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my username on the front page currently shows up as haberdasher, which imputes a level of skill and expertise that I just do not possess. When I click through to my profile, it shows my info though.

Hey guys. It's been a minute since I've built a pedal, mostly because I convinced myself that the two (excellent!) optical compressors I built weren't working right. I was just imagining distortion, though, I guess, as they're working now.

Anyway. I want to build a 2 in 1 Greer light speed and southland, but want to differentiate the sides a bit more. The southland is essentially a light speed with some small changes, including bat41 diodes as hard clipping diodes, along with the same asymmetrical 1n941's in the feedback loop like the light speed.

Do those bat41's do anything? Is there enough voltage to even hit the hard clipping diodes after the feedback loop diodes?

It's been a long time since I've even looked at a pedal let alone build one. I've moved cross NYS to just outside of Buffalo a few years ago, I got to build a real lab of sorts in my finished basement where I pretty much hoped I'd get back into this hobby. I mainly built tube amps for guitar and home stereo amps but that industry took a hit with transformers and I stopped new projects. Power transformers are t a problem, it's the output transformers that got real expensive and very few choices in the states outside of Hammond and Edcor. I did pull all my pedal builds out and started playing again, fixed quite a few broken ones too. I may sell off a few redundant ones to help pay for new pedals. My best fix was an old Aion Effects OD-855, it was a first run with error on board(easy fix). OMG the OD 855 is a incredibly powerful pedal, bye bye TS 808
Anyway I'm glad this sites still around so I can redive back in
PS-Are there any sources still for a Darkside?

Woah, another WNY dude! I live in northern Chautauqua county, and go to Buffalo frequently for work. If you ever need any parts let me know!

Verified 7 builds as fully ready today. I found small errors on two other projects that will require re-running those boards. Not a big deal. Just a couple dumb mistakes on my part.

Starting to work on art for Tayda UV printing (first time). Here's the 8-Ball.

And, here's my build of the Woodshed fuzz which sounds absolutely awesome!

The 8ball is my favorite DIY drive ever.

Good to hear. Browsing the shop today feels a bit like scavenging.
A lot of "how did i miss that?".
Any teaser on the circuits?

This is everything:

VFE SPS
Dragon
Mini Mu
Pinball

New projects
Total Recall "2023"
Rainbow Puker (fv-1 project)
Cone Splitter (new sub-octave project)

Standard Series (Some of these were offered as different versions before but each one of these has been jacked up in my own mbp way for the SS)
8-Ball (OD)
Ambulator (comp)
Autobahn (filter)
Ballast (chorus)
Boneyard (distortion)
Dragonbeard Jr (Expandora)
Freeloader (fuzz)
Laureate Jr (ODR)
Transponder (delay)
Woodshed (fuzz)

Instabuy

Was it Midwayfair who did a subjective diode listening test with various diodes in the Klon.  I can't find the page unfortunately.

Yeah, and then people bought out the ones that I said I liked, and claimed that they were the most accurate, even though they demonstrably weren't even remotely accurate to the Fv of a typical germanium diode, in a pedal that most people never use as a distortion. Goddamn I hate every fucking thing about this stupid pedal. There's got to be some way of finding that post on the forum, unless I removed it out of spite.

Knowing the Fv of a diode is completely useless unless you know you're using the the same meter as the person who measured it. Just socket the diodes and use your ears for the ones you like. Screw accuracy.

I think you're an influencer, by any definition. Get ready for your photoshoot.

I'm in the iridium club too. Had a Kemper for years, sold it in 2020 and bought an Iridium. I still have dark thoughts about an Axe FX III but haven't pulled that trigger yet. Board pic for attention.

I had one of those a while ago, mine weighed about 45 lbs so I eventually moved on from it. Interesting pickups. too.

I have book 9 cued up on my kindle and can't wait to start. I love the books but haven't watched the show.

I'm out in the western end of the state - but I drive through that region a few times a year on the way to the ADK's. Welcome to the forum!

I sort of wandered off into a self serving diatribe but I guess the point I was going to make was that I've really been looking at the Helix stuff lately because everyone else in the praise band world seems to be going digital.  I used an original L6 POD for a while but just didn't get the feel I could get from a real amp.  Plus I tend to lean in on a not quite so clean sound and work around that.  Most likely close to a slightly driven Vox or Marshall.  The thought of plunking down a board and plugging into FOH is appealing though.

I can't afford a AXE-FX or Kemper so I was sort of poking around the idea of a Helix Stomp.  Is it that good that I could live without tubes?

I'm pretty sure the HX stomp is all over the more recent Elevation albums. Alex Strabala has a great YouTube and is a Helix user.

I have an Iridium (had a Kemper for a couple years, too) and really like the iridium with pedals. Sometimes I think about getting an Axe FX, but haven't pulled the trigger yet.

I get the impression it was a bit of both but Covid sped up the process.  They claim that they're seeing a decrease in tube amplifiers (??!!).  Great company and really sad to see them go under.

Well, I know that in church music world a sizable minority, if not a majority, of the players use a digital solution. I haven't had a tube amp since 2017 and honestly haven't missed it much.

A Kemper, Iridium, or Axe FX can do the direct in job at least as well as a fancy amp, costs less, and is easier for sound techs.

I have put together several partscasters.

This one:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B2uFLLhnzlT/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Is a MJT body and Best Guitar Parts / Sound Guitar Works roasted maple neck. It is pretty awesome, and I play it live quite a bit. It has lambertone crema pickups in it, and it is great for the music I play live (p&w). The build was relatively painless, but I have spent a lot of time getting the setup right. I had to learn how to make a guitar nut, and I've acquired a bunch of tools to make my setups very consistent, along with fretwork and nut tools.

The second parts guitar I built is this one:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0d5UNQH8R9/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

It is a guitar mill body and a USACG (RIP) roasted maple neck. It is also a very good guitar. It has the same pickups as the blue guitar but it sounds different (IMO). I love the mastery bridge, but I kinda wish that I'd sprung for the Duesenberg trem, but it wasn't available when I was building the guitar. This one I painted myself with paint from Roth Metal Flake.

I really like both of the bodies I have. They're both light and came together nicely. I had to get a custom guard for the MJT body, and also had to be pretty fussy about the bridge and wound up getting a great one from Armadillo Guitar parts. The Guitar Mill body I had to route the neck pocket portion of the pickguard to fit the body, but other than that it fit well, and was a $12 reverb guard, origin unknown.

You will have to screw around with the stuff to get it to fit, unless you get all of your parts from one supplier. It's also important to read all the documentation for the different parts, and make sure the fit works for each part separately, then all together.

Those look a lot like Squarplug SPS5 or SPS4 to me. The squareplugs are soldered connections.

The squareplug connectors are absolutely the best. I won't use anything else going forward.

I bought an Iridium right when it came out, and have been using it for a few months in place of my Kemper (which I sold.)

I like the Iridium, I think the AC30 sounds are great (my bread and butter) and I've done very little tweaking and haven't replaced the IR's or anything.

Here's a IRL clip from our church service this past week. I am the amazingly handsome, muscular, and resplendently hirsute guitarist.

https://youtu.be/SW_YQTH59rE?t=39

DIY Pedals (naturally) and this is a bit dryer than I usually run my wet effects but it sounds fine in the mix.