Next up on the DIY pedal front....

[duhvoodooman***]

I have a couple of ZYS orders to fill before I get to these, but I have the parts in hand for two more modified versions of BYOC pedal kits. These should be interesting, because they're fairly extensive modifications of the original vintage effects upon which they're based:

Modified ProCo Rat Clone

Super Swede and I exchanged a couple of posts on the subject of this famous distortion pedal, and I looked into the BYOC kit further to see what the possibilities were. Keith (the owner/pedal guru at BYOC) has put together a really cool PCB design for this effect that adds a lot of flexibility, and I took it just one step farther. The Rat, like many distortion boxes, uses a diode pair connected to ground to generate the signal clipping that gives the Rat its characteristic distorted sound. But Keith modified the circuit to add a second diode array (asymmetric silicon) that connects to the feedback loop to the opamp, the way a Tube Screamer and many other overdrive pedals work. He then added connections for an on-off-on DPDT switch, so that the finished pedal has three switchable clipping modes--distortion (stock Rat), overdrive (smoother, less distorted sound) and "diode lift", i.e. with the clipping diodes removed from the pedal circuit, so that it basically functions as a high-gain boost. Neat stuff!

The kit also lets you choose between "vintage" or "turbo" distortion modes, by installing silicon diodes on the PCB for the former, or yellow LED's for the latter. Here's where I made my one addition to Keith's excellent design, taking this diode pair off the PCB and adding a SPDT switch to let you run either vintage or turbo distortion mode at the flip of a switch. I'm calling this pedal mod the "Rabid Rodent"; see the mockup image attached below.

Modified MXR Phase 90

BYOC has offered a Phase 90 clone for quite a while, and for 2007, Keith has added a second control pot for "depth" to supplement the "rate" control that the original MXR pedal uses. But on the BYOC forum, I came across an "ultimate phaser" mod by one of the forum regulars, a pedal whiz name Kahel. This is a very extensive mod that adds two more pots, "feedback" and "mix", for additional degrees of control, plus two switches. One allows you to switch between Phase 90 (4 phase-shift stages) and Phase 45 (2 stages) modes, and the other switches between the stock phaser mode and a "vibe" mode. From what I've read, this is not a true Univibe emulation by any means, but does give some of that wobbly, uneven character the Univibe is known for. I'm calling mine the "Phaze Craze" and the mockup image is attached below. Wish me luck on this one, because I hear this combination of mods can be a bit tricky to pull off. Should be fun trying, though!

[Bloozcat]

I like that Ed Roth, Ratfink-like rat on the Rabid Rodent box...nice touch...

[SuperSwede]

DVM, The RAT will be awesome! I hope to be able to order one from you!
But I want a SuperSwede limited edition of course...

[marnold***]

OK, how about putting all of your pedals together in one big-arse ueber-super-ultra-mega-pedal-plus 1-of-doom?

[Justaguyin_nc]

Cool Idea DuhVoodooCornish Box!!

http://petecornish.co.uk/bop.html

[duhvoodooman***]

I like that Ed Roth, Ratfink-like rat on the Rabid Rodent box...nice touch...

Yup, that's exactly what I used for the graphic there--a tip of the hat to "Big Daddy", God rest his soul! I still remember building those "Kustom" Revell hot rod models as a youngster. Loved the wild decals! And the "Rat Fink" was the original....

[WackyT]

Cool Idea DuhVoodooCornish Box!!

http://petecornish.co.uk/bop.html

WOW!

That is freakin' work of art!

[duhvoodooman***]

WOW!

That is freakin' work of art!

It better be, if it's gonna be worthy of Mr. Gilmour his own bad self!

I wonder what Mr. Cornish charges for one of those puppies?!?!

[WackyT]

I wonder what Mr. Cornish charges for one of those puppies?!?!

I bet it's one of those "If you have to ask, you can't afford it" kind of deals.

[LagrangeCalvert]

I bet it's one of those "If you have to ask, you can't afford it" kind of deals.

or if he doesn't know you, he wont build it kinda deal......like the Dumble of pedals.

[duhvoodooman***]

Finished the modified Rat clone, a.k.a. the "Rabid Rodent". Turned out pretty well--see photos below. The combination of distortion (D), overdrive (O) and diode-lift boost (L) modes makes this a very flexible pedal, plus the distortion mode has two switchable clipping modes, the stock silicon diodes (N) and the "turbo" yellow LED's (T). Will try to get a clip or two up this weekend....

[SuperSwede]

It looks great DVM! I bet that it will sound brilliant as well.

[duhvoodooman***]

OK, here's the last one from this summer's pedal-building extravaganza. This is a highly modified MXR Phase 90 (a.k.a. "script phaser") clone, with a whole bunch of added functionality as described as the top of this thread. Consider the fact that the original pedal has ONE KNOB, and you'll understand what I mean! I still have to clearcoat it, but it's all together and working.

Frankly, some of the mods are a little underwhelming, but the main phaser circuit itself works great. This is one of those pedals where you have to dial in a trimpot to get the maximum phasing sound, and it's amazingly sensitive. The trimpot has an adjustment arc of maybe 300 degrees, and there is absolutely NO audible phase effect through all but maybe 10 degrees of it! And to get to max. phasing within the working range requires really fine tweaking. But once there, it sounds very good.

The 90/45 and phase/vibe mods are pretty subtle, and I don't know if I'd have bothered with them if I'd known that beforehand. Switching to "Phase 45" mode just makes the phase effect less pronounced and darkens the tone a little. The "vibe" mode gives the modulation a little different sound--it makes it somewhat irregular--but really sounds nothing like a Univibe, to my ear. Also, you have to readjust the trimpot to get maximum effect, which is a big PITA. I may drill a 1/4" hole in the bottom of the pedal enclosure over the trimpot, so it can be access without having to remove the bottom cover plate. The other two mods--a wet/dry mix knob and a "feedback" pot which makes the phase effect more or less pronounced--work pretty well and are worth doing for added control of the effect.

Here are photos of the top and the obligatory "gut shot". I'll try to get an audio clip up in a couple of days:

[duhvoodooman***]

Here's a couple of short clips of my home-built Rabid Rodent distortion and Phaze Craze phaser pedals in tandem. Tone2theBone and I started trading ideas and clips on using distortion and phaser pedals in combination to generate Hendrix or Trower tones. Jimi was famous for his use of the Arbiter Fuzz Face and UniVibe, and Trower used the UniVibe (an early phaser with a vibrato mode) on almost everything on his classic Bridge of Sighs and Twice Removed from Yesterday albums. I'm not sure what he used for distortion, but he clearly used it in combination with the UniVibe quite extensively--one of the reasons he took a lot of criticism for being a "Hendrix wannabe".

In any case, since Tone and I both have relatively new phaser and distortion pedals (he recently acquired an EH Little Big Muff and an MXR EVH model Phaser), we were comparing tones. I recorded the following two clips with my Rabid Rodent modified ProCo Rat clone pedal placed after the Phaze Craze modified Phase 90 clone (see more detailed descriptions of both pedals at the top of this thread). The first clip is a straight Bridge of Sighs emulation played through the Tweed 4x10 model on my Vox AD30VT with a bit of reverb, using the neck pickup in my Strat. I had posted a similar clip here some time ago to demonstrate the Danelectro Chicken Salad vibrato pedal and used my ZYS pedal for the distortion, but this combination gets much closer to the original Trower tone, I think. Plus I've learned the song to a greater degree!

The second clip is exactly the same dual pedal and amp set-up, but switching over to my el cheapo modified Fullerton ST4 HSS, a.k.a. "Fat Fully", played through the Seymour Duncan Custom 5 humbucker I have installed in the bridge position now. Just a made-up fast blues boogie. I'm pretty happy with how that guitar sounds, given the fact that I have less than $100 invested in it, including pickup & hardware upgrades!

Here are the clip links at Box.net:

Bridge of Sighs

Phaser Boogie

I'll try to get a couple of clips posted in the near future with the two pedals played individually, but I love the sound of them together....

[250Keith]

Wow thoughs sound great, whats next?

[Robert****]

Hmm, cool phase-craze sound but it doesn't quite do it for me. Maybe you should try record with some different types of distortion/overdrive so we can get a better idea of what the phase-craze can do?

[duhvoodooman***]

Maybe you should try record with some different types of distortion/overdrive so we can get a better idea of what the phase-craze can do?

Yeah, I'll try to do that in the near future. These clips are just one very small slice of what the pedal can do, and the heavy distortion dominates the sound pretty strongly. I'll do some cleaner stuff so that the phaser itself can be heard more clearly.....

[Robert****]

That'd be great. I have a cool sounding clip coming soon.... Octave Fuzz, baby! I just recorded it over lunch, it's downloading right now at home. I'll edit and post it tonight if I get time. Hip sounds, boys!