Pedal Demo - EQD Acapulco Gold Clone (Modified w/Gain Control)

tagboardeffects...

[@harrylime9739]

Nice build, Adam. The one knob version has a certain magic, but your mod seems to allow for even more variation and lets you to take more advantage of the different colors of the gain on tap. Thanks for taking the time to share it with us. Cheers.

[@gasolinechlorine]

+harry lime Hey thanks for watching. Just to reiterate, it's not MY mod. I followed plans from someone else. I'm more of a paint-by-numbers builder right now. I don't know enough to understand what's going on yet. I like this mod because you can get the gain sounds at a much more reasonable volume level. The original is almost overpowering lol.

[@hotboxreview]

Starts playing at 2:43 : )~

[@artemkryvyi1559]

Wow, i'm so glad i've found your channel) i'm looking for a cheap fuzz pedal and now it's time to take soldering-iron in my hands again. Thanks for the demo and great link!

[@gasolinechlorine]

+Артём Кривой Thanks! Good luck with your build!

[@thomasseaton8320]

If you haven’t yet tried it, the Black Arts “Black Forest OD” is pretty excellent. (Layout on tagboardeffects) Similar eq to the EQD AG to my ears. And that Sunn preamp you made looks beautiful btw.

[@gasolinechlorine]

Thanks dude, I'll take a look! Yeah, that Sunn (actually both Sunns) that I built is amazing

[@robertlowery6662]

I’ve built this twice (without added pot)and both times was displeased. No I’m wondering if u never went loud enough with the single knob. Well, I’m off to build it again
right now to help get through the Covid shut down. Thanks for the vid.

[@robertlowery6662]

That was faster than I expected! I actually came across one of the prior completed boards in a pile of unboxed builds and just reinstalled the off board hardware. The simple act of just cranking the volume pot did the trick. I do find it strange that it made such a difference in character. I do not know that I feel the need for a gain pot. For my use, if I need to attenuate volume, I’ll just run through another amp modeling pedal to do that. I found cranking this and sending through my J Rocket “Animal” set to clean allowed me to drop the volume and keep the character. Beyond that I’ll just handle it with my amps master. Seem l in e the gain pot kind of pulls the monster quality out of the mix but that’s just my taste. Thanks again for sharing your build. It has helped me realize the value of something I had discarded.

[@Wolf_K]

Adam, put the AG into the Sunn preamp, then into the front of your amp (clean as you can get it). That’s what I run and it’s great. You’ll need to fiddle with the eq on both to find good settings. When you do this you can crank the AG volume for different textures of distortion as the Sunn preamp limits the overall volume. Its volume becomes master, essentially.
The AG on its own sucks balls in my opinion. Together, though, they are brilliant. Very thick, doom, sludge tones within.

[@gasolinechlorine]

One thing I've learned is that the whole "Doom" thing really requires volume. Running a Rat or Muff into the Model T into a clean power amp really opened my eyes as to how these guys really achieve those sounds. The AG is decent for getting similar sounds at volumes that won't break windows lol.

[@Wolf_K]

@@gasolinechlorine
That’s true.
I do like the overall dark tone of the MT preamp. It really adds very little in the way of gain as a stand alone device; but it does change the overall tone and is very similar to the amp in that regard.
The two pedals sound brilliant into an 85watt Twin Reverb. It’s the perfect platform amp for these pedals.
The MT preamp is an “always on” pedal for me and so everything I use goes through that, then into a MXR Ten band EQ, then into both amp channels. It’s amazing how big it sounds just by using both channels (phase accounted for, of course)
I’ve been meaning to ask you: is it really worth building the supergroup if you already have the MT? It’s only a few parts different on the schematics I have.

[@gasolinechlorine]

@@Wolf_K It's weird, even though the supergroup and Model T (and a few other preamp pedals) have very similar circuits, I'm kinda surprised at how different they sound. It might be my brain tricking me though... Part of me thinks that when I play the supergroup, I'm in "sabbath" mode, while when I play the Model T, I'm in "Sunn" mode.

[@Wolf_K]

@@gasolinechlorine
I know exactly what you mean. Play some guys Sunn amp rig but don’t play drone on it, it will sound different.

[@incision6742]

What pot value are you use to the gain knob?

[@gasolinechlorine]

C1M

[@Strato-Kasper]

Hi, could you tell me what resistor on the layout you subbed for a potentiometer? And the value of the pot? I built the stock version and its a bit out of control! I'd like to maybe use a trim pot as its in a mini 1590a box.
Thanks! I

[@Strato-Kasper]

never mind, found it on tagboard..What about changing the 1meg resistor for a smaller value?

[@gasolinechlorine]

If you look at the two layouts side by side on tagboardeffects, the only difference between them is the gain pot attached at the lower left corner. No substitutions required, just solder the gain pot to the board as shown, and you're good to go.

[@zacsweeney5534]

Sounds very Siamese Dream-esque. Thanks for the video; I'm seriously considering building one.

[@gasolinechlorine]

It's an easy build with easy to find parts too, I'd say you can't go wrong.

[@zacsweeney5534]

I'm learning to build for a little boutique pedal company my good friends run. This will be my next test build. I'll let you know how it goes!

[@gasolinechlorine]

Good luck!

[@thomasseaton8320]

Thanks for the demo. Want to make. I might steal your unfinished Fairfield look. Pretty sweet.

[@gasolinechlorine]

Hey thanks man. That's how my pedals usually look before I label them. I tent to put a label over top that's got enough clear so that you can see the sanded metal through, I really enjoy that look.

[@thomasseaton8320]

@@gasolinechlorine I paint all over mine. No idea why. I always preferred the unfinished look. I guess to differentiate them.

[@thomasseaton8320]

I’m in love with this thing. Have you come across another circuit with this sound? I want more. The gain knob is key IMO.

[@gasolinechlorine]

@@thomasseaton8320 I haven't seen another circuit quite like this, but I'm sure it's not uncommon. Asking around pedal building forums would likely point you towards others.

[@tietjen666]

Sounds great!

[@gasolinechlorine]

+tietjen666 Thanks, I agree! It also works well in conjunction with an equalizer pedal to really shape the gain.

[@MegaKozone]

Awesome pedal dude!

[@gasolinechlorine]

+MegaKozone Thanks, I think it sounds great. I need to try it on something with a really low tuning. See if it can do drone metal like Sunn O))) lol

[@claptomd]

Man this sounds Awesome! ....I would like to add a octave up and down!.. would work?

[@BryanDenham]

im running this circuit ( Acapulco gold clone) into the FX loop return of a small power amp .it sounds really cool, but when i run a life pedal (a green ringer into a Rat) into the front of that it opens a portal to a different dimension in my music room. i had to kick my power supply out of the wall socket to stop my whole house from being sucked into oblivion, rockers be warned no joking around with this circuit its all serious business !!!

[@gasolinechlorine]

Yeah man putting stuff into clean power amps is a whole other world entirely. I damn near stripped the paint off my walls lol

[@efraingonzalez1515]

Hi, what value is the potentiometer you used to control the gain?

[@gasolinechlorine]

Hello sir! Check the link in the description, all the information you need is there :)

[@bengalvin9932]

hi i hope you are doing well i think it is so cool you can make your own pedals i don't care if people say it is really easy to do i think it is awesome!

[@gasolinechlorine]

Hey thanks man. Only some of them are easy to do, but it's still a fun hobby!

[@bengalvin9932]

hi i did not mean to say that i think it is easy i am in awe of people who can build pedals like you. as to those people [ mostly in forums online] i have heard say it is easy i would like to see them try it!.the pedal sounds GREAT by the way!

[@gasolinechlorine]

Well thank you sir. I do think it's not too hard to build them. The hard part is when something isn't working lol. Sometimes it can be very frustrating, but it's still fun to build useful stuff.

[@brighidclaire]

sounds great!!

[@gasolinechlorine]

Thanks!

[@666doll]

hey man, since you built it from tagboardeffects, i would want to ask you some questions. i wanna built the exact same pedal, but i'm a total noob. could you tell me what kind of resistor ypu used for CLR and if a LM386 works as well as a JRC386D? Would be highly appreciated! keep it up, peace

[@gasolinechlorine]

Hey man. I usually use 3k3 for the CLR, because my LEDs are really bright. I could probably go even higher, tbh. And yeah, as far as I know, it's the 386 part that's important, not necessarily the letters before and after it. I used LM386L for this particular build. Hope that helps!

[@666doll]

highly appreciated and all I wanted to know :) thanks a lot! if i remember i'll let ypu know when i built it, if i do a demo vid

[@gasolinechlorine]

Cool man! Good luck with it!

[@dragonlance87]

Hey there, got a question for you, I tried building this, but I can’t get it working correctly. Bypass works fine, when the pedal is on the LED lights up, but I’m getting no distortion...or any sound at all really, just silence. The board seems cleanly soldered and the wire leads for IN & OUT are going to the correct place... I’m stumped.

[@gasolinechlorine]

Hey man. Did you test it before you put it in a box? It's very important to do so, that way if there's a problem, you can narrow it down to either your offboard wiring, or your board wiring. You should take it out of the box, and hook it up to a testing rig (if you don't have one, they're not too hard to build) and see if it works. If not, then you'll know there's a problem on the board somewhere. Check everything with a fine toothed comb - IC and transistor orientations, component locations, cuts/links in the right spots etc... Check for solder bridges, or cold joints. If you go through all that, and it STILL doesn't work, you either have a bad part(s) or you need to take a break from it, and try again with fresh eyes. Hope that helps man.

[@dragonlance87]

Thanks for the reply, I think i'm going top end up taking it all apart and starting from square one and test as I'm going this time around. I'm taking a break from it all now as its just frustrating me... Do you have any sources for the testing rig? I'll give that a go for sure!

[@gasolinechlorine]

I use this one: www.guitarpcb.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=199941267

[@dragonlance87]

thanks!I'll get that going!

[@gasolinechlorine]

Good luck with it!

[@SaultiBalldeip]

I am trying to build this, first pedal build for me as I usually work on tube amps and guitars.
All is wired up as it should be but doesn't want to work...I picked up a good radio station however haha.
As soon as I up the 1M pop it just started clipping in a rhythmic pattern, no noise from my guitar.
Everything is properly grounded so no clue what is up...perhaps I should not be trying to make pedals lol

[@gasolinechlorine]

Yeah it can be frustrating to troubleshoot a pedal, but start with the obvious things first. Check your layout, and make sure the parts are in the right spots (I've been burned there before). Check the orientation of any chips and transistors you have (I've been burned there too.) Also check transistor pinouts, make sure they're right. Another thing to always check for is tiny solder bridges between tracks. It can help to run a blade down each track, just to make sure. If none of that works, you can try using an audio probe to find out where your circuit is running into problems, and replace bad parts if you find them. Good luck!

[@wadewilson6082]

Hey dude you live in Dartmouth ? That be cool to have a builder close. I am interested in this one too. Peace Wade

[@gasolinechlorine]

+wade wilson Yup. I live in Dartmouth.

[@wadewilson6082]

+gasolinechlorine awesome I just live down the road off Caledonia. Can you build me a compressor? A looper? I been playing over 30 years but just getting into pedals. Your stuff looks great if love to hear that Acapulco pedal

[@gasolinechlorine]

+wade wilson You sure I haven't talked to you before? I've met a few people near Caledonia so far...

[@guidedbyechoes]

Was that a silverchair riff?

[@gasolinechlorine]

+guidedbyechoes Yeah there were bits of "Without You" and "Paint Pastel Princess" sprinkled in there.

[@guidedbyechoes]

I thought so. Nice job all around!

[@jjcarta0610]

Sounds great!

[@jjcarta0610]

I will surely build this one! Thanks Adam!

[@gasolinechlorine]

Thanks