MadBean Trash Compactor

G

Gordo

Well-known member
I've been meaning to get this posted for ages and just never did. jhaneyzz and I did a duty trade recently and given he's one of my fave enclosure gurus, he did me up a solid with an enclosure for a board I built up. My goto pedal on my live rig is a comp. I like opticals because they tend to lean more toward the limiting side with little to no "pumping". The Madbean board uses a THAT chip and it fills a nice gap between optical and vca. It's quiet (very important) but is capable of being a bit more aggressive than most opticals when needed (I don't). I use it to hit the front end of my Blackstar Amped2 a bit hotter than unity so I can use the guitar volume to run clean or not-so-clean. It's the only thing hitting the front of the amp.

The enclosure is James' magic with an etched theme that looks clean and distressed at the same time. The indicator is a marble, back lit with an LED (his signature) and the wiring is bare artwork that I'd never have the patience for.

Enough...let the photos speak:

mbcomp01.jpg mbcomp02.jpg mbcomp03.jpg mbcomp04.jpg mbcomp05.jpg mbcomp06.jpg
 
I've got a Trash Compactor in the bullpen that's about to get the call. I wanted to see what people were saying about the build.

Now I see this and I just don't see the point in even trying. My mind will always compare it to this, and I'm going to know how inferior my product is.

Does your footswitch wiring have clear insulation, or do you just bend the wires that carefully and hope they stay in place? That look kills, and I feel like I'm going to have to poach it at least once.
 
I don't have the stones to even try to replicate this one. James did all the wiring and no...its straight up raw wire. I'd finished the board and had drilled the enclosure and passed it on to James. Only to find out I'd whiffed on the jack placement. He turned a potential turd into artwork by adding the screen to the holes to go with the whole theme and then redrilling. Acid etched artwork is just stupid good and the photo does not do justice to the marble. I don't recall the build being at all fiddly and once I set the overall gain I've never gone back to the trimmers.

These days I've switched my live rig to a Helix (I know...) but am seriously considering pushing the front end with this pedal. Line6 does some very nice compression but this pedal has long defined how I play.

However you finish it I highly recommend this build.
 
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