands on an original, but the NJM3403AD is identical in all respects and is still in production. There was a typo in the build instructions (which has been fixed) and it previously had recommended the similar, but not identical, LM324 and LM348 op amps - so there is also room for experimentation with different op amps.
The Spectrum was a simple build other than creating the 10K A/C dual gang potentiometer. I adjusted the trimmer by ear.
The Phaser is one of the new boards - and it is dense. The nice thing is if you get the matched JFET set from Aion, you can leave their perf boards hooked together and then just add jumper leads to the boards so they drop directly into the board. I was still burning down some angled 10K resistors I'd picked up from Mouser that appeared to be a direct replacement for standard axial resistors... oh well...
Group photo!
Blog links:
Spectrum here
OD-1 here
Phaser here
As Boss pedals, or honestly any pedals, go the Aion Heliodor (OD-1) is a fairly simple and straightforward build. The component count is low. The OD-1 was one of the first pedals to incorporate diode clipping in conjunction with an Op Amp, something also later seen in the MXR Distortion+. The AionFX board adds a couple of additional features in the form of toggle switches - the clipping switch alternates between three sets of clipping diodes, and the EQ switch modifies the gain structure. The board is designed to mimic the early version of the effect which used the Raytheon RC3403. I managed to lay my hands on an original, but the NJM3403AD is identical in all respects and is still in production. There was a typo in the build instructions (which has been fixed) and it previously had recommended the similar, but not identical, LM324 and LM348 op amps - so there is also room for experimentation with different op amps.
The Spectrum was a simple build other than creating the 10K A/C dual gang potentiometer. I adjusted the trimmer by ear.
The Phaser is one of the new boards - and it is dense. The nice thing is if you get the matched JFET set from Aion, you can leave their perf boards hooked together and then just add jumper leads to the boards so they drop directly into the board. I was still burning down some angled 10K resistors I'd picked up from Mouser that appeared to be a direct replacement for standard axial resistors... oh well...
Group photo!
Blog links:
Spectrum here
OD-1 here
Phaser here
