Simulcast (déjà-vu)

[SYLV9ST9R]

The Simulcast was one of the first pedal I built for myself, and I loved it with my rig. I even rehoused it when I started to get into UV prints.
Then, I wanted to try a Duocast, and the one I made sounded quite good also.
Even though I loved it, I decided to sell it to make a bit of room on my board, but decided to revert to a Simulcast to replace it.

So, for this one, I decided to use the same enclosure color as the first iteration, and use the graphics I made for the Duocast's faceplate, plus put in a simple relay with Tayda's "Full Tone" SPST, which is pretty nice for a relay bypass, as it's got a nice feel to it (i.e. more stiff than the soft touch). Wiring could have been cleaner, but IIWII.
I used a 2SB405 SANYO Germanium Transistor with 79 hFE in this one. Sounds good also, maybe I find the HIGH setting more raunchy, but in a good way.
I think the first one sounded the best, but I'm splitting hair, as I would have been happy with any of the three, and I know I made a fellow guitarist super happy with the Duocast.

Special thanks to @peccary who sent me a missing component to complete this!

 

[peccary]

I really love the look of this pedal, those knobs with the text and red and black. It looks striking, I guess. Great work!

 

[SYLV9ST9R]

I really love the look of this pedal, those knobs with the text and red and black. It looks striking, I guess. Great work!

Thanks Joe. They did a red version of the dual footswitch one that had that look going on. You can't really go wrong with red and black.

 

[Cvoxdog]

Great looking pedal.

 

[SYLV9ST9R]

Great looking pedal.

Thanks!

 

[Grubb]

Yep that looks really nice. Strong design. Cool knobs. If it sounds half as good as it looks, you're on a winner.

 

[andare]

Very good job.

Is that the intelligent relay bypass board? If so you used another relay than the TQL 5V which is not available anywhere right now for me unless I spend a fortune on shipping.

 

[SYLV9ST9R]

Yep that looks really nice. Strong design. Cool knobs. If it sounds half as good as it looks, you're on a winner.

Thanks! It does sound pretty good!

Very good job.

Is that the intelligent relay bypass board? If so you used another relay than the TQL 5V which is not available anywhere right now for me unless I spend a fortune on shipping.

Thanks. It's the Simple Relay as I didn't need the momentary function here.

 

[eh là bas ma]

I am still trying to find how to play with my simulcast . How do you use yours ? First in the chain ? In front of a driven amp ? Acting as a preamp ?

 

[SYLV9ST9R]

I am still trying to find how to play with my simulcast . How do you use yours ? First in the chain ? In front of a driven amp ? Acting as a preamp ?

I've use it early in the chain, but I had my Duocast between mod effects and delay-reverb, as a gain stage later in the chain, and I quite liked it this way. I have to redo my board, but I'll probably use it this way. As it's based on a radio board preamp, I like to think of it this way, like I would plug this chain into a mixer board and add delay/reverb (if that makes sense...). I find its nice to have the option to push those sound with the HIGH setting on the toggle.

 

[giovanni]

That’s a really cool build with really nice graphics! The build doc says to use an on/off/on switch for the gain, but I feel like it’s supposed to be on/on? What did you use?

 

[SYLV9ST9R]

That’s a really cool build with really nice graphics! The build doc says to use an on/off/on switch for the gain, but I feel like it’s supposed to be on/on? What did you use?

Thanks!
Build doc is right, it's a SPDT on/off/on. Top position is MID gain; middle is LOW ; and switch down is HIGH gain.

EDIT: edited the modes to reflect what I posted below.

 

[giovanni]

Do you mean we get an additional mode not available in the original? Score!

 

[SYLV9ST9R]

Do you mean we get an additional mode not available in the original? Score!

Not quite, see this.

 

[giovanni]

Not quite, see this.

Got it. Thank you! I look forward to building it. I’m gonna have to wait until we unpack (moving tomorrow).

 

[SYLV9ST9R]

Got it. Thank you! I look forward to building it. I’m gonna have to wait until we unpack (moving tomorrow).

Can't wait to see it. Good luck with the move!

 

[HamishR]

I am still trying to find how to play with my simulcast . How do you use yours ? First in the chain ? In front of a driven amp ? Acting as a preamp ?

At first I wondered the same thing. I have had friends rave about this pedal to me and here I am with it plugged into a clean amp thinking really? The breakup is harsh and a bit bright.

Then I tried it as a booster in front of a light OD. Aha! Now I get it. It acts like a great treble-booster kind of sound, but with all the lows you could want. It adds some warmth and sensitivity to the sound, which sounds like my girlfriend... And then I tried it into an almost breaking up tweed Deluxe. Oh wow. Amazing! Used with a barely breaking up small amp it can sound incredible.

The Dark Esbat is a bit like this too. Into a perfectly clean sound it can be a bit meh but into something with some break up look out! It's as if using a regular "nice" sounding OD into a breaking up sound is too mushy. Using something harsher seems to work better. Or something.