DEMO MBP Colossalus (MXR 117 Flanger)

This post contains an audio or video demo

MichaelW

Well-known member
Build Rating
5.00 star(s)
Number 2 build report and demo.

I finished this a couple days ago. I actually had been waiting on one blasted component for a week or so.

The BOM called for a 15uf e-cap with a min rating of 35v. I ordered some from SBP, when they arrived I looked at the bag label and they said "15uf 35v" so I tossed it in the bin.

When I went to go build it I looked at the caps themselves and they were marked 16v on the caps themselves....sigh. So I wound up building it with parallel caps 10uf 50v+4u7 50v. The 4u7's I have are super low profile so I located them on the back of the board to keep things tidy.

This is a pretty cool sounding flanger from MBP. I don't know much about the the MXR 117 except that it's associated with EVH.
I wasn't sure what to expect since I don't have a lot of experience with flangers in general.

It's got nice swoopy flanger sounds in it but what I found most interesting was with the speed all the way up it's got a really cool "faux Leslie" effect. Much more Leslie-ish than the vibe's I've built.

Another great project from Brian at MBP, but one thing I've come to realize is that MBP builds are not well suited for open frame jacks. I really need to keep a stash of Lumbergs around for these even though I find them obnoxiously expensive for what they are. I had to grind the lip of the back of the enclosure to make it fit the open frame jacks I used.

I'm really looking forward to building the MBP Electric Mistress (Current Lover) when it comes back in stock. Or maybe the LectricFX "Old Chap" (or both hahaha).

I recorded a short demo (still messing around with my new camera) comparing it to the other two flangers I've built, the Byzantium and the Lectric Mama Flanger.
The Lectric Mama is a @Chuck D. Bones design executed by @cooder (supplied by @fig:)) and is more akin to an Electric Mistress in that there's more chorus sounds in it than swoosh. The Byzantium (Boss BF-2) is the one you want if you want the most "jet engine" swooshy flange. Still my favorite flanger. But the Colossalus has its own thing going on and a very cool pedal. The distortion/OD in the clip is the Dynasty Distortion that I had recently built.

The enclosure was a bit of a happy accident. This was a re-purposed enclosure that I had patched and primed and set aside. When I went to go paint it for this project, I intended to paint it with a pewter metallic hammered color. I got about 90% done and ran out of paint. It was covered but not very evenly. So instead of getting another can of the same color, and instead of sanding it back and starting over, I decided to mist it with a blue colored paint I had. I think it turned out pretty cool!

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Good to see this one. I’ve been planning some Flanger builds, and have been waiting ages for the Current Lover to be in stock (harder to get than Taylor Swift tickets). In the meantime I started looking at other flangers. MXR is definitely on the list…
 
Great build! I have a vintage one with the power cable built in. I've been eyeing up this project as a modern replacement.

That's my only real gripe about MBP is that they build most of their projects around the Lumberg jacks. I love their projects and the boards are great to work on, I just dislike Lumberg jacks very much.
 
Great build! I have a vintage one with the power cable built in. I've been eyeing up this project as a modern replacement.

That's my only real gripe about MBP is that they build most of their projects around the Lumberg jacks. I love their projects and the boards are great to work on, I just dislike Lumberg jacks very much.
You can generally get away with using open frame of closed frame jacks on the 1590BB projects by using a 1590BB2 enclosure. But I hear you, I know there's a lot of lumberg fans but they are not my favorite jacks. Having said that, they've saved my butt on a few builds so I like to keep some on hand:)
 
Great build! I have a vintage one with the power cable built in. I've been eyeing up this project as a modern replacement.

That's my only real gripe about MBP is that they build most of their projects around the Lumberg jacks. I love their projects and the boards are great to work on, I just dislike Lumberg jacks very much.

My issue with MBP is that I can never figure out how their ordering/restock system works. I'll check, and something will be out of stock. Then I'll see a build report around here about the Current Lover, and I run to MBP, only to see the "out of stock" notice. TP was easier to get three years ago than a Current Lover PCB...
 
My issue with MBP is that I can never figure out how their ordering/restock system works. I'll check, and something will be out of stock. Then I'll see a build report around here about the Current Lover, and I run to MBP, only to see the "out of stock" notice. TP was easier to get three years ago than a Current Lover PCB...
I think the new version of the Current Lover is "imminent" I recall seeing something about a Feb release
 
You can generally get away with using open frame of closed frame jacks on the 1590BB projects by using a 1590BB2 enclosure. But I hear you, I know there's a lot of lumberg fans but they are not my favorite jacks. Having said that, they've saved my butt on a few builds so I like to keep some on hand:)
Absolutely they have saved my ass on more than one occasion! But doesn't mean I have to like it!!! I just wish layouts weren't built purposefully for those jacks. I did buy a few of these recently but haven't used them yet. It doesn't win you space coming down into the board but they definitely will fit in narrower spaces. https://www.amplifiedparts.com/products/jack-stereo-panel-mount-low-profile
 
My issue with MBP is that I can never figure out how their ordering/restock system works. I'll check, and something will be out of stock. Then I'll see a build report around here about the Current Lover, and I run to MBP, only to see the "out of stock" notice. TP was easier to get three years ago than a Current Lover PCB...
Yeah I feel somewhat the same. I follow their FB and check the site regularly but I always feel like I miss the news, releases, sales etc. I just followed them on IG and it seems they might be a little more active there. Or maybe the algorithms really don't know me at all...
 
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