New Non-BOSS Pedals

[Pepe]

I have no doubts about that! Aria has had very good pedals from the '70s until the mid-'90s - and this black series is in many ways superior to the pedal series that came before.

[chromandre]

I tried a klon the other day and I liked it I guess I never imagined anything could hold its own against an OD-3 so I'll get one as cheap as possible, the real test is at band volume.

[bigtone23]

I tried a klon the other day and I liked it I guess I never imagined anything could hold its own against an OD-3 so I'll get one as cheap as possible, the real test is at band volume.

Yeah, I got on the Klon(e) thing a little later than most. They are really cool, but I do prefer the OD3 as a standalone drive and the Klon for pushing a crunchy amp or getting those edge of breakup tones.
There seems to be a couple types of Klon, the original recipe and a sort of 'fat' version. The fat just has a touch more low end to them and I like them better for standalone drives. For example, the Tumnus is original, the Tumnus Deluxe is fat. Soul Food is original recipe.

I have a JHS Notaklon, which is the original recipe with a switchable Shamrock mode (which adds gain and mids), highly recommended Klone. It's really fantastic for the price, and it takes less than 15 minutes to assemble it. It has a nice, focused clarity to it. Get it on sale and it's under $100. The catch is the footprint, not as big as an original Klon, but not compact, either.

Also have an Idiotbox Han-Taun, which is a fat version, there is just a touch less mids and a touch more low end to it. Also fantastic, if you catch a sale, they can be had for around $100ish. I got mine on a Labor Day sale. Typical sized footprint.

My expensive one is an Origin Halcyon Gold, it's really versatile, has switchable original and fat EQ, an adjustable clean level knob and an adaptive feature for how the cleans sound relative to your volume knob setting. Mine was $150 used and has a typical footprint.

There are lots of sub $100 ones out there. Not sure how they stack up, as I have only played name brand Klones (Wampler, J Rockett, EHX Soul Food).

[laurie]

On the screen-print on the Klon KTR PCB "These are essential" is written next to the diodes. The Klones, especially the DIY kits, often come with way out of spec terrible diodes.

See my notes on my Klone here:
http://www.bossareaforum.com/Forum/view ... 859&p=9318

I also built one for The_Doc with the hand selected diodes - he may be able to weigh in with his thoughts too.

[Pepe]

New pedals! All acquired in April. All were defective.



This is my very first Amdek pedal, an FLK-100 Flanger. It sounds exactly like my vintage BOSS BF-2 with the black knobs, so I will sell it on again. As most of you know, Amdek was a brand name that BOSS used to sell their pedals in cheaper way. These came in DIY sets with the fully equipped circuit board, but the user had to solder wires, the pedal switch, the LED, the potentiometers and the battery clip and assemble everything.

Overall the Amdek Flanger was in good shape, but it came with a broken battery snap and two potentiometers with a too long axis, which looked very strange. I upgraded the pedal with four new Alpha potentiometers. The bad thing is that the maltreated LED holder has an uncommon size. Similarly looking clips have a too small diameter for the original hole in the chassis - and for those of a bigger diameter the hole has to be widened, which I wanted to avoid. So I kept it this way, although it looks quite ugly.

BOSS used the very same enclosures for their BOSS-branded models HC-2 Hand Clapper and PC-2 Percussion Synthesizer. I have bought a PC-2 in November, but I haven't shown it here yet. Here you can see the two units side by side.





The Coron Phaser 55 looks like the illegitimate Japanese stepbrother of the MXR Phase 90. Despite the similar enclosure, the colour and the name, it is not really a lawsuit pedal. It has a very distinctive sound with a trapezoidal modulation waveform which makes the effect "rest" for a while in each direction. The phaser sounds very vintage, plus the "Feed Back" knob allows for more drastic effects.

The Phaser 55 arrived in bad shape, with a broken Speed potentiometer, missing knob and a removed battery snap (in favour of a stupid DC jack on the front that I instantly removed, despite the ugly holes that it left). I gave it a proper treatment, plus I replaced the five tantalum capacitors on the board. After a proper calibration, the Coron Phaser 55 is fully alive again. Really a sweet sounding unit, although unfamiliar sounding with this certain waveform (that fuzzbuzzfuzz likes a lot!). I have to accustom myself to this sound, but I am certain that we have a keeper here!



And then we have two plastic pedals. The Monarch MOD-1 Over Drive is the same as the Arion SOD-1. Interestingly, these Monarch-branded pedals for the German distributor Monacor came in grey enclosures, like the earliest Japanese Arion pedals. And they weren't made in Japan or Sri Lanka - the bottom plate says "Made in Taiwan". The treadle design was modified and the pedal features different knobs, but clearly it cannot deny that it is in fact an Arion pedal. I bet that it sounds the same as the Arion SOD-1. It sounds very nice! Luckily, this one only had a broken battery clip.

The Arion SPH-1 Stereo Phaser is getting more and more expensive in the last years, even later models. This is a very early Japanese unit with the grey enclosure! For the set of the Monarch Over Drive and this one I paid less than 20 EUR each, because the phaser was also faulty. After lots of trouble finding the flaw I found out that a simple diode was faulty, leading to improper grounding. I suppose that it received the wrong power at some point.

I gave this pedal a full recap, because some of the electrolytic capacitors had very low capacity values (even 0.1µF) at a very small size - I really have my doubts that these would work properly for another few years. Calibrating the single trimpot (phaser bias) was very easy. The Arion Stereo Phaser sounds pretty cool! Very much how I prefer a phaser. It sounds very lively in stereo. Both plastic pedals are definitely keepers!

[fuzzbuzzfuzz]

What a fabulous stash to acquire Pepe, for so cheap, and coupled with your skills, back to life!

Fascinating set. Curious anomalies too, such as the Monarch colour/build country and knobs. I have the Arion, the broken knob inside frustrates me greatly! Remarkable score on the early grey Phaser, they are something in the region of 22,000 yen over here now.

I'll try and post some of the new arrivals this side too, some do come and go rather too quick to document!

[Zerksies]

It's funny some of these trash pedals from the 80's and 90's are now becoming collectable

[Pepe]

Many of these have surpassed the life of some pedals in metal enclosure. Often regarded as inferior to other pedals in the Eighties, certain Arion effects have become secret weapons and indeed collectible units.

Such as the Stereo Phaser. A famous Japanese guitarist plays a modded SPH-1, that is why prices have gone through the roof (just like any effect on the pedalboards of David Gilmour and Co.). Ever since fuzzbuzzfuzz told me about it, I had it on my search list. I couldn't believe my luck when I saw the ad with a buy it now price for the set of the Arion and the Monarch. I am very happy with the duo.

[fernieite]

I really liked the Arion SAD-1 analog delay from that series. I sold it off a few years ago when I was downsizing, though. It was a cool (and cheap) unit.

[fuzzbuzzfuzz]

There's some excellent "sleepers" (ATO-1. SPH-1, SAD-1) and well regarded classics (such as the SCH-1) amongst the Arion range.

And of course they often included the clean output as well as effected which is a useful touch.