freestompboxes.org

Got this today. Serial # 00004.

There are 6 op amps total, from a pair of JRC5488s and a TL072. Presumably three are for the active EQ. The others are probably dirt (2) and a buffer? We'll see.

And there are 8 clipping diodes (1n4148, I think).

All 1/8-watt resistors, except for one 1/4-watt (which appears to have been a last-minute substitution). Carbon film.

No transistors.

Electrolytic caps are Xicon. The red film caps might be Panasonic. The green ones are *really* cheap. They look just like the ones you get in the "value packs" from Futurlec.

I like the socket connectors for the offboard wiring. Very cool. Overall the inside work is just okay (it seems a tad sloppy). Some of the components don't lay flat and aren't straight, but obviously that doesn't affect the sound.

I'll start tracing this one soon, but if someone is in a hurry, feel free to get started using the pics below.

ARIA DisNortion

edited!

so this thing really sounds kinda "meh"?

No mahagony table?

I'm kidding mate, great shoots

Is there a little bit of "omph" apart of "meh"?

bajaman wrote:ARIA DisNortion

Whatever. The can change "t" to "n", but that doesn't make it sound awesome.

Honestly, I was pretty underwhelmed with overall sound. I have no idea how Andy at PGS makes it sound as heavy as he does. I tested with two guitars, one with medium output humbuckers and the other with high-output Dimarzios. Neither of them could coax the super heavy. I fiddled with tone controls extensively. I have my amp's EQ set to flat, with the gain set up for squeaky clean. I tend to view dirt boxes as standalones, so if it doesn't sound good through clean amp, I'm unlikely to use it.

Palm muting gives this sort of no low-end hollow sound. Even with the bass cranked. And even with the gain dimed, it is still very dynamic. I can strum lightly and get mildly dirty. I'm used to having lots of compression and very little dynamics using a distortion at max gain. Maybe that's why it's called disNortion instead. I like dynamics as much as the next guy, but that's what my amp does really well. I kept wanting to turn the gain up, and kept realizing it was already maxed out.

Anyway, some of the traces on the PCB are hair-thin. And those "cool" wiring harness sockets are obstructing my view. The board is very thick, and it must have extra solder mask in some spots, because it's impossible to see through the board (to make following vias easier). I might have to break out my big "work light" so I can get a pic of the board with both trace side showing.

So I have no desire whatsoever to replicate the dirt, but the EQ might be cool to suss out. I'm thinking this style of tone stack would be cool to try on a Muff.

I'll probably slap it back together and see if I can coax some usable tones out of it. I don't want to be too harsh on it after only playing it for like half an hour. And I'll bet at least some other people might really like it, but for my style and with my gear, it's not a winner. I paid $110 for it, so the sooner I can sell it, the sooner I can score a Subdecay Prometheus!

If anybody wants this thing, after my glowing review above haha, shoot me a PM and I'll knock of a few bucks as an FSB discount.

Nice looking build, though.

what's the deal with that switch? did they put the leads and shrink on during assembly, or is it manufactured that way? it looks very professionally done. if i can buy them like that, i want one!

DougH wrote:Nice looking build, though.

Totally. I dig the headers for the wiring. Very tidy.

sinner wrote:No mahagony table?

I'm kidding mate, great shoots

Is there a little bit of "omph" apart of "meh"?

I, as a reasonable pedal noob find this anything but meh! Lot's of Oomph though. True it doesn't get enough gain for playing metal as a standalone. I found the following in the half hour I've been trying it out:
With the EQ flat (and standalone) it sounds almost exactly the same as my Danelectro Cool Cat Transparent Overdrive V2, up till just short of 12 o'clock on the ARIA (max on the cool cat). After that it continues in the same vain, just more gain.

All in all the EQ makes it a very versatile pedal, creating for starters all the example sounds found on the card in the box. The EQ does a lot, except make you sound bad. With this pedal even mid scooped it sounds good, while I hate extreme mid scoopes.

Another intersting thing is that the EQ is extremely useable for changing the sound of other pedals (with the gain on lowest setting). This way I got my Artec Classic Fuzz Town to sound far better then it does on it's own. Which is exactly the part I hate about this pedal, it's versatility. Basically now I want the Aria's EQ (by-passable) in all my pedals, and one combined with a clean boost, and one for just the standalone pedal.

Perhaps my opinion will change with time though, who can tell.

I'm just starting to learn some electronics (the basics) because I want to get into building stompboxes. When I'm up to par (in a couple of years) I'll be very interested in the schematic of the EQ.

***bump***

it was a promising beginning...

this is not bad:

Listening to some of the audio clips on the site and they sound pretty good to me. Sounds pretty versatile. I'm thinking of picking one of these up just for kicks. The EQ looks nice and I like the range of the gain.

Hey, you can't like 'em all. This one just wasn't my cup of tea. With my gear, it sounding *nothing* like the PGS demo video, so it was a disappointment to me.

If you guys want one, there are usually a couple floating around on TGP at any one given time.

Just ordered one. Someone at diystomp shared a $50 coupon code good until Sunday. $100 and free shipping, what's not to like? I checked out the sound clips at the product site in addition to all the vids and it sounds pretty versatile. I usually don't buy commercial dirt boxes I'm impressed by the flexibility of this one.

Hey Doug, when you get this pedal, maybe snap a quick trace side pic?

I just snagged an EP-1 from eBay a couple of weeks ago. Great little gadget!

Wish I had that coupon code... I'd snag one of these at that price.

Could anyone PLEASE send some pics of the trace side? It would be great to get this one going....

BIG BUMP!!!

it's a very versatile pedal, definitely worth retracing it.

That last stage + 6 diodes reminds me of a EHX opamp Big Muff........