PARSEC: Mach 1 + Cleaver Build (Limelight approximator)

[slowpogo]

I built the Mach 1 a while ago and really liked it as a transparent drive. Recently I acquired an EAE Limelight V2, which is great, but I felt like I could get pretty close to it by pairing the Mach 1 with a clean boost.

I settled on the Cleaver boost, mostly because I tend to like the sound of JFETs. The Cleaver runs at 18V internally, and since I prefer the Mach 1 at 18V, I powered the Mach 1 through the Cleaver's 18V rail. The Mach 1 is mostly stock except I used some different diodes that sounded better to me...can't recall what they are unfortunately. I had to wire most of the pots off-board to fit a knob layout that looked good.

Otherwise, nothing remarkable going on here, just a nice boost into a nice transparent drive. I will say, it sounds QUITE close to the Limelight. I think the Cleaver adds a touch of sparkle on the high end, so it's not quite as flat/transparent as the Limelight, but I'm loving how it sounds! At 18V the Mach 1 doesn't get very dirty, it's basically a low gain overdrive. But kick on the boost and it gets nice and crunchy, and eventually saturated.

I'm sure other boosts would work just as well; I considered the Amentum for example. But for anyone looking for what the Limelight offers, I think this is a really close and fantastic sounding option. I call it the PARSEC (although I may leave the enclosure bare, it looks great as is)

 

[ADAOCE]

I was just about to post a thread asking if anyone has ever tried to build something like the limelight. Thanks for this man and it looks sweet! I was considering the Pro10 blue and an amentum mainly because I already built the blue and have an amentum on hand.

 

[steviejr92]

Really loving the Gorva enclosure! Great job on this man!

 

[ADAOCE]

Also did you get rid of your limelight? I love the look of it and especially dig Touché Amore.

The only thing possible missing is whatever the focus switch does which I think is some center frequency shifting for the tone control

 

[slowpogo]

Thanks all! The Pro10 blue and Amentum would be killer. And probably closer in spirit to the Limelight, since it's based on a Bluesbreaker.

The Mach1/Lightspeed is not a Bluesbreaker but as a "transparent overdrive" I consider it close enough. I'm tempted to build another version using the Double Jeopardy (JHS Solo Boost) and Tellurian (Sarno Earth Drive).

I sold my Limelight, I agree that the focus switch is nice, although I'm not aware of another transparent overdrive with this feature. Although more skilled builders could probably mod something to that end.

 

[PangeaDestructor]

I was just about to post a thread asking if anyone has ever tried to build something like the limelight. Thanks for this man and it looks sweet! I was considering the Pro10 blue and an amentum mainly because I already built the blue and have an amentum on hand.

I built my Limelight "clone" with the Pro-10 and an Amentum in the same enclosure, I thought the LL's OD side is a bluesbreaker and I had both on hand. It sounds pretty damn good, but for my sound I prefer the Lightspeed/Mach 1. Probably going to combine that with the Amentum next time, since I still have one of those in my stash.

Edit, I actually mixed up the Amentum and the Aft, I used the latter because it seemed like it would be closer to the LL boost for some reason. It could have just been the switch.

 

[ADAOCE]

I built my Limelight "clone" with the Pro-10 and an Amentum in the same enclosure, I thought the LL's OD side is a bluesbreaker and I had both on hand. It sounds pretty damn good, but for my sound I prefer the Lightspeed/Mach 1. Probably going to combine that with the Amentum next time, since I still have one of those in my stash.

Edit, I actually mixed up the Amentum and the Aft, I used the latter because it seemed like it would be closer to the LL boost for some reason. It could have just been the switch.

Sweet thanks for the info. From what I can read on the LL’s boost it has a slight low end cut at like 300 hz I believe