I've boxed up some stuff recently.
First up a BASS KLON. I've never cared for the promised sound of a Klon, but somehow enjoyed the silly talk about magic diodes, fairy dust and unicorn farts. So, when some electronic wizard on the PPCB forum gave the Klon a real bass treatment, I thought ok, why not.
Changes made to the PPCB Kliché mini are:
- increase bass feeding into the dirty channel and bass bleed (C2)
- increase subharmonics in bypass mode (C3)
- increase clean channel bass (C4)
- increase bass when GAIN is dimed (C7)
- darken dirty channel slightly (C8)
- increase bass feeding the clipping diodes (C9)
- increase mids when GAIN is around noon (C12)
- Reduce mid scoop when GAIN is at zero (C13)
- move tone range down to include the upper mids (C15)
- increase bass subharmonics when the pedal is engaged (C16)
- increase clean channel volume (R7)
- increase bass bleed (R14)
- improved sweep at lower volume settings (A10k for VOLUME)
I used OA1183 as Ge diodes, because they had a forward voltage of 0.35. Then Wima caps, some tantalums and a silver mica for good measure. Fancy aluminium knobs too.
It sounds great, I actually like it.
The bass player of the other band of the drummer of one of my bands asked, if I could build something like the BAT Raw Heart, which is a double pedal with order switch, incorporating their Witch Burner and Quantum Mystic.
After some looking around, I saw that the chaps at Fuzzdog offer both PCBs, so the answer was yes and here's the result, named Mystic Witch.
As an addition, compared to the BAT offering, there are 3 clipping options on the QM side.
It was a tight fit, as some might say, mainly because Fuzzdog thinks side jacks are fine, but I don't, I'm on team top jacks.
Soundwise, I personally really like the Quantum Mystic, the 3-band EQ and the clipping options let you tune your sound nicely. The Witch Burner on its own, which apparently is a stripped down tube screamer (le sigh) tuned for DOOM, is fine alright, but a bit ... well ... boring or let's say unspectacular for my taste. Combining the circuits is very cool though.
And finally, fresh from the bench: Dunwich Amps Fuzz Throne DLX on vero.
I've bought a Dunwich Amps Fuzz Throne DLX, aka Blackblood, a looooong time ago and it has been on my pedalboard ever since. I looooove that pedal.
Recently I changed the footswitch on the Dunwich, and while doing that, I was like, hmmm, I should try to build one of these, especially considering that the vero on dirtboxlayouts had been finalized (caps on DEPTH) by looking at my very own Blackblood.
The only thing I changed are the LED clippers, I used green instead of red. I had to trouble shoot it a bit, but I quickly found the messed up solder joint and after fixing this, it instantly came to life. And oh boy, it roars like the original.
I did consider putting it into a BB enclosure, but with those rotary switches, that wouldn't fit doing top jacks. Does not bother me at all and hey, it still is smaller than the Dunwich one
For a sound taste, there's a short bass loop going through both of them after the pics. First loop clean, then I keep on switching between them, first Dunwich, then mine, then Dunwich, then mine, etc.
First up a BASS KLON. I've never cared for the promised sound of a Klon, but somehow enjoyed the silly talk about magic diodes, fairy dust and unicorn farts. So, when some electronic wizard on the PPCB forum gave the Klon a real bass treatment, I thought ok, why not.
Changes made to the PPCB Kliché mini are:
- increase bass feeding into the dirty channel and bass bleed (C2)
- increase subharmonics in bypass mode (C3)
- increase clean channel bass (C4)
- increase bass when GAIN is dimed (C7)
- darken dirty channel slightly (C8)
- increase bass feeding the clipping diodes (C9)
- increase mids when GAIN is around noon (C12)
- Reduce mid scoop when GAIN is at zero (C13)
- move tone range down to include the upper mids (C15)
- increase bass subharmonics when the pedal is engaged (C16)
- increase clean channel volume (R7)
- increase bass bleed (R14)
- improved sweep at lower volume settings (A10k for VOLUME)
I used OA1183 as Ge diodes, because they had a forward voltage of 0.35. Then Wima caps, some tantalums and a silver mica for good measure. Fancy aluminium knobs too.
It sounds great, I actually like it.
The bass player of the other band of the drummer of one of my bands asked, if I could build something like the BAT Raw Heart, which is a double pedal with order switch, incorporating their Witch Burner and Quantum Mystic.
After some looking around, I saw that the chaps at Fuzzdog offer both PCBs, so the answer was yes and here's the result, named Mystic Witch.
As an addition, compared to the BAT offering, there are 3 clipping options on the QM side.
It was a tight fit, as some might say, mainly because Fuzzdog thinks side jacks are fine, but I don't, I'm on team top jacks.
Soundwise, I personally really like the Quantum Mystic, the 3-band EQ and the clipping options let you tune your sound nicely. The Witch Burner on its own, which apparently is a stripped down tube screamer (le sigh) tuned for DOOM, is fine alright, but a bit ... well ... boring or let's say unspectacular for my taste. Combining the circuits is very cool though.
And finally, fresh from the bench: Dunwich Amps Fuzz Throne DLX on vero.
I've bought a Dunwich Amps Fuzz Throne DLX, aka Blackblood, a looooong time ago and it has been on my pedalboard ever since. I looooove that pedal.
Recently I changed the footswitch on the Dunwich, and while doing that, I was like, hmmm, I should try to build one of these, especially considering that the vero on dirtboxlayouts had been finalized (caps on DEPTH) by looking at my very own Blackblood.
The only thing I changed are the LED clippers, I used green instead of red. I had to trouble shoot it a bit, but I quickly found the messed up solder joint and after fixing this, it instantly came to life. And oh boy, it roars like the original.
I did consider putting it into a BB enclosure, but with those rotary switches, that wouldn't fit doing top jacks. Does not bother me at all and hey, it still is smaller than the Dunwich one
For a sound taste, there's a short bass loop going through both of them after the pics. First loop clean, then I keep on switching between them, first Dunwich, then mine, then Dunwich, then mine, etc.
And here I was in the advertising biz for 27 years. 
