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One word to describe that build:
"Cleeeeeaaaaaannnnnnnn".

My favorite heavy bass distortion ever was actually the drive circuit built into the Gallien Krueger Backline 250 head. It was kind of a Big Muff sound, but heavier and less scooped. GK tried to build that circuit into their Diesel Dawg pedal, but managed to mess it up, so it never sounded like the amp head. By comparing the schematics of the two you can find the changes, and I actually modded a Diesel Dawg to sound much closer to the 250 head. The key resistors and caps that need to be changed (6th post) are outlined in this posting I made years ago:
https://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=27915.0

Groan...

Here is an update on the trimmer settings inside. One disappointing thing I found out about this version is that it couldn't do those great theremin-style sounds with the Regen knob maxed out. An awesome example of what I'm talking about is at the beginning of Van Halen's, Outta Love Again. In my opinion, if an M117 can't do those sounds, then the trimmers inside aren't set up correctly. By adjusting the 20K trimmer on the right a little bit more counter-clockwise, I was able to get those great oscillation sounds when the Regen knob is maxed. I also adjusted the clock speed to a faster setting to keep it from getting that awful deep/seasick rubber-band sound that so many flangers are set up to do.
Here's the pic of the trimmers:

It definitely sounds even better after the adjustments. Now the chorus has more of that "Andy Summers" sparkle.

Now that I looked at the pictures more, that oddball indicator on the bottom picture is most definitely a replacement part, which it's not hard to find 1/4" led indicators that look very similar. It's probably just an older one with a slightly different bezel than these here:
1/4" LED indicators
The original Morley indicators are always the faceted jewel type with a knurled bezel.

No, that's no trick of the light. Those are two different jewels. It's possible Morley sourced some different jewels back then. More likely though is that the odd-looking one in the bottom picture was an early replacement part someone was able to source from the nether. The top picture looks like the correct part I've always seen on old Morley pedals, and that's the one that seems to have no equal. So at least for a time way back in the day, it seems there were good options to get sub-miniature light jewels. Both look great, so I wouldn't care finding either one nowadays.

It just surprises me that no manufacturer has bothered to make these again. Clearly companies like Spaceman, and all the companies that have copied their look since, like the effect of the "Fender-style" amp jewel. It does look way better than just a raw LED or most of the bezel options out there today. Using a standard-size amp jewel is just too cumbersome on a pedal. It always looks out of proportion unless the pedal is a monster. Those original Morley jewels were the perfect size. And after having owned two of those pedals, I can say it's by far the best-looking indicator light ever on a pedal.

Well, Mojotone was very excited to send out an email for the latest pedal in the Lerxst line, the ATWAS. It is a faithful replica of the original Morley Power Wah, just in a much more pedalboard friendly size. BUT...there is a very important thing missing:  the awesome sub-miniature pilot light jewel that all those old Morley pedals had. Those lamp jewels have proven to be the most impossible guitar pedal part to source in history. Tons of manufactures would be using them today, no doubt, but they are non-existent. Who made them back then? Where did they come from? How has nobody ever found a single NOS one in a little bag somewhere? The only way to get one is to cannibalize it off an old Morley pedal, but many of those are far too valuable to do that.
It doesn't look right without it.

I scooped one because of this thread and it sounds great.

Glad you were able to find one! It really is a great-sounding "all around" modulation effect. I would say it leans more towards the chorus side of things. But, if we could find a schematic I could see this version being an incredible modification platform. With two BBD's in there, you could easily set up through-zero flanging by dedicating one to the dry signal line. By dropping down to 512 stages, it would still get some great chorus sounds, but be able to pull off some amazing flanged tones as well.

Print is not dead. The internet dies with another bubble.

The Internet actually died quite a while ago. It's nothing like a digital library anymore. Social Media runs the show.

This topic has already become "famous". If you do searches for anything having to do with a 1996 MXR M117 flanger on Google, the AI machine has already lifted several key pieces of information directly from my post, in some cases word for word. It's happened! As individuals we now have the ability to control the information shared with the entire world on various subjects. Maybe in the near future AI will tell us that 2+2 = 5. If enough blogs were to convincingly promote it, then it will happen!

"When you control the mail, you control...information!"
                                      ~ Newman

So what's the gist of this circuit?  Two delays running in parallel hoping for differences in components (piggy backed)?

Without a schematic it's difficult to know what configuration they're running. It's odd that newer versions of the M117 look like they use a single MN3204. For whatever reason, they've never gone the MN3007 route, despite the fact the originals were running serial configuration and MN3007s are readily available. I guess BBDs are more than just stages and clock speed. There's something else going on that affects the final output.

[two MN3004's]

There are so many versions of the MXR M117, it's not surprising there is one version that has pretty much flown under the radar for the last couple decades. Yes, there are people who know the version I'm talking about, but for the most part, it's still kind of a sleeper. Clear back in 1996, MXR made it's first reissue of the M117. There doesn't seem to be much information about that first reissue on the Internet. It appears they may have only been made for about 2 years. The majority of online demos for the M117 are of the originals or the "newer" reissues. A gut shot is nearly impossible to find of the 1996 version.
The '96 version was US-made and used good-ol through-hole components and a very interesting choice for the BBD:  not one, but two MN3004's! In the world of flangers, that makes it much more rare than the SAD1024-based M117's. I don't think there is another flanger in existence that uses two MN3004's. This version also has two independent clock circuits as well, so it's easily the most complex version of the M117 MXR has ever made. A schematic would be awesome to check out, but is impossible to find.

So how do you spot one of these "post-vintage, yet vintage" versions? The easiest way is if there is a picture of the bottom plate. MXR didn't provide any battery power option in '96, so no battery doors.
If there isn't a picture of the bottom though, you can spot them by the paint. The first reissues were always a matte rough-finish gray color with no metal flake. So if it has metal flake charcoal paint, it's not the one.
The other odd identifying mark is the LED. On the '96 versions, the LED is one of the strangest colors of red I've ever seen for an LED. It's like watermelon Kool-Aid red when it's off. You can easily see the color difference when compared with the 2004-present versions.
So here are the pics:


The insides of these rarely see the light of day...

Dual MN3004's are under them pots...


Why did I bother posting any of this? I've still seen this rare version listed as "2004-present", and it generally get's lumped in with the newer ones that just aren't quite the same. So keep an eye out! You can still pick these up for pretty cheap considering how nice they are and how rare the BBDs are. You will never regret getting a hold of one of these early reissues. Highly recommended.
Happy hunting!

What are people thinking about the latest Big Muff out there ?

Personally I think this falls under the YABM category. There is hardly a sound this thing can make that I can't get out of that classic "overdrive into big muff" combination.
It's great that we already have the option to build one ourselves though.

I didn't even know that existed. Very nice.

Unfortunately, the soundclips and a lot of the gut shot pictures were never archived from PedalArea. I remember that was one of the best sites for figuring out if a Flanger had a unique BBD in it, rather than the typical MN3x07. Surprisingly there were quite a few that used oddballs like MN3204's and MN3009's. I still keep on the lookout for some of those, but they seem to have disappeared from any sites like Reverb or Ebay (probably because they actually sound good).

[visitors will opt in to your e-newsletters]

Selling email addresses can be quite profitable. What better way to get people to willingly send a bunch of them to you!
How to Monetize, Rent, or Sell Email Addresses
Just within reading the first few sentences of that site you come across this gem:
"If you have good content, getting email addresses will be relatively easy; visitors will opt in to your e-newsletters, or hand over their contact information in exchange for access to some unique piece of content or tool."
Does it say anywhere on that BYOC placeholder page that they won't sell your email address?
Nope. It's probably not even the same people who own the name anymore.

Sad to go back and see a lot of names that have dropped out of pedal sites.

And sad to see the sites that have also dropped out of existence. Sometimes you can find them on the way back machine, but they're usually just shells of thier former glory. I think around 2010-2016 were the glory years for guitar pedal sites. And Andy Martin was with ProGuitar shop back then too. PedalArea was a good one:
https://web.archive.org/web/20150220015131/http://www.pedalarea.com/