Had any "WOW" moments with a build recently?

H

HamishR

Well-known member
Just recently I have had a good little run with pedals I've built. The thread on expectations made me realise that the past 3-4 builds have been better than expected and the sort of thing which keeps me engaged in this hobby.

First of all there was the Chauffeur. It's a really good sounding overdrive. It uses an absurd number of chips but hey - it sounds good! It's not my favourite OD but I could easily use it for gigging. It was a pleasant surprise and the start of my run of winners.

Then there was the Dark Esbat. Wow - this thing is great! I like treble boosters and I like overdrives and it seemed to be a bit of both. I'm no massive Black Sabbath fan but the demos of the pedal sounded promising. And I think the pedal itself is even better than the demos. I love that it can be pretty much a clean boost. I can use it to boost an amp or another OD and impart its lovely old-school mod-range raunch. There's plenty of punch to be had too - lots of low-end grunt if you want it but you don't have to have it if you don't want it. It takes up from where a modded Rangemaster leaves off and really runs away with power and can get plenty dirty by itself if needed. It's a killer old-school sound, and super tight in the lows. Again, not my number one OD but not far off. I can see it getting a lot of use. It can be used in quite a number of ways.

Then I was asked to build a Foxx Fuzz (Fuzzy Fox) for a friend. It went together easily, fit into a 1590B and has probably the best octave fuzz sound I have heard. Plus it can be a regular fuzz too. Impressive.

Then lastly it was tracing and building an early Tim pedal - I posted a Vero layout here somewhere. Building that and having it sound so good was a great moment. So much better than a Timmy. This really is a number one pedal - I have two favourite ODs I built into one box and this is as good as either of those.

So the last couple of weeks have been fantastic as far as pedals go. It's not always like this but when it is I make sure to enjoy it! What have your wow moments been - any recently?
 
Must be in the air. Similar story here.

I built a second broadcast and it sounds so much better than the first one it earned its way onto my board. (my first broadcast build had been my all time favorite pedal up until now)
Then I wrapped up the comprehensive drive. Which I really bought to fill up my order, I was not expecting what happened next. I’m pretty sure this is now my all time favorite sounding build. This past few weeks have been a great return to building as I have been so swamped with work this summer. Top two sounding pedals back to back. 👍🏼
 
Ha! I read your post about the Comprehensive Drive. I might have to try it. I'm positively glowing about the Timmy and super stoked about the Dark Esbat.

But it does make me wonder - WTF is a dark esbat??
 
My low tide build was a bit of a wow pedal for me just because it sounds so different to anything I have played before. I usually have a preference for OD, trem, delay and reverb but adding a bit more modulation to my board has been fun. It think it’s also partly the gate that makes it sound otherworldly.

From an OD perspective, the Parthenon was a wow build as well.
 
Big Monk said:
I think the best thing that to come out of finding this forum has been doing projects stepwise, slowing down, and concentrating on getting them not only playing well, but looking great.

DIY is more worthwhile to me when the aesthetics match or exceed the utility.
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This is big for me. I got way more interested in this hobby when I learned how to make graphics and finishing processes that I liked as much or better than commercial pedals
 
That's interesting - I don't really care about graphics. I am a qualified designer (!) but am a real minimalist at heart and like my plain coloured boxes. I do value neatness in the layout and wiring, and getting all the knobs in a straight line! I recently bought myself a drill press and it helps me get the holes in more or less the right place. In fact unless they are exceptionally well designed lots of graphics on a pedal turns me off. Some of you fellas on this site do a better job at graphics than a lot of the manufacturers do.

I like a good design built well with good quality parts. The graphics really don't matter to me.
 
HamishR said:
Just recently I have had a good little run with pedals I've built. The thread on expectations made me realise that the past 3-4 builds have been better than expected and the sort of thing which keeps me engaged in this hobby.

First of all there was the Chauffeur. It's a really good sounding overdrive. It uses an absurd number of chips but hey - it sounds good! It's not my favourite OD but I could easily use it for gigging. It was a pleasant surprise and the start of my run of winners.

Then there was the Dark Esbat. Wow - this thing is great! I like treble boosters and I like overdrives and it seemed to be a bit of both. I'm no massive Black Sabbath fan but the demos of the pedal sounded promising. And I think the pedal itself is even better than the demos. I love that it can be pretty much a clean boost. I can use it to boost an amp or another OD and impart its lovely old-school mod-range raunch. There's plenty of punch to be had too - lots of low-end grunt if you want it but you don't have to have it if you don't want it. It takes up from where a modded Rangemaster leaves off and really runs away with power and can get plenty dirty by itself if needed. It's a killer old-school sound, and super tight in the lows. Again, not my number one OD but not far off. I can see it getting a lot of use. It can be used in quite a number of ways.

Then I was asked to build a Foxx Fuzz (Fuzzy Fox) for a friend. It went together easily, fit into a 1590B and has probably the best octave fuzz sound I have heard. Plus it can be a regular fuzz too. Impressive.

Then lastly it was tracing and building an early Tim pedal - I posted a Vero layout here somewhere. Building that and having it sound so good was a great moment. So much better than a Timmy. This really is a number one pedal - I have two favourite ODs I built into one box and this is as good as either of those.

So the last couple of weeks have been fantastic as far as pedals go. It's not always like this but when it is I make sure to enjoy it! What have your wow moments been - any recently?
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I also built a Foxx Fuzz. It sounds so good.
 
HamishR said:
Then there was the Dark Esbat. Wow - this thing is great! I like treble boosters and I like overdrives and it seemed to be a bit of both. I'm no massive Black Sabbath fan but the demos of the pedal sounded promising. And I think the pedal itself is even better than the demos. I love that it can be pretty much a clean boost. I can use it to boost an amp or another OD and impart its lovely old-school mod-range raunch. There's plenty of punch to be had too - lots of low-end grunt if you want it but you don't have to have it if you don't want it. It takes up from where a modded Rangemaster leaves off and really runs away with power and can get plenty dirty by itself if needed. It's a killer old-school sound, and super tight in the lows. Again, not my number one OD but not far off. I can see it getting a lot of use. It can be used in quite a number of ways.
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Where did you get the MC33178s for the Dark Esbat? Mouser only carries SMD. Looks like there are plenty of viable subs.
 
Big Monk said:
I used the Pedal PCB Muffin.
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Same here (I use it for all of my muffs). I use the schematics from the Kit Rae site, and have a chart that I made that converts the Kit Rae schematic to the PedalPCB schematic/PCB. My Ram’s Head muff is 2-in-1: Violet #1 and a The 73, with a toggle.
 
I've also built a Violet Rams Head, with the tone mod switch I saw on tagboardeffects. Sounds killer.

My most surprising pedal has been the Parthenon. I still don't have it boxed up, but just in the Auditorium board, it became my favorite overdrive. For completed builds, I was surprised how much I like the Mahayana Drive and the Oroku Drive.

I am about to put 0.0125-0.60 strings on my LP special, and I want to reevaluate all my drive pedals once that happens.
 
Big Monk said:
After much deliberation and comparison between the various Ram’s Head circuits, I opted for the V2 Violet 1973 #5. I went with the 560 pf clipping caps and low gain transistors. I also did a mods switch. I used the 39k high and low pass resistors, the stock low pass cap and out the high pass cap on a switch. I believe I switch from 0.0039 uf to 0.0082 uf.

I used some older Amperex A115 transistors and matched a set at about 171 hFE. I also opted for some spare 1N456 diodes from my Ampeg Scrambler stash because they looked cool.
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I recall you build thread. That is what inspired me to look "outside the box," so to speak. I went with the #4 because I wanted to be able to toggle between that and another circuit, and the only one that would work was The 73. I was way more excited for The 73, since there really were no audio examples of the circuit. Its a great Muff that is definitely different than most. However, I was not prepared for the epic nature of the Violet circuit. I play that side of the pedal waaaaay more than The 73.

I recall you were interested in the Gilmour tone. Have you considered building the 73 #4? Kit Rae believes that is the Gilmour one.
 
quality_jones said:
I've also built a Violet Rams Head, with the tone mod switch I saw on tagboardeffects. Sounds killer.

My most surprising pedal has been the Parthenon. I still don't have it boxed up, but just in the Auditorium board, it became my favorite overdrive. For completed builds, I was surprised how much I like the Mahayana Drive and the Oroku Drive.

I am about to put 0.0125-0.60 strings on my LP special, and I want to reevaluate all my drive pedals once that happens.
Click to expand...
You planning to "tune down" with those tree stumps?
 
I was pretty surprised with the aion isotope (adaptation of the IVP Tube Voice preamp section). It goes in a different direction than a lot of preamp circuits and has a good focus on the high mids. Great for a ‘clang’ sound.
 
Chuck D. Bones said:
Where did you get the MC33178s for the Dark Esbat? Mouser only carries SMD. Looks like there are plenty of viable subs.
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I just used TL072s. I have no idea if they sound dramatically different from MC33178s but I doubt it. And even if they do this pedal sounds fantastic with TL072s so I don't care!

And I'm a big fan of low hfe (hFE? HFE?) transistors in a Muff. Smooth, rich, creamy goodness with fewer calories than you'd think.
 
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