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This one came as a surprise. They've been around for 70 years. Shuttering the place.

Nothing new here but it worked without issues.  A very tricky build and I really don't advise deviating from the docs.  I shudder at the thought of most "A" builds so keep that in mind.  This is a completely stock build so really doesn't need photos.  I leaned in on the original (including using the B**s name) but only out of respect.  If there's a downside to this build it's that all of Kevin's magic is hidden.  This layout is just crazy cool and the board(s) are very pretty.  Unfortunately you can't see them.

This was intimidating and while I jumped right in on the Aion Lab board I let this one sit on the shelf for a bit.  Nothing at all difficult as long as you respect the fact that you need to follow the build order and a few parts that deviate from typical builds (the 1uF WIMA caps are a good example).  Get your ducks in a row and prepare to spend a good number of evenings splitting up build tasks.  Kevin has obviously put a lot of thought into how he put this together so read the docs.

That said, if you've built up a big project then this one follows suit.

I'm putting my house on the market so most of my stuff is in boxes for the next while but I'll dig out my scope and get this thing dialed in.  I have to be close as it sounds amazing as is but the trim pots have a wide sweep.  I probably need to reread the calibration part but the TP contacts don't seem to make sense with the meter readings.  My bad.

Really superb project and hard to describe the resulting sound.  Not too far off the beaten path for chorus freaks but a vague modulation that doesn't really seem to start or stop.  There's no RIP at the top and bottom of the sweep.

Really just too freakin cool.  I'll touch up the top mount screw with a bit of black and white paint to hide it.  It's part of the original and good enough for me.  I used the original bypass method and is totally silent.  On top of that the pedal itself is dead quiet.

I totally butchered the first board trying to salvage pads that came off trying to fix botched pots.  I know better but soldered them flush to the board only to remember that the alpha switch sits too high.  Oops.

Anyway here it is, warts and all.  I was too lazy to replace the 1u cap I "touched" with the iron.  This thing sounds pretty wild and although it does lots of noisemaker stuff I'll likely use it as an overdrive.  Blending in a little of the wet signal and using the splode button gives you a really cool "swoosh" not unlike a flanger but a bit stranger.  It's as subtle or extreme as you want it.

Right place/right time for the VFE chorus. Trashed a Mandroid board because of the alpha switch and my inability to read the concisely rewritten document. I did the same to my first meatsphere board so apparently I've learned nothing :-)

The weird part is that I picked up the Mandroid mostly out of curiosity (I'm not big on wacky stuff) and had a blast making usable (and unusable) sounds. Then I boxed it.

I'll be ordering a replacement board shortly.

I've never had the honor of playing one of Bill's guitars and the company will move forward without him, but we lost one of the luthiers that luthiers turn to for inspiration.  Bill Collings was the founder of Collings guitars and one of those rare folks that was a mentor to so many high end builders in the industry.

This is the Dis Dis prototype board (just had to get creative with the pot wiring) in one of the PP+ enclosure sell offs.  I put a CODA BYP bypass in it because I'm currently obsessed with silent switching.  I think I'd mentioned in a previous post that this version of the Distortion II tweaks any of the shortcomings of the original and I really like this pedal.  You don't need to dime or kill any of the controls to get sounds out of it.  My only problems with the build was the use of a hot glue gun to put in the CODA board and the LED.  I had glue pretty much everywhere it shouldn't have been and ended up looking like I got punked by Spiderman.  I don't know why glue finesse eludes me.  Also the waterslide had a noticeable strip missing (laser printer hiccuped) but figured I could live with it.

Don't know if anyone has seen them but the new Vox MV50 series looks pretty cool.  Fluorescent tube preamp (!!!) and a 50 watt power amp.  Three flavors: Clean (Fender), AC (duh), and Rock.  I ordered an AC.  Standby for a full report when it gets here.  My wife is going to have my head on a stick.  Then again I can just hide it in my guitar case. :-)

Any interest in a guide to the CODA build?  Finishing mine up and it turns out that programming the chip is the easiest part once you get a grip on how to do it.

I don't have build pix yet but should get this beast boxed up over the weekend.  This take on the MXR Distortion II is very cool in that it addresses the shortcomings of the original.  I'd built up a board I picked up from Rullywow a while back that nailed the original circuit which tends to be a tad noisy because you have to crank the Gain, Filter and Volume and roll off most of the Resonance.  And the pedal was still too low in volume and dark to be really usable.  The Resonance is the secret weapon of this pedal and it sounds very smooth.  The Gain control on the Dis Dis is useable from min to max and an extra opamp in the circuit gives it enough level at any setting.  The Filter control has it's range bumped up a bunch and the Resonance (a second drive circuit altogether) can go from a fairly normal sounding distortion to a smooth and thick beast.  I'd mentioned in the Rullywow build report that it's kind of a "King's-X in a box" and this version makes it even more so.

I don't have any pix yet but just a note to say:

This thing kills.

It makes up for the majority of the Dist II shortcomings.  If you've ever used one of the originals (or any of the clones) you have to dime the Filter and Gain controls while running the Resonance control at less than 9 o'clock.  The Volume will likely be within the last mm of rotation.  Even then it's dark and under powered.

This version ups the output to usable gain ranges from min to max.  The Filter control can be used at any setting and the Resonance, while still making the signal dark, has a much more generous range.  This is a very different OD from anything we normally deal with and I still stick by my "King's X in a box" verbage of Rullywow's board.  Very smooth and once boxed up will likely give my other OD's a run for alpha status.  The added output range is the deal breaker here, the original circuit killed in spades but lacked the output.

Nicely done guys and pix to follow.

I felt myself stepping all over Shu's build report...I'm good like that.  I figured I better start my own.  This is an insane project in it's scope of cloning the old ADA Final Phase.  As the name implies this is the last word in phasers as they existed in the late 70's.  I dare say that it still holds true in 2017.  The thing I DON'T like about phasers is the cyclic nature of the LFO.  That's as dumb as saying I don't like the fishy taste of salmon.

The FP takes a different tack by introducing a modulator to the LFO.  In essence it cyclically modulates a cyclic LFO to introduce all kinds of subtle variation on the phaser ilk.  8 stages...10 stages...whatever it takes.

The outcome is a less pronounced waveform to control the phase.  Unless you don't want that and you want a radically swept phase, or a REALLY whacked waveform within a waveform.  You get the picture.

Add to that a totally cool overdrive to make whatever the phaser is doing WAY more pronounced.  It's like a JetPhase (Roland) that isn't limited to "Who's That Lady".

Easy build, although be prepared to have massive quantities of the same resistor.  I bought in bulk and will likely be stocked for life in 20K 1/4 watts.  Easy calibration if your multi does frequency.  I tuned it by ear till I hooked it up to the test gear and was WAY off.  This is an easy add on to my board and despite it's crazy size I don't see it moving any time soon.  It's got a killer animated OD sound that I can make great use of.  Phaser for anti-phaser folks (me).





No hidden wires on the VCO portion of the board (middle jack and T/R/S pads).  I likely won't go there.  And I'm lazy.  If I get ambitious I'll add it.  I used a shielded wire for the input.  Would have used it for the output but ran out of wire.  I don't really think it needs either.  This thing is among the quietest of my phaser builds even with the OD engaged. Note that it ticked VERY slightly before I got it boxed.  Dead quiet now.

Major kudos to the LectricFX folks. With all the stuff going on with ANYBODY associated with this board the bar is set ridiculously high now.  It's been such a dramatic uptick in what can be accomplished at the DIY level that the builds I'm doing these days are SO far beyond my layout skills it's frightening.  I'm truly grateful that Brian harbors this kind of environment and to all the whacko's that embrace this goofy hobby.

Stepping down off my soapbox now.  If anybody want's the graphics to this one just PM me.  Ditto for the EchoFlanger and ADA Flanger.

I'm really liking this pedal.  This was one of those magic builds where it fired up first time.  I spent a bit of time copying the original graphics to work on a 17xx box.  I have no real graphics talent but I can copy stuff like all get out.  This is a mash up of old and new EHX.  Ripped off the graphics but went with the new knobs.  I got the circles around the knobs damn close to straight only to bugger up the Wet/Mix switch.  Oh well.

This one is in a PPP close out enclosure and there doesn't seem to be a way to capture the color.  It's silver flake over purple and the purple just doesn't show in the photos.  Because I'm a dumb-@ss I dropped it on my way back to the bench from the drill press so the lower right corner might be a better indicator of the color.  Sigh.

This one will be picture worthy.  Went together very nicely and my only issue was never having used an LM308 in a can before (sounds very nice).  I assumed the tab would be pin 1.  Whoops...pin 8.

The variable HCC stuff is pretty clever, being able to blend different clippers and such.  As rats go this has some nice twists.  I can see using this and the Pale Horse as a tag team on my board with the PH handling less gainish tones and the the AD doing the lead stuff.  The big take away from the VFE projects is the relay switching.  I'm going to have to rethink my switching, at least on my pedalboard regulars.

Got the Pale Horse done and I'm in the process of etching a faceplate and I can box it up.  This one was a big challenge but only because I buggered up a few things going in.  My drill template must have shifted because I had the whole main board too low in the case and there isn't a lot of room between it and the switch board.  I spent some time with a round file to resolve that.

I had better luck with 7/16" holes for the jacks.  The jacks spec'd in the mouser BOM have a little lip around the outside plastic washer that sits proud of the case if you use anything smaller.  It also gives you a bit of wiggle room to stuff the board in.

I had a ton of power issues until I figured out that the .1uF PWR cap on the IC pin 8 side wasn't making a good connection.  I tore the crap out of the board trying to dig it back out.  It's all good but was a bugger getting under the pots to get at it.  I was getting a gated sputtering sound (yes I socketed the 5484) and with the drive below about 75% the pedal would go silent.

In the end the board looks like a deep fried turd but the pedal sounds REALLY nice.  I'm not a fan of the board mounted jacks and dc but the switching is excellent and it's pretty cool having a board that can be configured for any imaginable power situation.  You can set the input impedance to make the pedal much more responsive to guitar knobs if you play that way (I do), and the range of sounds from the tone controls is pretty impressive without being overly sensitive.  Nice sounds to be had at all gain ranges.

I will be going home to 5 deliveries today.  Madbean (including the VFE boards), Mouser, Smallbear, Bitches Love My Switches, and PPP (blem cases).  Talk about the planets aligning.

I finally got a half decent etch on a face plate.  It's a little fuzzy but I'm calling it a keeper.  The speckled look is just reflections. My only complaint is the bevel for the tap tempo indicator.  The countersink bit got a bit grabby and I figured I better quit while I was ahead rather that risk blowing thru the hole.  This is the third in my drolo builds, the Twin Peaks tremolo.  Very cool pedal and went together without any issues.

Geez this is frustrating.  Can anyone walk me thru programming a 24LC32A with a Pickit2?  This is specific to drolo's Molecular Disruption Device.  I've got the software (Pickit2 v2.61) running on Win10 and I keep getting "Programming failure at EEPROM Address 0x000000" errors.  I seem to be able to read the chip OK.  I created the HEX file directly from SpinCAD.  I've tried a number of different HEX's as well.

Thanks

How has this one slipped thru the cracks?  I got the Rullywow board (Dist Deucer) from 3secondrule and the build docs from Rully and this thing just kills.  Too much bass, too dark sounding, and a tad noisey, but damn this thing is Ty Tabor in a box.  Smoove, not a bit harsh and tons of definition even at the end of the Gain pot.  Mind you, this is not at all a high gain pedal but damn it sounds good.

I have lots of work to do to get the thing quieter and eq'd a bit brighter but I haven't been this excited about a drive pedal in ages.

I don't recall how prominent the input distortion was on the original but I'm getting a "gggkkkk" on low notes if I hit them with any force on a fairly low output Strat.  This is right on the first repeat.  I've fiddled with the trimmers but can't seem to dial it out.  Is this an issue with the 571?  I have a few of them here and they all seem to sound a bit different but still the same problem.  The worst is a new Cool Audio from Smallbear.  The best is an NE571 oldie.  The output is unity so there's no gain going on.  Pedal itself seems to work fine with or without the mod board.  15v doesn't seem to make a whole bunch of difference.

Any opinions?

I've been keeping my eyes open for a ridiculous deal on an AT-200 once I found out that the luthier install kit was 2 times the price.  Nailed it yesterday and waiting for it to arrive from MI.  Anyone have any experience this this?  Seems like a stupid cool technology and I'm a big Variax fan so it's an easy sell for me.