For sale Aion Oceanid optical compressor (clone of Cornish OC-1)

This build took me a while (I had to be a bit more deliberate and systematic - and buy reading glasses - since my eyesight went south EXACTLY in time for my 50th...)

Perhaps because of that systematic approach, it's one of the few stomp boxes I've built that worked perfectly the first time I plugged it in!

Aion Electronics provide high-quality circuit boards and instructions, and this one is based on a trace of the Cornish OC-1 optical compressor. I've had great results with the dozen or so pedals that I've build based on Aion PCBs, and I needed a new compressor, so I thought I'd give it a try.

Bottom line, the action of an optical compressor doesn't match the feel that I was looking for. My janky 'Big Dipper' artwork is an allusion to the fact that the unblended compression circuit dips the signal a bit, then gets big...

Here are a couple other mentions of this Aion circuit, for reference:

Seeking the perfect vibrato (for me) advice
and again:
Optical Compressor preferences .....
and here in the compressor megathread:
Testing Compressors: Cali, Smoothie, Empress, Diamond, Keeley, FEA, Darkglass, Doc Lloyd, JHS & more

@DirtyDuke received a defective one, but noted that it makes a great boost:
Testing Compressors: Cali, Smoothie, Empress, Diamond, Keeley, FEA, Darkglass, Doc Lloyd, JHS & more

I will second the boost recommendation - when I first plugged mine in, with all knobs at minimum, the makeup gain was already giving me a 3-6 dB boost. That dropped down below unity as soon as I turned up the Compression knob a bit, but there is a TON of makeup gain available.

So even if the compression isn't for you, this pedal offers the highly-regarded Cornish buffer AND a killer boost - all for a bargain price!