rwl
Well-known member
- Build Rating
This is a report on my build of the PPCB Greengage Overdrive, which is based on the EQD Plumes. It doesn't seem like people talk about this pedal much here, but it's a very popular "beginner pedal" recommended on Reddit. As a result, this was one of my very first builds, but it took me a while to box it.
Inspiration
I really struggled with this build. It should be easy - "Plumes," so plumes of feathers, right? I went through three major designs and I'm still not particularly happy.
First, I tried doing something with a peacock. It's tough to fit a peacock on a pedal without a lot of cropping, or without really interfering with the knobs. I'm sure it's doable but it stretched my brain.
Then, I tried doing a Quetzal (as you see), but with a trailing plume of multicolored auras. I was still doing full backgrounds at the time, and that combined with the plume was too much. So I removed the plume and just went with a forest background, which you see here. It's alright but I feel I could have done much better, focusing more on the bird and less on the background.
The bird here is the Resplendent Quetzal, a jungle bird from Guatemala with stunning plumage. It's a really dope looking bird that I think fits the color and style of the pedal.
The Build
As I mentioned, this was one of my first builds, rehoused maybe two months back. It was in a plain box for a while. you can see some of my early mistakes in the guts: ordering carbon film resistors, carbon disc capacitors, an enormous 33N cap, no sockets for IC. And the hardware - cheap Amazon jacks that I now hate. I cut out the DC jack when rehousing and went with an outie jack. The soldering isn't great with some resistors and diodes not well-seated. It's nice to look back and see that I've improved a bit.
In spite of all the mediocre components and little glitches, I can't recall any problems with this build.
The Pedal
It's a really solid pedal! The switch gives you three obviously different tones, so it's very versatile. Position 2 on the switch is basically a clean boost with very light overdrive. Because of its versatility, I've had it on my testing board for a while (3 pedals and an Auditorium). It's good for testing phasers and other pedals where you want some volume but aren't looking for grit while testing.
That said, there are two main drawbacks:
Pedal rating: 4/5
Inspiration
I really struggled with this build. It should be easy - "Plumes," so plumes of feathers, right? I went through three major designs and I'm still not particularly happy.
First, I tried doing something with a peacock. It's tough to fit a peacock on a pedal without a lot of cropping, or without really interfering with the knobs. I'm sure it's doable but it stretched my brain.
Then, I tried doing a Quetzal (as you see), but with a trailing plume of multicolored auras. I was still doing full backgrounds at the time, and that combined with the plume was too much. So I removed the plume and just went with a forest background, which you see here. It's alright but I feel I could have done much better, focusing more on the bird and less on the background.
The bird here is the Resplendent Quetzal, a jungle bird from Guatemala with stunning plumage. It's a really dope looking bird that I think fits the color and style of the pedal.
The Build
As I mentioned, this was one of my first builds, rehoused maybe two months back. It was in a plain box for a while. you can see some of my early mistakes in the guts: ordering carbon film resistors, carbon disc capacitors, an enormous 33N cap, no sockets for IC. And the hardware - cheap Amazon jacks that I now hate. I cut out the DC jack when rehousing and went with an outie jack. The soldering isn't great with some resistors and diodes not well-seated. It's nice to look back and see that I've improved a bit.
In spite of all the mediocre components and little glitches, I can't recall any problems with this build.
The Pedal
It's a really solid pedal! The switch gives you three obviously different tones, so it's very versatile. Position 2 on the switch is basically a clean boost with very light overdrive. Because of its versatility, I've had it on my testing board for a while (3 pedals and an Auditorium). It's good for testing phasers and other pedals where you want some volume but aren't looking for grit while testing.
That said, there are two main drawbacks:
- It's a very bright pedal. Basically everyone remarks on how bright it is. If the tone knob is past about 9:00, it's just too much. So I'd like to try adjusting some of the capacitor values eventually.
- The more clipped switch options are not amazing. I think the middle position, the boost, is actually great. The other two are fine, but IMO they don't stand out compared to other pedals.
Pedal rating: 4/5
