MichaelW
Well-known member
- Build Rating
Started this one yesterday evening and wrapping it up between meetings this morning.
Another MBP board I've been waiting for a while to come back in stock. I've been wanting to build this ever since my ill fated AquaBaby build a while ago.
I built that board with the modulation add on board and always felt like the modulation didn't sound very well integrated and was a bit overwhelming.
So I figured that the ABDLX would be better sounding pedal. And in many ways it is much superior to the AquaBaby.
First off this one uses 2 BBD's for more delay time and the optical modulation is integrated to the board. However, the modulation still sounds overwhelming to me, there's no way to dial it down in certain settings.
I'm not quite sure if I got the wrong toggle or did something wrong in the build, but the toggle is "supposed" to be Middle = no Mod, and the up and down turn on triangle or square wave modulation.
For some reason, mine has modulation in the middle off position, and in the lower position and also a slight bit of modulation in the up position.
I got the PCB pin DPDT On-off-On toggles from SBP and now I'm wondering if they aren't type II.
In any case, I can't use either the triangle or square modes as it's just way too much wiggle for me. In the up position I'm getting a slight bit of chorus on the repeats which sounds the best to me.
Biasing this pedal is not nearly as straightforward as the Total Recall or Tourbus pedals. Like the AquaBoy it takes some serious listening to get it set and it still feels like a bit of a compromise between clean repeats, output and dithering on the repeats. After screwing around with it for a good while I just settled for a happy medium. I think this is one build that CAN be biased by ear but could probably use a scope to get it properly set.
Having said that, this is a great sounding delay, although I don't like it as much as my Deluxe Memory Man builds, which suit me better.
This is a pretty busy build as is typical of BBD delays. This one has a mix of 1/4 watt and 1/8 watt resistors. I used a pair of XVive MN3005's for the BBD's and a V571 for the compander.
I also used an SMD version of the BS250, which has a different pinout than the TO-92 version, so I had to do the twisty treat on the legs of the adapter board.
I didn't have an "Aqua" colored enclosure so this light blue is the closest I had.
I had also originally intended to leave the "tails" switch out (like @Guardians of the analog 's build) but was spacing out when I was drilling and drilled the second footswitch....so "tails" it is hahaha.
Edited: Forgot the all important gut shot hahahah
I recorded a short demo of how this delay sounds. At one point in the vid I'm turning on my Total Recall (Deluxe Memory Man) that's off camera for comparison.
Another MBP board I've been waiting for a while to come back in stock. I've been wanting to build this ever since my ill fated AquaBaby build a while ago.
I built that board with the modulation add on board and always felt like the modulation didn't sound very well integrated and was a bit overwhelming.
So I figured that the ABDLX would be better sounding pedal. And in many ways it is much superior to the AquaBaby.
First off this one uses 2 BBD's for more delay time and the optical modulation is integrated to the board. However, the modulation still sounds overwhelming to me, there's no way to dial it down in certain settings.
I'm not quite sure if I got the wrong toggle or did something wrong in the build, but the toggle is "supposed" to be Middle = no Mod, and the up and down turn on triangle or square wave modulation.
For some reason, mine has modulation in the middle off position, and in the lower position and also a slight bit of modulation in the up position.
I got the PCB pin DPDT On-off-On toggles from SBP and now I'm wondering if they aren't type II.
In any case, I can't use either the triangle or square modes as it's just way too much wiggle for me. In the up position I'm getting a slight bit of chorus on the repeats which sounds the best to me.
Biasing this pedal is not nearly as straightforward as the Total Recall or Tourbus pedals. Like the AquaBoy it takes some serious listening to get it set and it still feels like a bit of a compromise between clean repeats, output and dithering on the repeats. After screwing around with it for a good while I just settled for a happy medium. I think this is one build that CAN be biased by ear but could probably use a scope to get it properly set.
Having said that, this is a great sounding delay, although I don't like it as much as my Deluxe Memory Man builds, which suit me better.
This is a pretty busy build as is typical of BBD delays. This one has a mix of 1/4 watt and 1/8 watt resistors. I used a pair of XVive MN3005's for the BBD's and a V571 for the compander.
I also used an SMD version of the BS250, which has a different pinout than the TO-92 version, so I had to do the twisty treat on the legs of the adapter board.
I didn't have an "Aqua" colored enclosure so this light blue is the closest I had.
I had also originally intended to leave the "tails" switch out (like @Guardians of the analog 's build) but was spacing out when I was drilling and drilled the second footswitch....so "tails" it is hahaha.
Edited: Forgot the all important gut shot hahahah
I recorded a short demo of how this delay sounds. At one point in the vid I'm turning on my Total Recall (Deluxe Memory Man) that's off camera for comparison.
