rwl
Well-known member
- Build Rating
This is my report on a build of the Magnetron Delay, in turn based on the Keeley Magnetic Echo. I saw this recommended in a few places, including the build report from @Erik S. I think this is my favorite PT2399 delay.
Inspiration
"Magnetron," "Magnetic Echo" - why not the "Magnificent" Frigatebird as inspiration? I think the name of the bird itself is pretty funny - most birds have very descriptive, non-judgmental names, and here someone has deemed this bird magnificent. Well, it fits! These seabirds are quite large, have a distinctive forked tail, and cruise around at high altitude. The most impressive feature of the bird, however, is the bright magenta/red throat pouch, which they can inflate into an uncomfortable-looking balloon-like apparatus - this is a feature of breeding males.
I was lucky enough to see some of these birds in Hawai'i, flying over an extinct volcano.
In the end, I'm only moderately satisfied with the design of the pedal. I wanted to lean into the "frigate" part of the name, and go with an age of sail theme, but I couldn't get a background behind the bird that I thought was appropriate, so I went with some vague swirling winds. And I ended up settling for a 'pirate' font here. I just couldn't find one with loopy elegant cursive that was also legible and that I thought would fit well. I'm happy with the knobs, though... I think I ran out of magenta and swapped in the red as a stopgap, but I kinda like the magenta/red distinction.
The Build
It was a clean build, no problems. It's a really nice layout from @Robert , even if it isn't quite as symmetrical as some others
.
No real notes here, I built this to spec. The one change I made is to only use the bypass indicator LED, as I tend to find flashing rate LEDs distracting.
The Pedal
I think this is the best PT2399 delay I've built overall. It's quite lush-sounding, and with the knobs dialed down it adds a really pretty resonance without being overwhelming. In that way, it's similar to the more muted settings of the Hydra Delay, which is an FV-1 pedal. I think this is really an impressive pedal. It feels much more capable than you'd expect given the relatively boilerplate components.
I haven't used this much, and I think it will duke it out with the Hydra as I don't need multiple delays on a single board. But the loser of that battle might kick the reverb off my smaller practice board. In any case, I'd recommend this!
Ratings
Inspiration
"Magnetron," "Magnetic Echo" - why not the "Magnificent" Frigatebird as inspiration? I think the name of the bird itself is pretty funny - most birds have very descriptive, non-judgmental names, and here someone has deemed this bird magnificent. Well, it fits! These seabirds are quite large, have a distinctive forked tail, and cruise around at high altitude. The most impressive feature of the bird, however, is the bright magenta/red throat pouch, which they can inflate into an uncomfortable-looking balloon-like apparatus - this is a feature of breeding males.
I was lucky enough to see some of these birds in Hawai'i, flying over an extinct volcano.
In the end, I'm only moderately satisfied with the design of the pedal. I wanted to lean into the "frigate" part of the name, and go with an age of sail theme, but I couldn't get a background behind the bird that I thought was appropriate, so I went with some vague swirling winds. And I ended up settling for a 'pirate' font here. I just couldn't find one with loopy elegant cursive that was also legible and that I thought would fit well. I'm happy with the knobs, though... I think I ran out of magenta and swapped in the red as a stopgap, but I kinda like the magenta/red distinction.
The Build
It was a clean build, no problems. It's a really nice layout from @Robert , even if it isn't quite as symmetrical as some others
.No real notes here, I built this to spec. The one change I made is to only use the bypass indicator LED, as I tend to find flashing rate LEDs distracting
.The Pedal
I think this is the best PT2399 delay I've built overall. It's quite lush-sounding, and with the knobs dialed down it adds a really pretty resonance without being overwhelming. In that way, it's similar to the more muted settings of the Hydra Delay, which is an FV-1 pedal. I think this is really an impressive pedal. It feels much more capable than you'd expect given the relatively boilerplate components.
I haven't used this much, and I think it will duke it out with the Hydra as I don't need multiple delays on a single board. But the loser of that battle might kick the reverb off my smaller practice board. In any case, I'd recommend this!
Ratings
- Build: 5/5
- Pedal: 5/5
Attachments
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