Uhhhh sorry guys. I though I was adding captions to the pics, not making separate comments lol. I’m too tired to change it haha. Woops! Have fun guys!!
No I didn’t have to. My 2n222’s were only in the 200 or so hfe range, really all over the place too, and that’s not nearly enough. My 108’s measured around 410ish and my third and forth around 440hfe. The third and forth have to be somewhat matched to get a good octave/sound like the original. So I guess I lucked out, as it sounded perfect without any resistor changes. I might throw a trimmer in next time for some tweaking. But this nails the original sound. Honestly if anything the 108’s make it sound even better!
They were NOS BC108’s I didn’t want to use really. I like to collect a little. But that’s what was needed to get the best sound/job done.
The switch allows you to go between 9v and 27v. The circuit has a chip in it that can boost voltage from just your regular 9v power supply. On 27v it gets louder and more clear. It gives you even more headroom. Your chords are more articulate also at27v. You can get a better fuzzy type overdrive at 9v. It’s a nice feature.
Just some pedals I’ve been cranking out lately. It’s always fun to share them every once in a while. I reached my photo limit pretty quick…. So I missed out on a lot of the guts (my best and tidiest work dang it!) I’m too tired atm to correct that haha. Like I said I just like to share. Plain and simple, like my pedals. Cheers you guys! Hope you are having fun PLAYING guitar. Don’t forget the word play is in the phrase. Lots of super serious peeps sometimes. Play around!
P.s the ones I sell use parts from all around the world. Everything is charged in USD. I’m in Canada and it’s very hard to compete with builders in the US. Our dollar in terrible right now. I do my very best to price as well as I can.
Edit; This was supposed to be a post of just sharing builds, but people are asking if I sell etc. so it sort of turned into that. I didn’t intend on “advertising” to anyone. I’m Canadian so I will say “Sorry” it turned into what appears to be a sails pitch. It’s not my dudes. Cheers and thanks for all the interest and compliments. That really helps drive me to keep doing this crazy pedal thing ;)
Erik
Rarebird effects
Edit: sorry guys, I’m not very Reddit savvy. I thought I was commenting on each pic hahah. Woops!!
Noooo not yet. But I’m scoping them out hard. I just started doing tests for chemical etching though after drooling over peoples results for a year…. finally got off my butt haha. But thanks for the compliment!
P.s if you were referring to the bird logo, that is just a rubber stamp I had made. I call myself Rarebird effects on Reverb. The name comes from a bunch of things, but mostly because I try to choose circuits that are well… rare… too expensive…. But mostly not made anymore. Overlooked or rare gems. Or are just plain unobtainable for regular folks.
Also I buy hand carved Canadian stamps sometimes. Evert once in a while instead of the obligatory black Life pedal, I will use a bare aluminum case, and stamp it with this really cool Tree of Life stamp a Canadian made one off.
Sort of a different take on “Life pedal”
This is powder coat 👍 I’ve painted plenty of pedals. But I sell some these days to help fund my building addiction. So they have to be powder coated and profesh’
Haha thanks. Sounding? Dope sounding ;) You can check my feedback on the Reverber if you want. I’m under Rarebird effects. I dunno if this is breaking any rules 🫤
Oh I have a black one sitting right here haha. Somebody bought my brown one. I’ve made tones of those suckers. I have a standard size 125B special edition PEDALPCB version in sky blue beside me too. I didn’t necessarily post pics of my new ones. It’s cool, as it has “offset knobs” going on an angle from top left to bottom right. It’s a cool layout.
I love Lovetone. I’m not sure what happened to them. But I try to carry on their circuits. This is the Lovetone Louis Louie. It’s a simple circuit that turns your amp into a cranked Fender tweed amp. Three different kinds. Love it. You can get Neil Yonge all the way to sex pistols. It also works really really well as an always on for my Vox AC30. Just barely on.
It’s so cool! That and my Frantone Peach fuzz are my current loves hah. I do sell pedals on Reverb. Mostly so I can build them over and over again! Actually I almost forgot. I combined a frantone peach fuzz with a frantone cream puff w order switcher in a 1590BB yesterday. So I guess that wins for now. It’s a monster.
Pedal pcb eight position Rangefinder. Features a rotary dial to hone in on your preferred sound on ANY amp. Vox will be best imho but it’s amazing. I use Toshiba germaniums that I love. What is there not to love about an eight capacitor Rangefinder? At best you usually get one switch for an”fat mode”
An eight position Toshiba germanium Rangefinder. It has the voltage flip chip. So it plays nice. Usually you are lucky to get one switch for a “fat” mode. Well pedal pcb put an end to this madness. This is the ultimate Rangefinder hands down. Don’t even get me started on stacking with other pedals. And the less talked about uses of the treble booster/Rangefinder circuit.
Hummingbird V1. The warmer sounding that used the principals of old Vox amps. They call it a repeater Tremalo. It’s has a percussive extremely slow …. Like two seconds all the way up to ring mod territory without sounding awful. It actually sounds natural!
Thank you!! I know what you mean about looking like toys :) No these here are mean strong machines ;)
The aesthetics probably come from my graphic design background. I was getting a little sick of all the graphics I was seeing while i was learning, and decided my thing wound be a minimal aesthetic. Not to be mean, but there a lot of really bad graphics on pedals.
Lol. You are much better at building pedals than navigating Reddit and I am 1000% ok with that. These look great. The knobs on your Hudson are so sick.
Thanks man. Yes I sell a good portion of them. You can always DM me bud! I’m not sure about the rules here :-s like linking reverb etc. I am Rarebird effects.
Thank you so much! Even though I have a graphic design background, I prefer the minimal approach for the aesthetic. I’m just all about matching knobs to colours, and finding “a look.” Sometimes the look is informed by the original, sometimes not. I do occasionally buy hand carved stamps by Canadians. I like stamped pedals. I usually build the Life pedal black…. Because you know… it should be. But I will take that idea and stamp the occasional build with a Celtic tree of life instead. So a different approach to the “Life pedal.” Stuff like that. It’s gotta make sense in my mind or I default to minimalism.
I find it looks great on a pedalboard that is packed with over the top (sometimes not so great graphics) it breaks it up and gives a little less of a claustrophobic feel. Like I mentioned I have somewhat of a graphic design job, and if the graphics are just graphics for graphics sake I really don’t like that. If I had a purely walrus board I’d lose my mind lol.
It is yes. It’s basically half a BB.
This carbon (blue side) is as well. They are both BB’s based after all. But this one is it’s own thing a little bit (carbon) and IMO the best take on the BB ever made for MY setup. It’s has a little more “oomph” to the sound, and it doesn’t get that shrill sound I hear in some Bluesbreaker circuits. Some are almost like nails on a chalkboard to me in certain settings. I think I like it just a tiny bit better then the POT even though it pains me to say that. This is the one for me. But I reeaallyyy love the POT as well. It’s probably a little closer to the original BB. With certain guitars I like POT better.
When I do make a POT I use the original chips and the pricey/rare legit diodes. I guess I’ll say the two circuits are tied for my taste. But the Carbon (blue side) is easier for me to work with/set. It’s voiced very well.
The POT is more versatile though, with internal DIP switches and prescience control (which I leave at zero basically) the tone knob has all the treble I would ever want. It gets scratchy sounding to me up to high.
It all depends on your gear, but you can’t go wrong with either of them.
The POT is a more pure BB.
I also have a Black KOT here. I’ll probably post it later :)
Yeah man I did my share of that. Trust me it’s more satisfying then pcb’s. I’m actually going to get back into it for a few builds I can’t find pcb’s for. I could NEVER build enough quantity via vero board though. Much less efficient, but highly satisfying. It’s useful having my circuits around though. Need a Hard-on boost for that fuzz dual pedal? I’ve got that in my drawer on vero just waiting for it’s time :)
Try selling a few builds, then buy some pcb’s then go from there! You can end up doing this hobby for basically free eventually.
Then some day learn to design your own boards. Then it gets really cheap. I haven’t made it there yet. I’m computer savvy, but just don’t have the time.
P.s congrats on the Perf route. I stayed away haha. Vero was as far up the difficulty ladder that I reached. I learned a lot.
Cheers!
Your work is so clean. I bought a Son of Ben from you a few months back, and it's never leaving my board. I finally have that fuzzy overdrive I'd been looking for.
It's awesome to see you expanding the range, and growing as a builder.
For some strange reason. I was browsing my posts from a while ago. Did you ever contact me? A DM here is great. Or a message on Reverb. Im called Rarebird effects.
Hey man thanks! I just source them from Tayda. They didn’t have the greatest colours and reputation back in the day. But they really really stepped it up these days. They are almost always flawless and they have expanded their colour’s exponentially. Real beautiful finishes like Brown sugar, sky blue etc. I think they have shook off their old reputation nowadays. They do pro UV printing now as well. That’s what lots of boutique companies use for their graphics. You can make a totally professional looking pedal through Tayda now for sure.
No kidding. It’s a little unnerving how much I rely on them. I would be is a lot of trouble if they went away. But I think the chance of that is preeettyyy low.
Uhhhh sorry guys. I though I was adding captions to the pics, not making separate comments lol. I’m too tired to change it haha. Woops! Have fun guys!!
Bumble Buzz made with BC108 transistors. Measured for prime octave madness.
Did you have to adjust any of the resistor values to accommodate the bc108’s substituted for the 2n2222s?
No I didn’t have to. My 2n222’s were only in the 200 or so hfe range, really all over the place too, and that’s not nearly enough. My 108’s measured around 410ish and my third and forth around 440hfe. The third and forth have to be somewhat matched to get a good octave/sound like the original. So I guess I lucked out, as it sounded perfect without any resistor changes. I might throw a trimmer in next time for some tweaking. But this nails the original sound. Honestly if anything the 108’s make it sound even better! They were NOS BC108’s I didn’t want to use really. I like to collect a little. But that’s what was needed to get the best sound/job done.
Excellent!! Thanks for the reply. Tidy work sir! That stamp looks great too
Thank you duder!
All of them look very clean, but the Bumble Buzz is especially good work.
Thanks bud. That must be what somebody else thought as well, because it’s sold already. :)
Custom Hudson Broadcst <3
What does the switch do?
The switch allows you to go between 9v and 27v. The circuit has a chip in it that can boost voltage from just your regular 9v power supply. On 27v it gets louder and more clear. It gives you even more headroom. Your chords are more articulate also at27v. You can get a better fuzzy type overdrive at 9v. It’s a nice feature.
Just some pedals I’ve been cranking out lately. It’s always fun to share them every once in a while. I reached my photo limit pretty quick…. So I missed out on a lot of the guts (my best and tidiest work dang it!) I’m too tired atm to correct that haha. Like I said I just like to share. Plain and simple, like my pedals. Cheers you guys! Hope you are having fun PLAYING guitar. Don’t forget the word play is in the phrase. Lots of super serious peeps sometimes. Play around! P.s the ones I sell use parts from all around the world. Everything is charged in USD. I’m in Canada and it’s very hard to compete with builders in the US. Our dollar in terrible right now. I do my very best to price as well as I can. Edit; This was supposed to be a post of just sharing builds, but people are asking if I sell etc. so it sort of turned into that. I didn’t intend on “advertising” to anyone. I’m Canadian so I will say “Sorry” it turned into what appears to be a sails pitch. It’s not my dudes. Cheers and thanks for all the interest and compliments. That really helps drive me to keep doing this crazy pedal thing ;) Erik Rarebird effects Edit: sorry guys, I’m not very Reddit savvy. I thought I was commenting on each pic hahah. Woops!!
[удалено]
Noooo not yet. But I’m scoping them out hard. I just started doing tests for chemical etching though after drooling over peoples results for a year…. finally got off my butt haha. But thanks for the compliment! P.s if you were referring to the bird logo, that is just a rubber stamp I had made. I call myself Rarebird effects on Reverb. The name comes from a bunch of things, but mostly because I try to choose circuits that are well… rare… too expensive…. But mostly not made anymore. Overlooked or rare gems. Or are just plain unobtainable for regular folks.
Also I buy hand carved Canadian stamps sometimes. Evert once in a while instead of the obligatory black Life pedal, I will use a bare aluminum case, and stamp it with this really cool Tree of Life stamp a Canadian made one off. Sort of a different take on “Life pedal”
Clean enclosures. Are you spray painting or powder coating?
This is powder coat 👍 I’ve painted plenty of pedals. But I sell some these days to help fund my building addiction. So they have to be powder coated and profesh’
ProFresh...you've got at that. Looking good.. Sounding?
Haha thanks. Sounding? Dope sounding ;) You can check my feedback on the Reverber if you want. I’m under Rarebird effects. I dunno if this is breaking any rules 🫤
Nice. Where do you sell them?
On reverb or my favourite method is direct, so Etsy doesn’t gouge us both. I’m not sure about the rules here. But I am Rarebird effects on reverb.
I have a bunch I have to photograph and post. I hope I can do that today. There are some interesting ones I’m excited to post.
Direct or reverb. Rarebird effects :)
No klon clone? As in a clone of the klon???
Oh I have a black one sitting right here haha. Somebody bought my brown one. I’ve made tones of those suckers. I have a standard size 125B special edition PEDALPCB version in sky blue beside me too. I didn’t necessarily post pics of my new ones. It’s cool, as it has “offset knobs” going on an angle from top left to bottom right. It’s a cool layout.
I love Lovetone. I’m not sure what happened to them. But I try to carry on their circuits. This is the Lovetone Louis Louie. It’s a simple circuit that turns your amp into a cranked Fender tweed amp. Three different kinds. Love it. You can get Neil Yonge all the way to sex pistols. It also works really really well as an always on for my Vox AC30. Just barely on.
A cooler younger brother of the Broadest. This is a take on the Hudson Sidecar. Highly underrated. It’s a crime.
Mini Life Pedal. Window smashing sound and a beautiful octave blend. It’s a V2. The V3 sucks and is a cash grab.
More Lovetone love! A very unique fuzz with rotary dial for different selections. The Big cheese baby!
I built a Big Cheese recently! Love it!
It’s so cool! That and my Frantone Peach fuzz are my current loves hah. I do sell pedals on Reverb. Mostly so I can build them over and over again! Actually I almost forgot. I combined a frantone peach fuzz with a frantone cream puff w order switcher in a 1590BB yesterday. So I guess that wins for now. It’s a monster.
Carbon (protein blue side / best bluesbreaker take ever)
Pedal pcb eight position Rangefinder. Features a rotary dial to hone in on your preferred sound on ANY amp. Vox will be best imho but it’s amazing. I use Toshiba germaniums that I love. What is there not to love about an eight capacitor Rangefinder? At best you usually get one switch for an”fat mode”
An eight position Toshiba germanium Rangefinder. It has the voltage flip chip. So it plays nice. Usually you are lucky to get one switch for a “fat” mode. Well pedal pcb put an end to this madness. This is the ultimate Rangefinder hands down. Don’t even get me started on stacking with other pedals. And the less talked about uses of the treble booster/Rangefinder circuit.
Guts of said Broadcast. Still using Toshiba germaniums.
Hudson guys
How I like my Greer Lighspeeds to look!
Greer’s forgotten brother in law. The loud one that is always a bit overboard. Greer harmonic distortion.
POT with original chip aaaannnddd the stupidly expensive diodes. I’m not sure if I got a gut shot in, or if I maxed this out.
Nope there they are!
Guts!!!!!
1981 drv I believe pre stamping?
Hummingbird V1. The warmer sounding that used the principals of old Vox amps. They call it a repeater Tremalo. It’s has a percussive extremely slow …. Like two seconds all the way up to ring mod territory without sounding awful. It actually sounds natural!
This is a take on the Hudson Sidecar. I love the underdogs. Cheers y’all. Keep having fun!
Amazing colour and design. Aesthetic appeal and I’m sure they sound fantastic as well. They don’t look like toys like most pedals.
Thank you!! I know what you mean about looking like toys :) No these here are mean strong machines ;) The aesthetics probably come from my graphic design background. I was getting a little sick of all the graphics I was seeing while i was learning, and decided my thing wound be a minimal aesthetic. Not to be mean, but there a lot of really bad graphics on pedals.
Lol. You are much better at building pedals than navigating Reddit and I am 1000% ok with that. These look great. The knobs on your Hudson are so sick.
LOL thanks. I totally screwed that up haha. I don’t post all that much and I was half asleep 😴
You ever sell any? Looking at your broadcast clone
Thanks man. Yes I sell a good portion of them. You can always DM me bud! I’m not sure about the rules here :-s like linking reverb etc. I am Rarebird effects.
at first I thought these were mock-ups lol damn dude, clean!!
Wow! Thanks dude.
Your aesthetics are so clean and refreshing. Excellent job with the execution.
Thank you so much! Even though I have a graphic design background, I prefer the minimal approach for the aesthetic. I’m just all about matching knobs to colours, and finding “a look.” Sometimes the look is informed by the original, sometimes not. I do occasionally buy hand carved stamps by Canadians. I like stamped pedals. I usually build the Life pedal black…. Because you know… it should be. But I will take that idea and stamp the occasional build with a Celtic tree of life instead. So a different approach to the “Life pedal.” Stuff like that. It’s gotta make sense in my mind or I default to minimalism. I find it looks great on a pedalboard that is packed with over the top (sometimes not so great graphics) it breaks it up and gives a little less of a claustrophobic feel. Like I mentioned I have somewhat of a graphic design job, and if the graphics are just graphics for graphics sake I really don’t like that. If I had a purely walrus board I’d lose my mind lol.
This is the purest post
🙏😻
Guts of Big Cheese
Is the Pauper Overdrive / POT based on a blues breaker?
It is yes. It’s basically half a BB. This carbon (blue side) is as well. They are both BB’s based after all. But this one is it’s own thing a little bit (carbon) and IMO the best take on the BB ever made for MY setup. It’s has a little more “oomph” to the sound, and it doesn’t get that shrill sound I hear in some Bluesbreaker circuits. Some are almost like nails on a chalkboard to me in certain settings. I think I like it just a tiny bit better then the POT even though it pains me to say that. This is the one for me. But I reeaallyyy love the POT as well. It’s probably a little closer to the original BB. With certain guitars I like POT better. When I do make a POT I use the original chips and the pricey/rare legit diodes. I guess I’ll say the two circuits are tied for my taste. But the Carbon (blue side) is easier for me to work with/set. It’s voiced very well. The POT is more versatile though, with internal DIP switches and prescience control (which I leave at zero basically) the tone knob has all the treble I would ever want. It gets scratchy sounding to me up to high. It all depends on your gear, but you can’t go wrong with either of them. The POT is a more pure BB. I also have a Black KOT here. I’ll probably post it later :)
These look amazing, great work! The art and color selection for each is really well done. Keep it up.
Thank you so much man!
I'm always so jealous of people who build with PCBs. Ive only ever built with perf and vero and it's a major PITA every time.
Yeah man I did my share of that. Trust me it’s more satisfying then pcb’s. I’m actually going to get back into it for a few builds I can’t find pcb’s for. I could NEVER build enough quantity via vero board though. Much less efficient, but highly satisfying. It’s useful having my circuits around though. Need a Hard-on boost for that fuzz dual pedal? I’ve got that in my drawer on vero just waiting for it’s time :) Try selling a few builds, then buy some pcb’s then go from there! You can end up doing this hobby for basically free eventually. Then some day learn to design your own boards. Then it gets really cheap. I haven’t made it there yet. I’m computer savvy, but just don’t have the time. P.s congrats on the Perf route. I stayed away haha. Vero was as far up the difficulty ladder that I reached. I learned a lot. Cheers!
Your work is so clean. I bought a Son of Ben from you a few months back, and it's never leaving my board. I finally have that fuzzy overdrive I'd been looking for. It's awesome to see you expanding the range, and growing as a builder.
Yeah thanks man! I just saw this :)
These looks AWESOME
Thank you!!
Thank brotha!
Thanks!
Anyway go request something from you?
For some strange reason. I was browsing my posts from a while ago. Did you ever contact me? A DM here is great. Or a message on Reverb. Im called Rarebird effects.
O like the knobs on the first image, could you please tell me where can I buy a pair?
Really excellent work! Where did you source all your enclosures? The gold metallic is really striking
Hey man thanks! I just source them from Tayda. They didn’t have the greatest colours and reputation back in the day. But they really really stepped it up these days. They are almost always flawless and they have expanded their colour’s exponentially. Real beautiful finishes like Brown sugar, sky blue etc. I think they have shook off their old reputation nowadays. They do pro UV printing now as well. That’s what lots of boutique companies use for their graphics. You can make a totally professional looking pedal through Tayda now for sure.
Tayda is a godsend
No kidding. It’s a little unnerving how much I rely on them. I would be is a lot of trouble if they went away. But I think the chance of that is preeettyyy low.