what BBD pedal should I make?

S

slowpogo

Active member
I took inventory of parts today and was surprised to realize I have five MN3207 and a couple MN3007 chips. So obviously I should do a BBD project next :cool:

Here are the BBD projects I've already made:
Low Tide (Fairfield Shallow Water)
madbean DMM
madbean Maxon AD900
dfx Lovetone flanger
dfx Spaceman Explorer phaser

also own an Ibanez CS9 but I'm open to chorus projects

I love lo-fi stuff like the Shallow Water especially but I'm open to anything. What are some of your favorite BBD projects you'd recommend? (I'm not opposed to borrowing MN3005s from the delays for a worthy project)
 
I'm getting around to boxing a LectricFX A/DA flanger build. Cool project, tight build.

Madbean had the rustbucket until recently, ehx attack decay. Discontinued, but I'm sure there's vero layouts available.

Of course, there's the ubiquitous Boss CE-2 and it's many variants...

Dimension C clone from Aion.

PedalPCB VB-2 (super cool build with an intelligent relay bypass built in)

Lots of options here...
 
I’ve bought and built a *lot* of choruses but always end up going back to a Walrus Audio Julia or PedalPCB Caesar. It’s just the platonic ideal of what I think of when I think of “chorus”; a well-tuned and functional take on the CE-2.
 
Forgot the VIIB, made that one and it's very cool indeed. I'm pretty sure my Ibanez CS9 is based on the CE2 so I'm reluctant to build another one in that family.

I wish Fairfield's Meet Maude was available. Basically an analog delay with the Shallow Water in the FX loop? or any other lo-fi tape/vinyl modulators, but the Shallow Water is the only board I have seen.

Hmm, leaning toward flanger because the Lovetone is awesome but it's a beast and overkill most of the time.
 
+1 on the lectricfx clone theory aka celeste chorus. The flange mode isn't a real flanger but it is a pretty unique delay line that makes the trippy modulation sounds from Ween's Pod era. Never found that sound in another unit. Plus the chorus/vibe sounds are exceptional for early goth bass/baritone like the Cure and New Order.
I feel like the shallow water is a waste of a lot of components and fussiness. The Electric Druid Stomplfo chip has 8 waveforms including both random slopes and steps (sample hold). Their Flangalicious mentioned above and their FilterFx get there with much fewer parts and more features.
 
Betty Wont said:
+1 on the lectricfx clone theory aka celeste chorus. The flange mode isn't a real flanger but it is a pretty unique delay line that makes the trippy modulation sounds from Ween's Pod era. Never found that sound in another unit.
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I’ve always understood it that the modulation effects on The Pod (I’m assuming you’re mainly talking about Don’t Sweat It, the intro to Captain Fantasy, Mononucleosis, the modulated slapback on … Moving Away, Pork Roll Egg & Cheese) were all from the same EH Polychorus unit that make up pretty much the entire Pure Guava sound, which can be replicated perfectly with the Lectric FX Dandy Horse, which is an EH Echo Flanger clone— the Echo Flanger being an early unit that’s identical to the original runs of the Polyflange/Polychorus
 
Betty Wont said:
I feel like the shallow water is a waste of a lot of components and fussiness. The Electric Druid Stomplfo chip has 8 waveforms including both random slopes and steps (sample hold). Their Flangalicious mentioned above and their FilterFx get there with much fewer parts and more features.
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I will not stand idly by as my beloved Shallow Water is besmirched!! lol but seriously, the dfx Spaceman Explorer clone uses that Stomplfo chip so I'm familiar with it. Its random waveforms are nothing like Shallow Water. There's something extra going on there that really sounds like wonky tape, and not just a typical "random" algorithm. Plus the FET preamp stage just sounds nice. I find it to be a magical, extremely musical pedal
 
thewintersoldier said:
I couldn't sell that pedal fast enough. There are very few pedals that I have built that I really thought completely sucked, and that pedal is pure hype. Very underwhelming. The chorus was weak and dialing in the lpf was frustrating and never sounded right. Not worth the price of admission imo.
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I put these type of pedals in the Novelty class.
A lot of work with not much return!
Once the Honeymoon period is over If there is one, It just get's parked up!
 
thewintersoldier said:
I couldn't sell that pedal fast enough. There are very few pedals that I have built that I really thought completely sucked, and that pedal is pure hype. Very underwhelming. The chorus was weak and dialing in the lpf was frustrating and never sounded right. Not worth the price of admission imo.
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Most people seem to use it as a vibrato with the mix all the way up, to add a subtle, dark tape warble, and it does that really well. I mean, if that's not what you're looking for, so be it but I don't know where "sucks" comes into play with pedals. Any given pedal will suit some people's needs and sound great to them; to others it will not. But I'll say, the people who like Shallow Water REALLY like it and I count myself among them. They've sold several thousand of them which is kind of incredible for a niche pedal from a small builder
 
thewintersoldier said:
I tried doing vibrato, chorus, every sound from every video. I never felt that the build never reacted like the units in videos. The way the random glitch thing reacted was not like the Fairfield units. That's why I feel the way I did. It simply did not meet my expectations. Trust me I'm into unorthodox and unconventional effects but this unit simply didn't do it for me. I can get tape warble from other BBD modulation that is much more convincing in my opinion. Your entitled to like it, no need to take it person either. I didn't kick your dog lol.
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Well you may have gotten a lemon, who knows. I don't take things personally but will defend a pedal I love (why else do these forums exist? lol) and I just philosophically disagree with saying gear "sucks" (unless it's literally falling-apart Chinese garbage or something)
 
To wade in on this (get it?) - for me it’s all about context. It’s a crappy pedal to play a blues solo on but I like it to add an odd part to a loop for a bit of texture or as part of an ambient bit. For rock and blues it’s pretty useless.
 
thewintersoldier said:
True, and unlike this pedal, Cutler knows he's trash lol
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I have all the parts and I’m about to build it actually. The hype actually makes me want to build it and really see once I play through it how I get on with it. Similar to the 1981 which I’ve built and played through… nice pedal but seriously the YouTube pedal demo hype train industry is so ridiculous.
 
thewintersoldier said:
True, and unlike this pedal, Cutler knows he's trash lol
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I bought this board recently. Do you think there is something that could be tweaked to make it more useful? I've read people say it's pretty subtle. Maybe increasing the output of the LFO would help? Curious to hear your take.
 
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