jeffwhitfield
Well-known member
So, if you're like me, you probably had a hard time getting a B2M pot in a PCB mount format, much less a B1M dual, and had to go with the solder lug variety. I wrestled with this a bit, contemplating just using some jumpers to hook it up. But, after careful consideration, I found a nice hack. Probably nothing that no one hasn't done before. Basically, you just use a few headers to mount the pot to the board in such a way so that it mimics the same result as a PCB mount.
I recommend mounting your other pots first before adding this one though. Once those were installed on the board, I started off by tack soldering one header to the center lug of pot, positioning the pot so that it's more or less lined up with the rest of the post, and then tack soldering the header to the board itself. After that, I positioned the other headers and tack soldered them to the pot but not the board (not yet!). You may have to bend the lugs of the pot a bit to get them to line up right. Once that's been done, I installed the PCB back into the enclosure and then soldered the headers onto the board. End result is a pot that aligns well with the enclosure and works just as well as a PCB mount pot.
In terms of sound, the Son of Ben more or less meets my expectations. It's a solid preamp with a nice bit of warmth to it. Probably won't be a mainstay pedal for me. I got it mostly so I could hear what a J201 driven JFET pedal sounds like. I'll likely use it later in some setups to juice a fuzz or some other distortion pedal.
I recommend mounting your other pots first before adding this one though. Once those were installed on the board, I started off by tack soldering one header to the center lug of pot, positioning the pot so that it's more or less lined up with the rest of the post, and then tack soldering the header to the board itself. After that, I positioned the other headers and tack soldered them to the pot but not the board (not yet!). You may have to bend the lugs of the pot a bit to get them to line up right. Once that's been done, I installed the PCB back into the enclosure and then soldered the headers onto the board. End result is a pot that aligns well with the enclosure and works just as well as a PCB mount pot.
In terms of sound, the Son of Ben more or less meets my expectations. It's a solid preamp with a nice bit of warmth to it. Probably won't be a mainstay pedal for me. I got it mostly so I could hear what a J201 driven JFET pedal sounds like. I'll likely use it later in some setups to juice a fuzz or some other distortion pedal.
