MichaelW
Well-known member
Hey all,
Working my way through my pcb shopping spree of the last few weeks.
First up, I built out the "RC Booster" version of Aion's Malacandra. It was a fairly easy and quick build....except it didn't work when I fired it up.
Had me scratching my head as the usual suspect of me wiring the jacks backwards wasn't it.....
......long story short, took me a couple of hours to finally figure it out. I had used the original 2SC1815's instead of the 2N5088's listed in the BOM. Didn't occur to me to check the data sheet first to see the pinouts were different....sheesh. Aion actually provides the extra emitter pad for the reverse orientation for using the 2SC1815's. I wound up socketing the Q1 and Q2 pads and ended up using the 2N5088's.
Sounds very much like I remember when I owned an RC Booster a few years ago. My RC Booster didn't do much for me and this pedal doesn't either. I actually think the TC Electronic Spark (full size) does everything the RC is supposed to do but does it better and adds more eq flexibility. (at 1/3 the price, I bought my Spark for $69 at Sweetwater). Anyway, this one went to my brother who had been using a Joyo boost pedal and he LOVES it. So I'm happy!
Next I built a close cousin of the RC Booster, the Aion Perelandra Deluxe (BB Pre-Amp w/Custom shop mods).
I've owned the stock BB-PreAmp actually twice, sold them both times. Again, it was just kinda missing something. I missed out when the Xotic Custom Shop models were released (Andy Timmons model, the Mid-Boost model and the Comp model). Aion's Perelandra Deluxe incorporates all 3 of these mods into a single build. All I can say is wow, I REALLY like THIS BB-PreAmp hahah. The Mid control definitely makes all the difference, and the "Andy Timmons" and "Compression" modes extend the usable sounds. But I kinda like it in the the middle position as a low gain overdrive. Sounds really great, this one's a keeper! Oh and I DID use the 2SC1815's on this build but socketed all 4 pads just in case.....heh.
Last up, I built the GreenGage (EQD Plumes). Believe it or not, I have never owned a Tube Screamer in all my years of playing. (Unless you count the Fulldrive 3 I had for a while and I thought that pedal sounded like a hot mess). It's just never been a sound that I've gravitated towards with my playing style. But I had been hearing and reading so many rave reviews of the EQD Plumes and it's still extremely reasonably priced at around $100 bucks. It's been sitting in my Amazon wish-list for probably 6 months now. Then I found this website called Pedalpcb.com......heh.
Anyway, again an easy build until the very end when I had a total bear of a time getting the jacks to fit correctly in the 1590B box. I mis-calculated drilling the top jack holes and put the DC jack a bit too low. Of course it all fit when I dry fit everything but without the wires connected (duh.....). I keep learning new stuff on every build Anyway, once I finally wrassled everything into the enclosure and fired it up again I was WOWed by how great this "tube screamer" sounded. It....ummm....doesn't sound all that much like a TS to me heh. Well, in "Mode 3" with the diodes clipping it's classic TS-808 sounding, compressed, mid-humped, TS overdrive. But what I really liked was the additional headroom the internal 18v allows, it really works well in this circuit, and I actually liked it best with just OpAmp clipping mode with the gain turned all the way off. It adds a really cool "bloom" as a clean boost this way. I've been building way too many pedals lately and need to spend some time exploring what they're capable of. I can definitely see GreenGage/Plumes as one I need to spend more time with actually playing as opposed to obsessing over the builds
I started out with the 4558's in it, then swapped it to the TL072's, I may put the 4558's back in.
Working my way through my pcb shopping spree of the last few weeks.
First up, I built out the "RC Booster" version of Aion's Malacandra. It was a fairly easy and quick build....except it didn't work when I fired it up.
Had me scratching my head as the usual suspect of me wiring the jacks backwards wasn't it.....
......long story short, took me a couple of hours to finally figure it out. I had used the original 2SC1815's instead of the 2N5088's listed in the BOM. Didn't occur to me to check the data sheet first to see the pinouts were different....sheesh. Aion actually provides the extra emitter pad for the reverse orientation for using the 2SC1815's. I wound up socketing the Q1 and Q2 pads and ended up using the 2N5088's. Sounds very much like I remember when I owned an RC Booster a few years ago. My RC Booster didn't do much for me and this pedal doesn't either. I actually think the TC Electronic Spark (full size) does everything the RC is supposed to do but does it better and adds more eq flexibility. (at 1/3 the price, I bought my Spark for $69 at Sweetwater). Anyway, this one went to my brother who had been using a Joyo boost pedal and he LOVES it. So I'm happy!
Next I built a close cousin of the RC Booster, the Aion Perelandra Deluxe (BB Pre-Amp w/Custom shop mods).
I've owned the stock BB-PreAmp actually twice, sold them both times. Again, it was just kinda missing something. I missed out when the Xotic Custom Shop models were released (Andy Timmons model, the Mid-Boost model and the Comp model). Aion's Perelandra Deluxe incorporates all 3 of these mods into a single build. All I can say is wow, I REALLY like THIS BB-PreAmp hahah. The Mid control definitely makes all the difference, and the "Andy Timmons" and "Compression" modes extend the usable sounds. But I kinda like it in the the middle position as a low gain overdrive. Sounds really great, this one's a keeper! Oh and I DID use the 2SC1815's on this build but socketed all 4 pads just in case.....heh.
Last up, I built the GreenGage (EQD Plumes). Believe it or not, I have never owned a Tube Screamer in all my years of playing. (Unless you count the Fulldrive 3 I had for a while and I thought that pedal sounded like a hot mess). It's just never been a sound that I've gravitated towards with my playing style. But I had been hearing and reading so many rave reviews of the EQD Plumes and it's still extremely reasonably priced at around $100 bucks. It's been sitting in my Amazon wish-list for probably 6 months now. Then I found this website called Pedalpcb.com......heh.
Anyway, again an easy build until the very end when I had a total bear of a time getting the jacks to fit correctly in the 1590B box. I mis-calculated drilling the top jack holes and put the DC jack a bit too low. Of course it all fit when I dry fit everything but without the wires connected (duh.....). I keep learning new stuff on every build
Anyway, once I finally wrassled everything into the enclosure and fired it up again I was WOWed by how great this "tube screamer" sounded. It....ummm....doesn't sound all that much like a TS to me heh. Well, in "Mode 3" with the diodes clipping it's classic TS-808 sounding, compressed, mid-humped, TS overdrive. But what I really liked was the additional headroom the internal 18v allows, it really works well in this circuit, and I actually liked it best with just OpAmp clipping mode with the gain turned all the way off. It adds a really cool "bloom" as a clean boost this way. I've been building way too many pedals lately and need to spend some time exploring what they're capable of. I can definitely see GreenGage/Plumes as one I need to spend more time with actually playing as opposed to obsessing over the buildsI started out with the 4558's in it, then swapped it to the TL072's, I may put the 4558's back in.
