Fav Deadend Fx board(s) go…

Dan0h

Well-known member
I’ve wanted to try a couole DeadEnd FX boards. What’s your faves?

Their Spaceman catalog is impressive but they all look like fuzz variants…
 
I went there for the weird so my choices may not interest you, but I have built The Thing, calypso phaser, Tatiana, and the Hapalochlaena. Of those, the calypso is a very nice 8 stage phaser with a ton of controls that would be good for any guitar player. The Thing is awesome for some non standard envelope-ish extremely nasty bass dirt. The Hapalochlaena is a great ring mod but requires an 18v AC power supply. Tatiana is fun one too. It’s a feedback looper so you can throw any pedal in the loop and have the signal run back into itself for some really extreme sounds (think sending a delay into oscillation). I need to play around with that one some more.
 
Couple things to keep in mind when building deadendfx stuff. First, consider components. some use very specific and often hard to find and stupid expensive parts. Make sure you can source all hard to find stuff before you order a project. Second, be prepared to buy from multiple suppliers for any given project, this translates into expensive builds when the builds were already pricey to begin with. Last, consider you are about to embark on some of the most frustrating layouts of your pedal building journey. If you don't like offboard wiring, you are in trouble lol, and there will be zero consideration given to power and I/O jacks. The empty board will engulf the entire enclosure and you will be cursing whatever god you pray too trying to make the jacks fit in the tallest enclosure you've ever seen without hitting components. But if you want weird, they are the ones. I like my hooke reverb but my last build broke me and I refuse to pay for that level of irritation. Oh yeah, I forget... you don't get a real drill template and you get to be nostalgic about diy building like it's 2003 again and make your own custom jack placement.
 
Last edited:
two things to keep in mind when building deadendfx stuff. First, consider components. some use very specific and often hard to find and stupid expensive parts. Make sure you can source all hard to find stuff before you order a project. Second, be prepared to buy from multiple suppliers for any given project, this translates into expensive builds when the builds were already pricey to begin with. Last, consider you are about to embark on some of the most frustrating layouts of your pedal building journey. If you don't like offboard wiring, you are in trouble lol, and there will be zero consideration given to power and I/O jacks. The empty board will engulf the entire enclosure and you will be cursing whatever god you pray too trying to make the jacks fit in the tallest enclosure you've ever seen without hitting components. But if you want weird, they are the ones. I like my hooke reverb but my last build broke me and I refuse to pay for that level of irritation. Oh yeah, I forget... you don't get a real drill template and you get to be nostalgic about diy building like it's 2003 again and make your own custom jack placement.
This pretty much sums up why I passed last time I looked into their stuff. Pulling at straws at this point to find something to build. I’ll just go back to being content with my sound as is.
 
This pretty much sums up why I passed last time I looked into their stuff. Pulling at straws at this point to find something to build. I’ll just go back to being content with my sound as is.
Try something from Parasit? The Eagle Claw (octave fuzz) Sentient Machine (dual modulated filter), and Green Currant (trem / vibe) are more traditional fare.
 
I last built the Reflektor. Now that was a challenging and pricey build, but it works and I’m happy. My favorite fuzz pedal out there is the Fuzzimile which is a clone of the Spaceman Effects Gemini III dual fuzz generator. That thing has so many nice sounds. I agree with others that DEFx projects are difficult and expensive to put together. Even after ten years of building and collecting parts, I always need to order / find something that I’ve never come across. In the end though, I’m really grateful for their efforts and dedication to the myriad of choices they put their heart and soul into. I am proud to say I am a big fan.
 
I built the Oiolosse (clone of the Midnight Amplification Holy Mountain) and it sounds great. very doomy. I also did the DIal F for Fuzz (Foxx Select-a-fuzz) which i actually think sounds pretty good despite other peoples distaste for it. I also built the EVA (clone of the Spaceman Effects Gemini IV) which sounds fucking great. probably my favorite out of the bunch. I also built the Hooke (clone of the Spaceman Effects Gemini IV) and switchblade (Clone of the Last Gasp Arts Super Oscillo 88) but im waiting on parts for the hooke. haha. and im troubleshooting the switchblade still. but i agree with what everyone says about the weird random parts. I bought the Hooke PCB 2 or 3 years ago and have been slowly piecing it together. its always been on the backburner for more approachable projects
 
I really wanted to build the Reflektor but the build docs turned me off with the reccomendation of glue on the boards connecting the pcb for the tube to main PCB. I could already see myself breaking it off on accident trying to install tubes. probably why they recommended it. and the kit is $85...
 
Back
Top