Triangulum Boost with a Difference: Not a Fortin 33, but a Schfifty Five?

JimF

New member
First pedal build (kinda). Tried to do the Triangulum boost, it didn't work. I tried some trouble shooting but realised I should probably just start afresh.
I subsequently ordered a new PCB, and this one was successful!
So far my pedal building whilst messy, has a 100% success rate, 50% of the time :LOL:

Like many others, I looked into pedal building as I'm fairly practical, I love making things, and I didn't want to spend several hundreds on a Fortin 33!
I know you can achieve the same thing with an EQ pedal, but the one knob simplicity appealed to me. Also I've never been much of a pedal user. Up until recently I've been a "guitar->tuner->distortion pedal->amp" type of guy.

The second build was pretty straight forward. Using the drilling template, and my choice of DC jack meant I needed to turn a little nylon spacer, but that really isn't the end of the world.

Now, regarding the title...
I'm not a fan of DIY looking pedals. I think for certain aesthetics, the unfinished aluminium enclosure and retro clicker labels look really cool, but it wasn't the look I was going for. I wanted the look of the Fortin 33, but I didn't want to create a forgery. What could I do...

I'm 36, so I grew up in the early days of widely accessible internet. Back before the internet was somewhere your Aunt shares 5G conspiracies, and I was a frequent watcher of Devvo, Salad Fingers and this classic:


This came to me like an apparition one night, and the design was set in stone. I tracked down the 5 Gum logo, tweaked it in MS Paint, then got a vinyl lettering company send me a couple.

Here we are! The Schfifty Five:






I used a green LED, which is brighter than the sun. I also managed to track down the LED cover Fortin use as well, so it looks more legit. I like how it sounds but I've not had chance to exploit it much, but most interestingly... The eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed the extra jack socket on the side.

I realised that I didn't have room on my pedalboard for everything I wanted to use. The easiest thing to delete was the amp channel switcher. It was a large pedal, which is the equivalent of 2x factory footswitches, (4 functions in total). It controlled channel switching, FX Loop on/off, mid boost & master volume boost. I bought it before I had chance to properly use my new amp, so didn't realise that whilst its a great product, all I was going to use it for was channel switching.

I also had the issue of my amp obviously not cleaning up enough for the sparkly cleans I so desried, what with my high output pickups, and a boost engaged. So I would need to find a way to switch the channel of the amp, and engage/disengage the boost, or else Fade to Black wouldn't sound right!

Looking at the Fortin 33, it has an extra jack socket on the side which can do just this. Now this may be obvious to all you experienced pedal enthusiasts, however I'm a total pedal newb. So I managed to incorporate this feature too! This may be an easy feat, but I'm so pleased with myself for being able to implement this. Also this feature is missing from all of the clones that I've seen out there too!

As mentioned before, this isn't groundbreaking, but it is for me. The fact the pedal looks the part whilst not being a forgery, sounds the part, and can function like the original even down to the channel switching, has made me an extremely happy bearded metalhead.


I'm hooked!
 
Schfifty five...brings me back to high school. I wonder if Homestar Runner site is still active. Great looking build!!
 
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