Octarock🤟🏼, CDB bass kliche, CDB RMO, Ge Sandspur

Diynot

Well-known member
The latest completed builds from Diynot’s dining room table workbench….
First up, a Chuck D Bones bass modded Kliche Mini. The mods were easy enough to implement aside from a little cap leg contortion to fit the 1uf film. No magic diodes in my stash so I experimented with a few different ones and landed on some asymmetrical clipping with BAT42s and a 1n60p. So, does it BASS? Yes it does. Will it be a regular addition to my line up? Maybe not. I really like it as a clean boost as it adds a little sparkle to the signal and it has a very nice growl with the gain dimed, I’m just not a fan of the in between gain range. Might be the diode combo, but it just sounds a little “blanket over the tone” to my ears. Leaves me wishing that the clean to dirt ratio in the mid turn was a little more to the clean side. It’s nice, but I like my Obsidious better. Since my other kliche is the silver with oxblood, I decided to go gold this time. No artwork b/c……it’s a klon.
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Next is the @Chuck D. Bones @cooder Rocky Mountain Oyster boost courtesy of one @fig. Used a 2N2430 from Antique Electronics Supply with an HFE of 156. The jfet is a j113. Collector voltage on the germ comes out to be 4.5. I…..REALLY like this boost. Not a clean boost (probably due to the tranny combo) but a very pleasing grit throughout and at the upper end of the gain range it provides some very nice OD. Excellent for pushing my parenthesis (essentially just a Rat since I don’t use the boost or octave functions) and my kliche. The voice switch is super usable providing just enough beef and cut where needed, also helps to boost the OD grit. This one will be a permanent resident in my line up. This one was worth the artwork effort and I decided to go with some classic Alice in Wonderland “walrus and the carpenter” since it has oysters and not the Rocky Mountain kind. Inkjet and waterslide decal.
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So with having bought a few NPN Ge trannys, what to do with the leftovers……well, a Sandspur of course q1 came in around 175 and q2 around 120ish I believe. Had some trouble biasing this one and am still not super happy with the sundial range. Had to change R3 to an 18k to get the bias to dial in around 6ish with the sundial at noon. Bias range is only 5.9-6.5. Either way it does sound nice. Smoother than my silicon one, but still different Ge tones from my Sunface. One thing to note, it def doesn’t have the volume output as my others. Unity is around 3 o’clock. Pics:
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Don’t mind the detritus I forgot to dust off…
Lastly, my new favorite pedal of the moment, the Octarock. I knew I had to build this a) because I love a good octave pedal and b) I immediately wanted a Zelda theme, because yeah, Octorok. This is a great clean octave up/down. Works great on both guitar and bass. I find my upper octave to be a little dirty, but I like it it a little dirty so, works for me. The mids and bright switch are super powerful for sculpting the overall tone for whatever instrument you are playing. Works great feeding a dirt pedal, but also awesome for just clean playing. It is a must have in your arsenal. As mentioned, I had to do a Zelda theme, so classic Link’s Awakening was my go to, an 8 bit Octorok was a must. Took me forever to find a decent screenshot that fit the bill. Pics:
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Still have some learning to do on applying waterslide decals since you can see a few cracks in the image. Gotta learn to be a little less handsy when aligning and smoothing.
 
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Great lineup, excellent work!
Not a lot lined up this winter, but waiting for parts to do the Mountain Oyster Boost.
Can't wait to try it after your quick review. Love the art too, and that Octorok is mighty fine with the bottom side decal.
 
Awesome builds man! I have an enclosure inbound for the Mountain Oyster FET/Germanium Booster and I am very much looking forward to it after your glowing review!
 
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