Bronze Breaker (Cerulean from AionFX)

[jwyles90]

I just finished up this Bluesbreaker PCB from AionFX, thought I'd share it here. I've never used a Bluesbreaker style pedal before, so I was curious about the sound itself and decided to build one to see if I liked it. This thing sounds incredible, definitely, a great mid-gain OD that can get nice and chunky with the gain cranked. I don't hear a huge difference between the clipping modes if I'm being totally honest. The hard clipping knob switched down definitely sounds grittier and heavier, and the soft clipping knob switch down is a little smoother (and also quieter for some reason). Otherwise, though the other settings sound pretty similar. Not a huge deal in my eyes, just an interesting observation.
Wiring used to be my least favorite part of the process (and still is in a lot of ways haha), but I'm finding that the more I do it the less frustrating it is. Especially with the daughterboard for the 3PDT, it makes that whole process run a lot more smoothly. This was also a great reminder to double check everything before testing it out. I finished the build and excitedly went to fire it up. The LED worked but I was getting no sound out of it at all when it was engaged. I started to panic a bit and was looking over all my wiring, checked for bad solder joints, etc. Turns out I just forgot to put the transistor into the socket before I went to test it out. Once I popped that in there it worked like a charm.
The paint was once again done by my partner. She's been crushing it lately.

 

[MichaelW]

Hey @jwyles90 what diodes did you use in this? The stock BOM from Aion? I also recently built the Cerulean and I like the "no clipping" setting the best. I socketed the diodes and have tried a bunch of different things in it. Like running a JRC4580 instead of the TLO72, running BAT41's instead of 1N914's for the hard clippers and even tried some MA828's in the soft clipper loop. Ironically, the differences were negligible. Love your paint concept! Mine was in the "kit" form and has the "Cerulean" graphics on it. It was an early build for me and I went the "idiot proof" kit method

 

[jwyles90]

Hey @jwyles90 what diodes did you use in this? The stock BOM from Aion? I also recently built the Cerulean and I like the "no clipping" setting the best. I socketed the diodes and have tried a bunch of different things in it. Like running a JRC4580 instead of the TLO72, running BAT41's instead of 1N914's for the hard clippers and even tried some MA828's in the soft clipper loop. Ironically, the differences were negligible. Love your paint concept! Mine was in the "kit" form and has the "Cerulean" graphics on it. It was an early build for me and I went the "idiot proof" kit method

Idiot proof is the way to go! haha. My first few builds were kits too, I think that's such a great way to get familiar with all of this.
I just used the 1N914's that were on the build docs, so I'm sure they're the same as what comes with the Aion kit. I've seen people socket their diodes on here before and have been curious about trying that myself but always end up forgetting to once I start populating the board. I have a couple upcoming projects with germanium diodes though, seems like that might be a good time to try it out.

 

[Feral Feline]

Whether I tape all the components to a bit of cardboard or I poke the legs into some foam, I always try to put some sockets down with the components — even then, I still forget to socket for my intended mods.