C2-2 Build

[NFX]

Here is my completed build, going for the original look, easy build with the BA662A clone chip now available.

[Mark Hammer]

WHO makes a BA662 clone chip?

[NFX]

http://www.openmusiclabs.com/projects/ba662-clone/index.html

[Mark Hammer]

Expensive for a chip, but then a lot of desirable chips are.  If one has something which a 662 makes easier to build or restore, then I guess it's worth it.

[GGBB]

And how does it sound??? Are you happy with it? (I've nearly completed mine.)

And what diode are you using for reverse polarity protection? My 1N4001s were too long for the 7.5mm lead spacing on the PCB (designer take note), so it sits up off the board a bit.

Nice looking build BTW.

[NFX]

1N4004 DO-41 package. Yea i really pleased with it, perhaps someone who builds it will do a side by side comparison. I will try and get a video up in the next couple of weeks.

[GGBB]

I guess my 1N4001s must be on the large side for DO-41.

I don't have an actual CS-2 for comparison, but I have vivid memories of how good the one I had in the 80s sounded. If it beats my Opto-Plus CS-3 - no great feat - I'll be happy.

[NFX]

yea ive had some 1N5817's be a little larger than usual, i really have to pull the leads to get it into place

[GGBB]

So I've been living with this on my board for several months now and wanted to post back some long-term opinions. I'll start by saying I was initially underwhelmed. I had very fond memories of the CS-2 I had in the 80s when I played Japanese Fender Contemporary Strat and a mostly clean sound. My current CS-3 is sonically similar but lacks the lovely subtlety and "musicality" that I remember about the CS-2. I "opto-plus" modded it and it is a bit "better" (smoother, clearer) overall, but still was a bit of a "miss." My take on the Orange Squeezer - the "Orange Smoothie" - which was on my board before this, goes after the same kinds of tones, but is its own thing so not really comparable.

When I first built this clone, it struck me as only generally similar to my memories, but nothing really wrong and a big plus in being nice and quiet (negligible hiss-pump). I could dial in tones similar to what I remember, but I now play a Tele, so I wasn't expecting the sound to be identical. However they just struck me as ho-hum. It seemed I could never get the exact kind of squeeze tones in particular that I remember loving so much. In fact, it seemed closer to the CS-3 (but quieter) than how I remember the CS-2. It should be said however that the two models aren't night and day different - they are fairly close in sound - I think the differences are more in "feel" and as mentioned earlier subtlety and musicality.

I wondered how the original CS-2 really sounded, and whether or not my memories were embellished, so I ordered one from Japan via the bay and it arrived the other day. I've just been A-B-ing them now for the last hour or so. I did a lot of knob fiddling to compare different settings, and in that process finally found some settings that were like I remember - yay! There are basically two ways I like to use it - for squeezy-type clean solo tones a la sultans of swing, and for light leveling of chording. They are different settings unfortunately - so you really need two of these pedals.

And the good news is that this pedal clone with the cloned BA662 OTA is strikingly faithful to the original throughout the entire range of possible settings. I guess my initial impressions can be chalked up to simply not trying hard enough. The only small differences I heard were that the original was a bit louder overall, and the clone had a very slight background hum (that could easily be pedalboard wiring or even build). Neither would concern me at all. I doubt that anyone could tell the difference in a blind listening test.

A couple of things to note: I powered both pedals from the same Pedal Power 2 Plus, but the clone at 9V and the original at 12V due to being a Boss ACA type effect. Also, my clone is not quite stock - I did the variable brightness mod (replace R20 10k - original BOSS schematics label this R3 - with a 10k pot and connected a 10n cap between lugs 1 and 2). For the comparisons I left this "off" but it is a very subtle mod anyway - at least to my ears. Also, the attack pot calls for C150k which is unobtainium so I faked one with a C200k and a parallel resistor - I don't remember the exact value but I chose it to work with the measured resistance of the pot and was able to get to almost exactly 150k total in combination. That is going to affect the attack settings so if you don't use 150k you would dial things in differently compared to an original.

I'm not sure which one I will leave on the board for now - I'd like to keep both but I'll have to lose something else first. No matter how big my pedal board gets, it never seems to stay big enough for long .