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[HomespunEffects]

I've had a board for about six years now but still haven't gotten round to it. I keep forgetting about it tbh.

Have you built one?

Yeah, it’s the only fuzz type that I actually like.

 

[eggpl@nt]

I didn't know amp tweaker had made a fuzz pedal. I was just reading the build doc from aion, seems the fuzz pot controls the gain and the bias in Q2. According to the doc it's a light fuzz at noon and once you get to 2/3 o'clock it becomes a traditional fuzz tone. I can see what you mean about a small range of fuzz tones. That would put me off tbh.

If you're looking for a more traditional fuzz I'd go for a silicon sun face clone or a JHF1 clone. The skreddy fuzzes are always worth a look too, great pedals.

Yeah, like I said, this bad decision is on me. I bought into the Amptweaker trifecta but a cursory look at the build docs might have steered me a different direction. I do have a Musket Fuzz board on the way, so that may scratch the itch a bit better. I also still have a Hyper Fuzz board. I’m just waiting for the headers to arrive.

I’ll have to look into your suggestions, as well as @HomespunEffects ’s.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Yeah, like I said, this bad decision is on me. I bought into the Amptweaker trifecta but a cursory look at the build docs might have steered me a different direction. I do have a Musket Fuzz board on the way, so that may scratch the itch a bit better. I also still have a Hyper Fuzz board. I’m just waiting for the headers to arrive.

I’ll have to look into your suggestions, as well as @HomespunEffects ’s.

I don't know the musket fuzz. Is that the Blackout Effectors pedal? You'll have to let us know what you think when you've built it. I've never heard of it before tbh.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Yeah, it’s the only fuzz type that I actually like.

I just keep forgetting about it. I've got so many I need to finish once this bloody bronchitis sods off.

Might chuck one together on vero just to check it out before committing to pcb, there seems to be a lot of different traces and I'm not sure which one to use.

 

[HomespunEffects]

Here’s my Harmonic Percolator:

 

[eggpl@nt]

I don't know the musket fuzz. Is that the Blackout Effectors pedal? You'll have to let us know what you think when you've built it. I've never heard of it before tbh.

Yep - the Blackout Effectors Musket Fuzz. I tried a vero board version of it a loooong time ago - never managed to get it working. I still don't know if it's quite what I want from a fuzz pedal, but when I saw Aion had a board, I had to try it, if only to redeem my vero failure lol

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Yep - the Blackout Effectors Musket Fuzz. I tried a vero board version of it a loooong time ago - never managed to get it working. I still don't know if it's quite what I want from a fuzz pedal, but when I saw Aion had a board, I had to try it, if only to redeem my vero failure lol

Cool. Let us know how you get on.

 

[eggpl@nt]

I really botched the enclosure on this last one, but the Ember (Amptweaker Tight Metal + Tight Rock) is done.

The important lesson learned here is: don't spray paint an enclosure on a windy, 30F day. The enclosure will feel dry, but as it warms up inside, it will show its true, sticky self. Electrically, everything works just fine. Aesthetically, it ain't pretty.

I built this primarily for the Tight Metal circuit, but the Tight Rock sounds great too - the STYLE switch is primarily what makes this a Tight Rock or Tight Metal clone. What's interesting is, both the CUT and STYLE switch have to be in the same position to match the Tight Rock or Tight Metal circuit. Both UP is Metal, both DOWN is Rock - so some in-between settings can be achieved with this hybridized pedal.

Another interesting thing about this build - in the original, the Gate setting was controlled by the Gain knob, courtesy of a dual gang pot. Aion separated the Gain and Gate into separate controls, which I appreciate. The original control scheme can be simulated by putting the Gain and Gate knobs in the same position, but again - this implementation offers options not available on the original. I was running the Gate lower than the Gain, so I'd probably be irritated with the two being tied together.

I won't wax on too long, but this is a really good distortion pedal. I tested is into my Axe Fx using the Tube Pre as a power amp sim, as @2112 demonstrated in this YouTube video. It can really stand on it's own, with the Boost and Tight controls allowing you to achieve pretty much anything you'd want out of a metal tone, but I also really liked running the Blaze in front of it. I'm just too addicted to boosting high gain tones with an external pedal.

And with that, I round out my vacation builds. I completed 7 of the 9 Aion kits I purchased back in September/October. I still have a few Aion kits and a handful of PedalPCB kits, so I'll remain busy with this as time allows. Here's the lineup.

 

[Humbug]

Oh, look, this one's actually a pedal and not just a tube and filament wiring
There are some NAM-captures of it here: https://tonehunt.org/Humbug/1f964ddb-240e-4e57-bec4-0f1cc6cecaaa

Edit: I didn't expect the shitty soldering to be _that_ obvious, but it is what it is and what it is is a prototype that's supposed to work, not be pretty :)

 

[SillyOctpuss]

View attachment 35880View attachment 35881Oh, look, this one's actually a pedal and not just a tube and filament wiring
There are some NAM-captures of it here: https://tonehunt.org/Humbug/1f964ddb-240e-4e57-bec4-0f1cc6cecaaa

Edit: I didn't expect the shitty soldering to be _that_ obvious, but it is what it is and what it is is a prototype that's supposed to work, not be pretty :)

I'm not gonna lie. SMD soldering scares the crap out of me.

I understand the process but have never tried it and don't think I really want to tbh.

 

[Humbug]

I'm not gonna lie. SMD soldering scares the crap out of me.

I understand the process but have never tried it and don't think I really want to tbh.

It's not that bad, but you need good eyesight (or a magnification device) and a good amount of flux and patience. This was a rush job and it shows

 

[SillyOctpuss]

It's not that bad, but you need good eyesight (or a magnification device) and a good amount of flux and patience. This was a rush job and it shows

My eyesight sucks but I've got a great magnifier for my through hole soldering. I've really only used some smd jfets and fv1 chips, but I spent a little more cash to get them pre soldered to adaptor boards before using them as through hole components.

 

[eggpl@nt]

Today, I awoke a Fuzz Boy, but I will sleep tonight a Fuzz Man.

The Aion Hypercube is based on the Boss FZ-2 Hyperfuzz, and it is exactly what I wanted from a fuzz pedal. It's abrasive, it's saturated, it's big, it's scary, and it's pink.

Mode 0 is a surprisingly good boost. It removes some of, but not all of, the fuzziness so it can boost an overdriven amp without going completely bonkers.

Mode 1 is my favorite. Into clean amp, it's a huge, fuzzy, almost broken-sounding mess. Into an overdriven amp, it does that Knocked Loose grindy sound. The tone knobs have a really useful range in this setting. It is a quite a bit duller than Mode 2, but that can be remedied by cranking the Treble.

Mode 2 is almost too abrasive. I wish it was a little less ice picky, even with the Treble set low. I imagine the more-scooped Mode 2 might double track well with Mode 1.

This was a fun build with some added twists over the others I've done. I didn't include gut shots because the sandwiched PCBs don't really leave much to see, other than the underside of the upper board. I can't be sure that I didn't make any mistakes with this build, but everything works and aside from my quibble with Mode 2, it sounds excellent.

 

[eggpl@nt]

Have you tried building a Harmonic Percolator yet?

PedalPCB is doing a 20% off sale, so I bought a Harmonic Percolator board.

Question - I noticed the Harmonic Percolator clones from both PedalPCB and Aion only have two knobs - Harmonics and Balance. What modifications does your version have? Do Intensity and Volume map to Harmonics and Balance? What's the story behind Asymmetry and Century?

Aion has a clipping switch to select different clipping options - does your clone sweep between them continuously rather than switch between them discretely?

 

[HomespunEffects]

What modifications does your version have? Do Intensity and Volume map to Harmonics and Balance? What's the story behind Asymmetry and Century?

Intensity is Harmonics.
Volume is Balance.
Asymmetry adds resistance to one side of the clipping diodes.
Century sweeps between 1N60A diodes and IRF520 used for clipping.

Century was supposed to be called Temperament but when I made the design in Photoshop I originally just called them anything and then when I printed it out, of course I printed the wrong version. I just went with it.

 

[LeftyLoungeLizard]

I don't know if you noticed, but C3 is crooked.

 

[Humbug]

I don't know if you noticed, but C3 is crooked.

It's for the asymmetric distortion mojo.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Been planning to build a Thorpyfx Tacit Blue clone and noticed Fuzzdog had a pcb for the 'Have Blue' on his site.

Sent him an email asking if he had any plans to do the Tacit Blue and he replied about 30 mins later saying he had been avoiding circuits with obsolete parts recently but he had a small stash of Cv7351 and 2N1308 in stock.

Another 30 mins later he sent me a picture of the layout and it's going in the next fabrication run. Once again Lee proving why he's the best.

I've already got 3 x Cv7351 with perfect hfe and leakage for the Tacit Blue and Have Blue pcbs.

 

[eggpl@nt]

The Musket Fuzz is (electrically and functionally) done. I think the Hypercube is more fun, but this one is much more versatile. The Middle knob alone gives you a lot of mileage, as does the built-in LBP-1 boost circuit. I just need to add labels to this one then it's done-done.

There was an added layer of fun to the Musket Fuzz. These cream-colored Davies 1510 knobs that I've had on hand since I failed to complete the vero-board version of this build (13 years ago at this point) were too large for this very compact layout, so I designed and 3D printed knobs for this pedal. They work great and considering knobs are like $0.70+ each, this might be a cost-effective alternative for future builds once my current stock of knobs runs dry.

The top two knobs, in particular, were so close that turning the top right knob would sometimes catch the top middle knob and move it. Here's the test fitment with one knob replaced.

Then I printed the rest. This idea needs to be developed a bit further. I don't have a multi-material system for my printer, so I can't print the position indicator in a contrasting color (without a manual filament change mid-print). However, I do have an idea for a fixture that would allow me to slot in several of these knobs and (ideally) cleanly paint the indicator line black or white with spray paint or even nail polish. Or I could just use a paint pen... (But why would I go for the easy solution when I can design and print my way to a more complex solution?) For now, this works fine.

 

[Humbug]

But why would I go for the easy solution when I can design and print my way to a more complex solution?

I completely and whole-heartedly agree! Regarding the position indicators, you could try a fillet around the knob except where the indicator is, so the indicator is raised rather than recessed. Should be easy to see and feel.