Moonn Electronics- Space is Fun

[Synchrony Pedalworks]

I wanted to try this pedal, because I am a sucker for dirty reverb. For those unfamiliar, it is a clone of Death by Audio Reverberation Machine, and mixes reverb with distortion.

The build was tougher than need be. The PCB has an unconventional shape and there are no drill templates. I did my own template and committed to doing a lot of off board wiring. With my drill pattern, I forgot to account for the odd shape to the PCB, so that made me wire the Belton brick off board. Some of the pads are really close, so it is important to not make solder bridges.

As for the sound, I think it is best with lower gain. The higher gain lacks the sparkle and clarity that I like. I did use a TL274CN instead of the TLC27M4LN. I would love to know if the original chip is worth the hassle of getting. Maybe it has better gain?

I did the feedback mod, but not the drill kill. I didn’t think I would need it.

Anyways, great pedal at the end. Perfect for shoe gazing and laying pads of sound.

 

[Harry Klippton]

Oooh yeah that graphic is good

 

[Graal]

I wanted to try this pedal, because I am a sucker for dirty reverb. For those unfamiliar, it is a clone of Death by Audio Reverberation Machine, and mixes reverb with distortion.

The build was tougher than need be. The PCB has an unconventional shape and there are no drill templates. I did my own template and committed to doing a lot of off board wiring. With my drill pattern, I forgot to account for the odd shape to the PCB, so that made me wire the Belton brick off board. Some of the pads are really close, so it is important to not make solder bridges.

As for the sound, I think it is best with lower gain. The higher gain lacks the sparkle and clarity that I like. I did use a TL274CN instead of the TLC27M4LN. I would love to know if the original chip is worth the hassle of getting. Maybe it has better gain?

I did the feedback mod, but not the drill kill. I didn’t think I would need it.

Anyways, great pedal at the end. Perfect for shoe gazing and laying pads of sound.
View attachment 57115View attachment 57116

Nice build! I've built my version a couple of weeks ago and wanted to know if also your pedal sounds really bassy even with blend at 0.
Thanks in advance.
Cheers

 

[Fama]

Nice build! I've built my version a couple of weeks ago and wanted to know if also your pedal sounds really bassy even with blend at 0.
Thanks in advance.
Cheers

FYI yes, the dry side also goes through the opamp so it colors the dry signal too. That's inherent to the circuit. I changed the opamp and it did improve the sound, it's maybe a tiny bit less bassy, but mostly the gain sounds nicer. I forget which way I changed it, it's probably somewhere in my post history.

 

[Synchrony Pedalworks]

Nice build! I've built my version a couple of weeks ago and wanted to know if also your pedal sounds really bassy even with blend at 0.
Thanks in advance.
Cheers

I don’t have the pedal anymore (so I can test it), but I recall it being a darker pedal. I tried several opamps, but I didn’t think there was much difference between them.

 

[Graal]

FYI yes, the dry side also goes through the opamp so it colors the dry signal too. That's inherent to the circuit. I changed the opamp and it did improve the sound, it's maybe a tiny bit less bassy, but mostly the gain sounds nicer. I forget which way I changed it, it's probably somewhere in my post history.

Hi Fama, many thanks! I tried to find it in your post history but it would probably take me a month

 

[Graal]

Found it! https://forum.pedalpcb.com/threads/what’s-on-your-workbench.13146/post-233307
So you basically suggest to change the op-amp (TLC27M4ALN in my build) with a TL074 and that's it?

 

[Fama]

Found it! https://forum.pedalpcb.com/threads/what’s-on-your-workbench.13146/post-233307
So you basically suggest to change the op-amp (TLC27M4ALN in my build) with a TL074 and that's it?

Not necessarily - I'm just saying that changing from a TL084 to TL074 had a small improvement in mine, but I originally used a TL084 because I couldn't get a TL074 or a TLC274 (I do have a TLC274 now I think, I might test it at some point). TL084 is sort of like a TL074, but worse, as far as I know.

It's going to be very bassy anyway, that's just inherent to the circuit - to be honest, after looking into it when I wasn't that enthusiastic about mine I came to the conclusion that the original circuit just is designed like that. I'm not sure if I'd call it bad, but at least "it's not for everyone", or for every situation.

Now, if you're ordering some other parts anyway, it's not much effort to buy a TL074 and maybe some other pin-compatible opamp too (since they usually cost like a dollar or two per piece) and try those out (as long as you socketed it) to see if it improves it for you. Switching it did for me, but like I said it was pretty much an upgrade, while Synchrony Pedalworks mentioned they didn't hear any significant difference. The difference in mine wasn't huge either, and I'm not 100% if it was any less bassy - just that the opamp clipping was a bit nicer.

Tl;dr: I wouldn't go out of my way to switch it, improvements will probably be negligible, but you could try it if you wish.

 

[Graal]

Not necessarily - I'm just saying that changing from a TL084 to TL074 had a small improvement in mine, but I originally used a TL084 because I couldn't get a TL074 or a TLC274 (I do have a TLC274 now I think, I might test it at some point). TL084 is sort of like a TL074, but worse, as far as I know.

It's going to be very bassy anyway, that's just inherent to the circuit - to be honest, after looking into it when I wasn't that enthusiastic about mine I came to the conclusion that the original circuit just is designed like that. I'm not sure if I'd call it bad, but at least "it's not for everyone", or for every situation.

Now, if you're ordering some other parts anyway, it's not much effort to buy a TL074 and maybe some other pin-compatible opamp too (since they usually cost like a dollar or two per piece) and try those out (as long as you socketed it) to see if it improves it for you. Switching it did for me, but like I said it was pretty much an upgrade, while Synchrony Pedalworks mentioned they didn't hear any significant difference. The difference in mine wasn't huge either, and I'm not 100% if it was any less bassy - just that the opamp clipping was a bit nicer.

Tl;dr: I wouldn't go out of my way to switch it, improvements will probably be negligible, but you could try it if you wish.

Thank you so much! I will try the TL074 maybe at some point.. I ended up to the same conclusion after watching a couple of videos of the original pedal on youtube.
It could be great having a tone control, maybe with a trimmer but I need to check if it's possible and first of all if I really want to mess with the board.