Top Five

Here's some that exceeded my expectations:
Chop Shop: this is probably my favorite drive at the moment.
Fuzz Aldrin: I'm not a big fuzz guy. I've liked the fuzzes I built, but this is the one I am really fond of.
Dirty Shirley: had low expectations for this because I thought it would be too high gain, but I love the way it sounds.
Pendulum: nice alternative to a tremolo or phaser that sounds in between.
slot 5: keeping open for future
 
Alright I’ll toss mine in….

Chop shop

Magnetron or seabed, great simple
Delays. Cheap to build too compared to bbds

Caesar… though id strongly suggest building the lextric fx karaoke i know it said pedal pcb but

Unison double tracker

Sunflower fuzz
 
airbud said:
The Elysium was my first delay build, that chip sounds beautiful. Liquid glass. I finished the Hydra last week and love it too though, probably a little more. But the Elysium is so, so, so pretty.
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I picked it up on a lark. The whole NOS Mitsubishi chip seemed interesting. The description made it sound like it would be carbon copy-ish. I still can't believe how much I like it. Really easy to dial in. It somehow manages to both fade into the background, providing a nice ambient sound, and have a clear repeat when you need it. I prefer the Hydra for weirder rhythmic delay patterns.
 
I don't know how accurate this is, but I went to the main product page, then in the search bar, entered a single space and hit enter. Then I used the sorting drop down to sort by popularity. This is the resulting URL. Top seven items are utility things: breakout boards, SMD adapters, etc. Actual top five effects appear to be (1) Kliche (full size), (2) Parentheses, (3) Kliche Mini, (4), Paragon, (5) Caesar Chorus.
 
MattG said:
I don't know how accurate this is, but I went to the main product page, then in the search bar, entered a single space and hit enter. Then I used the sorting drop down to sort by popularity. This is the resulting URL. Top seven items are utility things: breakout boards, SMD adapters, etc. Actual top five effects appear to be (1) Kliche (full size), (2) Parentheses, (3) Kliche Mini, (4), Paragon, (5) Caesar Chorus.
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Yea the breakout and smd’s make sense. And that top 5 sounds believable, disappointing but believable
 
MattG said:
I don't know how accurate this is, but I went to the main product page, then in the search bar, entered a single space and hit enter. Then I used the sorting drop down to sort by popularity. This is the resulting URL. Top seven items are utility things: breakout boards, SMD adapters, etc. Actual top five effects appear to be (1) Kliche (full size), (2) Parentheses, (3) Kliche Mini, (4), Paragon, (5) Caesar Chorus.
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My guess is that these circuits are bought by dozens by diy builders looking to make a buck online, reselling PPCB effects to music gear consumers.

I wouldn't say they are the most popular among the diy community or among experienced music players, but rather the easiest ones to sell online by those among us that are trying to turn their hobby into a side hustle. These top-seller circuits aren't necessarily the most interesting, they just currently have good reputations for whatever reasons (marketing, commercials, famous artist approvals, good referencing on utubes, etc...).

About this "top five" question, i wonder what value really have our opinions if we didn't build and try every PPCB circuits ? I mean, it's like going to a new city with thousands of different restaurants. Even if we went to this city before, i am not sure we can accurately answer the question : "which are the best restaurants in this city ?". Not as long as we don't try each of them, and eat various dishes in each of them.

Take me for example : i said my favorite PPCB circuit is the Pacifier with mods. After 5 or 6 years building 2 or 3 new circuits every months, I am not sure i built even 3% of what is available on PPCB. My opinion about which are the best PPCB circuits probably doesn't mean much honestly, and i wonder if anyone in this forum community ever built even half of all the various PPCB circuits.
 
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eh là bas ma said:
I wouldn't say they are the most popular among the diy community, but rather the easiest ones to sell online
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good point, a far more interesting top 5 would be top 5 pcbs that people didn't intend (or want) to build for selling on.

ie. circuits that stand on their own merit, rather than based on what will rake in the reverb bucks
 
owlexifry said:
good point, a far more interesting top 5 would be top 5 pcbs that people didn't intend (or want) to build for selling on.
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I agree, and also if we mention in our top-5 list how much PPCB circuits we have built in total.

An opinion from a fellow member who has built only 10 circuits so far, could be compared to the opinion from an other fellow member who built and really spent some time playing with hundreds of different PPCB circuits. Surely every opinions don't have the same weight, it depends a lot on the experience, in my humble opinion.
 
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eh là bas ma said:
I agree, and also if we mention in our top-5 list how much PPCB circuits we have built in total.

An opinion from a fellow member who has built only 10 circuits so far, could be compared to the opinion from an other fellow member who built and really spent some time playing with hundreds of different PPCB circuits. Surely every opinions don't have the same weight, it depends a lot on the experience, in my humble opinion.
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another good point - sample size.

but even sample size has it's limitations.

builder J has built x100 pedals. let's say he spent 3 mins testing and playing each circuit.
builder K has built x50 pedals. let's say he spent 10 mins testing and playing each circuit.

who's opinion / recommendation do you value more?
i dunno, but i think your comment about experience is important.

maybe J has years of experience with different pedals/amps and can figure out pretty quickly what a pedal can do, and maybe builder K is a complete and utter hermit with borderline clinical behavioural issues that spends way too long with each build.
we'll never know. i guess it takes all sorts to make a world.
 
That's the crux right there in the above Owlexifry post: Time Spent With The Pedal after it's built.

Someone can build a LOT of stuff, but how much time can they invest in really getting to know the nuances of the circuit and what other pedals it pairs well with?

Then factor in what amps, what guitars/pickups, playing styles, musical (& non-musical) genres... We get right back to the whole
"One Player's permanent-on-the-pedalboard Is Another Player's dust-gathering-paperweight."




Bowling for Soup...
 
Feral Feline said:
Someone can build a LOT of stuff, but how much time can they invest in really getting to know the nuances of the circuit and what other pedals it pairs well with?
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Right, and that's why i think Robert didn't post a reply in this thread.

From what i could understand, Robert probably didn't spend countless hours enjoying and exploring each and every single pcb he has made.
He probably focuses on the pcb design, not on the effect and all its artistic possibilities.

Consequently, even our dear PPCB creator (May the diy Goddess bless his Soldering Iron) wouldn't be able to choose a top-five based on a clear and exhaustive knowledge of his own PPCB circuits.

I guess it means that considering PPCB circuits as a whole, in its fulness, is a complete mystery. An unsoluble question, like looking at the sea and trying to see the seabed.
owlexifry said:
builder J has built x100 pedals. let's say he spent 3 mins testing and playing each circuit.
builder K has built x50 pedals. let's say he spent 10 mins testing and playing each circuit.

who's opinion / recommendation do you value more?
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Mmmm... none of them ? I mean 3 or 10 minutes ? This can't possibly be enough to have a deep knowledge of a new circuit. Even if the person is supposed to be a great artist, a genius, even with all the experience in the world, i wouldn't take it for granted. But fortunately nobody in his right mind would do such a thing.

Wait... I hope no one in this exquisite community would dare write a review about any kind of effect based on 3 or 10 minutes experience ?

That would be crossing several lines, that would be very very close to high treason.
 
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lots of different things at play here, mostly comes down to one's priorities.

for me, i'm not a good guitar player and don't play in a band, but i have done some home recording; having a wide range of dirt boxes available for someone i'm recording has been a massive driving force for me. likewise for different flavors of reverb, delay, modulation, and so on. along the way, i'm learning the individual circuits, and seeing how a circuit is reimagined and reworked over time is something that requires multiple data points. learning more about specific components like the CDXXXX series is another reason i've built pedals.

i built a rangemaster boost, played it for 5 minutes, and now i understand what it's like to play that style of pedal. it's not acutely useful to me right now, but now i know what it'll sound like and when to reach for it.

my next build is my 50th, and i will say i know a hell of a lot more than if i had only built 5. this is what's working for me in my musical (and engineering!) journey.
 
eh là bas ma said:
Right, and that's why i think Robert didn't post a reply in this thread.

From what i could understand, Robert probably didn't spend countless hours enjoying and exploring each and every single pcb he has made.
He probably focuses on the pcb design, not on the effect and all its artistic possibilities.

Consequently, even our dear PPCB creator (May the diy Goddess bless his Soldering Iron) wouldn't be able to choose a top-five based on a clear and exhaustive knowledge of PPCB circuits.

I guess it means that considering PPCB circuits as a whole, in its fulness, is a complete mystery. An unsoluble question, like looking at the sea and trying to see the seabed.

Mmmm... none of them ? I mean 3 or 10 minutes ? This can't possibly be enough to have a deep knowledge of a new circuit. Even if the person is supposed to be a great artist, a genius, even with all the experience in the world, i wouldn't take it for granted. But fortunately nobody in his right mind would do such a thing.

Wait... I hope no one in this exquisite community would dare write a review about any kind of effect based on 3 or 10 minutes experience ?

That would be crossing several lines, that would be very very close to high treason.
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i wasn’t being literal about the actual durations, it was more to illustrate the potential divide/comparison between two different people and approaches.
10 minutes is well over 3 times longer than 3 minutes and that’s significant.

i could have said
30 minutes vs 10 minutes
6 hours vs half an hour
3 weeks vs 2 days

whatever duration you think is sufficient, but you get what i mean ;)
 
Maaannn,

You guys are (not surprisingly) totally overthinking this.

I was very intentional about the criteria because I anticipated this pandora's box.

Remember, the point of the thread is your personal top five pedal builds *based on any criteria*. It is intentionally unscientific and the point is not to generate a list of "the best" boards, it's to hear what other people think are the best/most interesting/most essential/most interesting/most important/prettiest boards or a combination of these. Whatever criteria is valid. Could be based on months of use (the deofol for me) or like 5 minutes (the nutty fuzz for me).

As air bud figured out, the point is to open horizons and prompt an exploration of new directions. And for the builders, a thought exercise about prioritizing pedal attributes

It's already been a success for me in that respect. The consensus/top five of the top five is a secondary thing, and while interesting, of course has to be taken with a grain of salt for all the reasons you point out. I have been pretty surprised by the popularity of some pedals, like the Julia which I built but was like "meh".
 
comradehoser said:
As air bud figured out, the point is to open horizons and prompt an exploration of new directions. And for the builders, a thought exercise about prioritizing pedal attributes

It's already been a success for me in that respect. The consensus/top five of the top five is a secondary thing, and while interesting, of course has to be taken with a grain of salt for all the reasons you point out. I have been pretty surprised by the popularity of some pedals, like the Julia which I built but was like "meh".
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Yea, this thread has definitely got me thinking about some PCBs I never focused on.
 
comradehoser said:
, like the Julia which I built but was like "meh".
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which is why i strongly suggested the karaoke.

Mentioning the reverb reselling etc one thing i have found is if i were to resell which i havent done much of (i think one on reverb, probably 15 locally) I’d be more likely to choose a PPCB circuit as youre making more of a direct clone. Madbeans, lectric fx, to an extent aion i think does a bit more modding to make vintage circuits work. Or are a bit more “inspired” vs a clone. I know for me there have been several where i literally wanted an exact copy and PPCB would be where I’d go, but for something a little more off the beaten path….

I think both styles have their advantages…

I still need to build a blue shift
 
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