Roland AD-50 Double Beat

[Guardians of the analog]

Build Rating

5.00 star(s)

Here's another mean sounding fuzz. When Roland released the double beat in the 70s, Japan had a thing with fuzz wahs. Like many of it's contemporaries, the AD-50 had a wah that left much to be desired but had a fuzz that was the standout of the pedal. The fuzz was supposed to be a bonus but ended up being the main attraction. This is another hidden Jem that I had not payed attention to and I'm glad I gave it a chance, so here is another fuzz from Boss before they were Boss.

The Aion argus is an adaptation of the original fuzz section of the Roland double beat fuzz wah. It adds additional tone shaping options like an input knob for taming the fuzz, a revoiced tone section in certain positions and a bottom knob that lets you really make the fuzz doomy. Lots of range in the pedal between the knobs and switch. The sound is on par with many of the shin-ei Japanese fuzz circuits of its era.

As the build was smooth and featured all easily obtainable components. For the enclosure I went with a matte black tayda box with UV print. For my graphics I tried a loom that was a little different for me and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. Heimdall is my boy and suits the name and sound of the Argus. Check it out for a nasty fuzz tone.

 

[giovanni]

Heimdall is a great character! Excellent build as usual!

 

[jwin615]

The coloring on this, *chefs kiss*
The only thing that could make it better is one of those color changing rainbow LEDs.
How well does it handle a buffer in front?

 

[Guardians of the analog]

Heimdall is a great character! Excellent build as usual!

Thank you, and yeah, Heimdall is a true badass.

The coloring on this, *chefs kiss*
The only thing that could make it better is one of those color changing rainbow LEDs.
How well does it handle a buffer in front?

Thanks, the coloring was something I was hoping turned out good since it's out of pocket for me design wise. I've head of issues with noise and the color changing leds though. As far as a buffer, I plugged in front of my tuner so I'll try running it behind it and report back. I assume though that I will be like most vintage style transistor fuzz pedals though.

 

[jwin615]

Thank you, and yeah, Heimdall is a true badass.

Thanks, the coloring was something I was hoping turned out good since it's out of pocket for me design wise. I've head of issues with noise and the color changing leds though. As far as a buffer, I plugged in front of my tuner so I'll try running it behind it and report back. I assume though that I will be like most vintage style transistor fuzz pedals though.

Yeah. I e heard the same on the LEDs. I bought some to play with on the bread board. Thinking maybe a 5v regulator (LM2931AZ-5?) dedicated to one may isolate it? I'll get around to it one day.

 

[Paradox916]

you had me at nasty….

 

[Paradox916]

Yeah. I e heard the same on the LEDs. I bought some to play with on the bread board. Thinking maybe a 5v regulator (LM2931AZ-5?) dedicated to one may isolate it? I'll get around to it one day.

I have played with the color changing LEDs and although they are fun for a second, they can definitely induce some annoying noises, I’m sure they can be isolated and tamed the extra effort for what you actually get out of it,was kind a detractor for me and other things quickly redirected my attention.

 

[Bricksnbeatles]

Killer build! Love the look, and I’m intrigued by the circuit— you try it with wah yet to get the full experience?


A capacitor in parallel with the color shifting led tames the noise. Realistically it doesn’t have to be a huge value, but I’ve used I think 1μF in the past just to be safe. Messes up the color sweep a tiny bit (stalls on red a bit and sweeps thru yellow pretty fast, looks nice tho) but otherwise it’s all good.

 

[Paradox916]

Had to look that one up the, that thing is all kind of hairy, and the original enclosure wasn’t what I was expecting either.

 

[Band of Dans]

A capacitor in parallel with the color shifting led tames the noise. Realistically it doesn’t have to be a huge value, but I’ve used I think 1μF in the past just to be safe. Messes up the color sweep a tiny bit (stalls on red a bit and sweeps thru yellow pretty fast, looks nice tho) but otherwise it’s all good.

Ohh this is a great tip! I put some color changers in a leprechaun build and the bypass is noisy but the one on the "magic" switch is silent. Not sure if that's because the "magic" switch is out of the audio signal path or because I used an intelligent relay switch. Will have to try your cap tip on the bypass switch, though!

Nice build as usual!

 

[Guilherme Collateral]

I never built Aion's take on it, but the Double Beat is one of my personal favorites! Awesome build, as always!

 

[Bio77]

Awesome build, Chris!

 

[The Gator]

Does anybody else feel the urge to play Simon?..
Looks awesome!
So let me get this straight you built a killer sounding fuzz and you're not going to demo it?
Now I wanna make a pedal out of a broken Milton Bradley simon game...

 

[Guardians of the analog]

Does anybody else feel the urge to play Simon?..
Looks awesome!
So let me get this straight you built a killer sounding fuzz and you're not going to demo it?
Now I wanna make a pedal out of a broken Milton Bradley simon game...

I plan on doing a demo, but comparing all three of the pre boss roland pedals in the same video. Will likely be sometime next week.