MichaelW
Well-known member
- Build Rating
Continuing with the theme of obscure overdrives, this is a board that my buddy @Audandash sent me in a care package a few weeks ago.
@aion has an excellent write up and tracing journal on this pedal. Aion has it as their "Heliosphere" overdrive.
Quick history, these were hand built by Robert Stamps of Amp Shop in LA during the 90's.
Not a lot of them were made and they are quite rare.
Circuit wise, it's essentially a Rat with 2 gain stages and 2 clipping options (Si and LED).
It has 2 drive controls and you can set them at different gain levels and switch on the fly via the second footswitch.
The 3 way toggle selects between the more traditional Rat LED clipping and a pair 1N914's. The middle position is a diode lift for boost duties.
I used an LM308 in my build and that tonality comes through in diode lift mode.
I've read that it sounds nothing like a Rat, but I would disagree, the Rat heritage is there in spades. To me it sounds like a "low gain" Rat,
and indeed the best sounds are with the drive controls at less than noon. (To me that is).
Ashley did a great job on this PCB and even though it was a tight squeeze getting it all into a 125b the build went smoothly.
Many thanks to Ash (@Audandash) for the board! This is a great drive and definitely worth checking out the board from Aion.
@aion has an excellent write up and tracing journal on this pedal. Aion has it as their "Heliosphere" overdrive.
Quick history, these were hand built by Robert Stamps of Amp Shop in LA during the 90's.
Not a lot of them were made and they are quite rare.
Circuit wise, it's essentially a Rat with 2 gain stages and 2 clipping options (Si and LED).
It has 2 drive controls and you can set them at different gain levels and switch on the fly via the second footswitch.
The 3 way toggle selects between the more traditional Rat LED clipping and a pair 1N914's. The middle position is a diode lift for boost duties.
I used an LM308 in my build and that tonality comes through in diode lift mode.
I've read that it sounds nothing like a Rat, but I would disagree, the Rat heritage is there in spades. To me it sounds like a "low gain" Rat,
and indeed the best sounds are with the drive controls at less than noon. (To me that is).
Ashley did a great job on this PCB and even though it was a tight squeeze getting it all into a 125b the build went smoothly.
Many thanks to Ash (@Audandash) for the board! This is a great drive and definitely worth checking out the board from Aion.
