Two new BYOC kits hit the street Wed. 4/29!

[duhvoodooman]

The long awaited/delayed Stereo Analog Flanger (http://buildyourownclone.com/flanger) and the beginning builder-friendly British Blues Overdrive (http://buildyourownclone.com/bbod) go on sale tomorrow, Wed. April 29.

I know not everybody is a flanger fan, but for those of you who like the effect, this is one OUTSTANDING design, incorporating two different flanger circuit configurations in a switchable arrangement. So you can get those MXR/BF-2/Pearl type sounds as well as the lusher, more exotic tones that the A/DA and EH Electric Mistress flangers are known for. I built this kit as a beta (http://www.thefret.net/showthread.php?t=11027), and I can vouch for it personally. With 4 separate controls and a 2-way mode switch, there are about a bazillion interesting sounds in this box. And at $120, it's significantly cheaper than I thought it might be, given the breadth of features. If you like flangers, trust me--this is the one to have.

The new British Blues Overdrive is based upon the popular Marshall Bluesbreaker design, and offers a more transparent, less mid-rangey alternative to their TS-808 based Overdrive 2 kit. Though not nearly as flexible as the new OD2 design, it is a much simpler build, so it's a great kit for new DIY'ers to try. I built one of these also (http://www.thefret.net/showthread.php?t=11305), using a prototype PCB Keith Vonderhulls sent me, and it sounds very good. Not as much gain on tap as the OD2 offers, but that's really not the point of this particular design. It's strength is modest to mid-level overdrive with minimal tone coloration, and it does that very well. An excellent value at only $70.

Both kits will also incorporate a new stompswitch connection method that eliminates all the wiring that formerly had to be soldered in between the switch, PCB and jacks. So it makes the assembly even quicker & easier.

And, as always, if you want one of these and don't want to build it yourself.....well, you know who to contact! ;) :D :rockon:

[Suhnton]

Do you have any soundclips for the British Blues Overdrive?

[duhvoodooman]

Not yet....

BTW, I spent the evening tonight socketing some of the caps and resistors that can be changed to alter the bass content and the pedal gain. Filled out the tone a bit and gives more max gain now, which was a bit lacking, IMO.

[piebaldpython]

Hmmmmmmmmm.......interesting. :D So, DVM, you had written somewhere that this new BBO pedal would be a great complementary pedal to the OD2. Care to explain how that would be?????? Just curious as to how you envision your FINAL version to be? :bravo:

If you alter the gain enough, might this BBO/OD2 combo have enough mild distortion to satisfy those of us who want some distortion without going into Rabid Rodent territory??? :poke:

[duhvoodooman]

So, DVM, you had written somewhere that this new BBO pedal would be a great complementary pedal to the OD2. Care to explain how that would be?????? Just curious as to how you envision your FINAL version to be?

If you alter the gain enough, might this BBO/OD2 combo have enough mild distortion to satisfy those of us who want some distortion without going into Rabid Rodent territory???
What I was referring to there was the fact that the BBOD's more transparent tone and janglier top-end offers a nice complement to the OD2's more typical TS-style mid-range emphasis. There are times when I definitely want that characteristic TS warmth and mid-range "hump" but other times I'm looking to just add some dirt to the guitar's natural tone without otherwise altering it. The BBOD does a much better job of the latter. So it's good to have both.

The other cool thing you can do--and this is exactly how I have them set up in my pedal chain right now--is to put the BBOD right after the OD2 and use the latter's Boost function to kick up the gain a couple of notches on the former. And you can "stack" both overdrives if you want, for more grit. Whether or not that would be enough to take the combo into Rabid Rodent (modified Rat) territiory, I don't know. Keep in mind that the Rodent's three distortion clipping settings use a different, more aggressive method of signal clipping, so you pick up quite a different tonal character from those....

My "final version" of the BBOD?? Geez, I'm not sure I ever have one of those! But I still have to fool around with different resistor and cap ratings and see what I like best. But I was very pleased with the first couple of changes I made, so I'm pretty close to where I want the pedal to be.