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Broughton Audio Super Thread

For my Broughton digital pedal project, would one of you kind folks who owns a PLL kindly snap a pic of the jack situation? The pic on the website doesn't have any showing them. Also, that is one seriously complex looking pedal :)

If you find a sound you really dig,,,I suggest taking a picture. You’ll never find it again.

Jacks? They’re just jacks.
 

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How big are you going?
My current plan is a Temple Audio Duo 17. Bigger than what I'm currently working with (anything would be), but not impractically large that I can't take it out of the house.

Posted this mockup a few pages back, but I'm second guessing a few decisions already haha:
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Moose just stopped by (will be seeing you soon):

View attachment 4317725
Taunting me...

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So... Azure. Like I said in an earlier comment, I didn't know about the Blueberry. By the way, is that referring to the Mad Professor Blueberry? Because it seems like quite a new pedal to clone... anyway. Is it one to really look out for? The Azure, I mean. I've watched demos of the Blueberry and it's neat, though I'm not sure how much use I'd get out of it.
 
My current plan is a Temple Audio Duo 17. Bigger than what I'm currently working with (anything would be), but not impractically large that I can't take it out of the house.

Posted this mockup a few pages back:
View attachment 4317852
I have a duo 17. Space enough for options without being a pain to load in or taking up a bunch of the stage. One thing I didn't realize before getting it is that, without a mounting bracket, the power brick mounting screws don't sit flush with the surface of the board, so you end up having a weird L-shaped gap in pedals on top. Or at least I did. Geometry wasn't my forte.
 
Taunting me...

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So... Azure. Like I said in an earlier comment, I didn't know about the Blueberry. By the way, is that referring to the Mad Professor Blueberry? Because it seems like quite a new pedal to clone... anyway. Is it one to really look out for? The Azure, I mean. I've watched demos of the Blueberry and it's neat, though I'm not sure how much use I'd get out of it.

It's based on the original and long discontinued BBBOD by BJFE:
BJFE BlueBerry Bass Overdrive

There have been a pile of clones of the Blue Berry by several manufacturers since it went off the market.

They are all a good touch sensitive Overdrive, typically on the lighter OD end of the spectrum.

My favorite part about the circuit is how well they handle playing dynamics. You can go from mostly clean to Overdrive just by digging in as you play.

Josh's version is a incredible take on them, and well worth a try if you need some touch sensitive overdrive in your life.
 
I have a SOLO 18 that is my "gigging" board that I use for paid gigs. I then use a DUO 24 to play around with for my louder projects (READ: more fun, less pay). The DUO is the one that will happily seat my Bluebeard, Sovtek Muffs, and Octabvre Mk. II sized pedals without fear of space.

Getting two boards was a great exercise because I had to trim down to the bare essentials (including a Keeley Bassist that I mounted on the underside of my SOLO 18 because it is always on) and best sounding for the space options. In truth, I can play any of my gigs on either board, but it's more fun to swap stuff around on the big board as I experiment and try new things.

Screen Shot 2021-06-29 at 9.27.57 AM.png
 
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I think I've posted a photo before, but this is my current board layout. Board is an Aclam Guitars Evo S2 using the velcro side, so that's why the sides have a margin. I think the spacing is a little off on this mockup, but I like to keep my pedals from getting packed in close to avoid any missteps. Cali Compact Deluxe because for some reason no Compact Bass... All this is powered by Voodoo Labs PP2+.

upload_2021-6-29_12-55-1.png


This is a possible next version. SVD and 2nd Volume Mini are on the way, have not yet settled on buying the Lillian or Afterneath. The Volume on the board is acting as volume, volume off the board is acting as expression control for Chromatron. ZOIA is kind of one of my synth toys, but at the moment it is on the board to fill in for effects that I'm lacking (i.e. modulation and reverb). I'm slowly convincing myself to upgrade to "real" modulation and reverb so that ZOIA can return to synth world-- a little too complicated for me to use live all the time unless I have everything reaaaally dialed in. This would most likely also involve upgrading to the PP3+. or else I'd have to plug in my X4 as well. Not ideal. I also don't have any form of XLR DI out going on here... the Fliptop/SV-Pre combo replaced my VT Bass DI, which was acting as my DI.

Any of y'all have thoughts about this layout? I know it's devoid of context. I mostly play stuff like blues, rock, or funk, but I try to inject non-traditional style into it-- distorted or fuzz bass, synth tones, etc. I've also more recently started playing in a grunge rock-inspired band, where my effects usage is a lot more welcome-- hence why I'm considering stuff like mod and reverb.

EDIT: I should also clarify the signal chain:
Cali>Octabvre>Chromatron (fx loop: Doom 2>Locust Star) > Volume Mini > Subspace > ZOIA > SVPre > Fliptop

Replacements stay in their respective spots in the chain
 
Do you know how different the BJFe BlueBerry Bass Overdrive is from the BJFe BlackBerry OD? I have a BlackBerry and I'm trying to talk myself out of an Azure Drive...

I've never tried the BlackBerry, and closest I've come to the OG BJFE BlueBerry was a JohnK Clone. JohnK BlueBerry and Broughton Azure drive were pretty similar from what I remember. Maybe a tiny bit more refined/polished sounding on the Azure Drive.

Looking back through some super old TalkBass posts, seems folks that did a A/B of the BJFE BlueBerry and BlackBerry put them at about 90-95% the same, with a slight improvement going to the BlackBerry.

Ok so i got the Blackberry in today. I've spent about two hours with it, both DI and through an amp. It's once again a GREAT sounding BJFE design. Bjorn Juhl never ceases to amaze me. The mid control is subtle, yet very useful. I was sceptical at first on a knob controlling 200-350hZ since these freqs can also bring a lot of muddiness to a sound. But it's tuned great, to my ears it's boost only, so 'flat' would be full CCW. Turning it CW gives more heft to the sound, think kick-in-the-chest. Again, it never turns into mud. I also did an extensive side by side comparison with the Futura and though subtle, there are definitely some differences. Both the treble knob on the Futura and the mid/body knob on the Blackberry wil make the bass cut through a mix better, but in different frequencies. Between the two, it's a toss up which one i like better. They are both really great sounding, and the differences are very minimal. I would even say these two pedals are about 90, maybe even 95% the same. To my ears they are both quite an improvement over the standard BJFE (which is already an amazing pedal!). I was actually hoping i would like one over the other, so i could sell one and keep the other but i think i might end up keeping both! If the upcoming One Control Blackberry is like this one, this is probably going to be a total game changer.View attachment 3789151
 
So much BroaTone!
How do you like the Deep Dish?
It does something very nice and tubey to the overall tone at the output, but the compression comes on very quickly. I can't turn the Peak knob past 9:00 without it squashing everything way too much for my taste. The overall tone of it is hard to give up though. Right now I'm using the Monocomp, which I love and is much more flexible in terms of fine tuning the compression. Once I get my Sushi Westinghouse back from being repaired, that may do the tubey thing that I like from the Deep Dish... So I'm not sure they'll both make the final cut.
 
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I've never tried the BlackBerry, and closest I've come to the OG BJFE BlueBerry was a JohnK Clone. JohnK BlueBerry and Broughton Azure drive were pretty similar from what I remember. Maybe a tiny bit more refined/polished sounding on the Azure Drive.

Looking back through some super old TalkBass posts, seems folks that did a A/B of the BJFE BlueBerry and BlackBerry put them at about 90-95% the same, with a slight improvement going to the BlackBerry.
Gotcha. Thanks for the info! I think I'll sit out this Azure drop and give back to everybody else my little % chance of getting it :)

I can't say the same thing for the Calamity tho ;) Good luck to everyone!
 
A propos of nothing currently on the thread:

Could any other SV-Pre users share their settings with me? I have the Fliptop and the SV-Pre, and while I found the sweet spot on the fliptop almost immediately, it's really taking something for me to get there with the SV-Pre. I'm wanting to really use it clean as an edgier counterpart to the Fliptop's traditional warmth, so I'm not wanting to crank the drive up a whole lot. I'm mostly focused on setting my EQ, and that's where I'm looking for ideas.
 
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A propos of nothing currently on the thread:

Could any other SV-Pre users share their settings with me? I have the Fliptop and the SV-Pre, and while I found the sweet spot on the fliptop almost immediately, it's really taking something for me to get there with the SV-Pre. I'm wanting to really use it clean as an edgier counterpart to the Fliptop's traditional warmth, so I'm not wanting to crank the drive up a whole lot. I'm mostly focused on setting my EQ, and that's where I'm looking for ideas.

For clean sounds on the SV-Pre, you definitely want to turn the Master all the way up and use Gain for volume.

Another thing you can try is flipping the Bright switch on, turning the Treble all the way off, then rolling it back in gradually, as necessary with your setup. I felt like there was a bit more headroom on the top end with these settings, as opposed to leaving Bright off and Treble in the middle.

I also thought there was too much mid scoop with Low turned on, so I left it off and boosted the bass instead, but how you set the mids will depend a lot on the rest of your chain. I was using the SV-Pre for my main source of EQ.