Build Reports BSIAB II & Blackfire CLIPS!

[robotboy]

I just got a brand new Shure SM57 in the mail today, so I figured I'd have some fun with it and record clips of my last two builds. Here's the breakdown...

The BSIAB II was my first vero build. I used Torchy's layout, and the build process went pretty quickly and easily. Upon trying it the first time, it didn't work. This was because I subbed the NP cap for an electrolytic, and the GGG layout had an error in it that showed the negative (if you used a polarized cap) facing away from ground. A few posts to this forum, and the issue was happily resolved. The first setup I tried the BSIAB II on was my 15 watt Fender Blues Jr 1x12 combo. I played it with a Les Paul Jr. with P90 pickups, and I was very impressed with the touch responsiveness of the pedal, and I could immedately see why it has such a great reputation. I took it to band practice to take it for a spin on my Rivera Knucklehead, and the results weren't as good. I got a lot of squealing and the lower mids seemed too thick for that particular amp. About a week later, I replaced the input and ouput wires with shielded cable grounded on one end. I also swapped in an extra J201 and it made the pedal sound a little more compressed/smaller, which was actually a good thing in this case. After a little bit of bias tweaking as well, I feel I have "tuned" this particular build to sound REALLY REALLY good. I'm very happy with my BSIAB II, and I thank Ed Guidry, Jack Orman, Aron Nelson, and Doug Hammond for all their great work!

Being on a distortion bender (actually building some pedals for a friend to choose from), I built the Blackfire next. It seems that Joe Davisson has a real talent for designing easy to build circuits that also sound great. I found the explanations on the Analog Alchemy website to be very informative, and I was excited about building the Blackfire. The build went very easily. I did it on perfboard, and I did the layout "on the fly". Since there weren't any crossed wires, I didn't have to worry too much. I just made sure that I had enough room on the board by standing resistors straight up and some of the wider caps vertically. No sweat! I accidentally ordered a bunch of 3M resistors instead of 3M3, so I made due by putting the 3M in series with 3 100K resistors. This was my first application of any electronic circuits knowledge to solve a problem, and though it was simple, it gave me a certain satisfaction. Anyway, I finished up the blackfire and was almost blown away with the amount of gain that this pedal has. I generally don't use distortion pedals, but I had some real fun playing some sludgy metal riffs with this badboy, and I think it's going to suit my friends needs exactly (since he plays some seriously dirty heavy rock). Thanks to Joe Davisson for contributing this gain monster to the DIY community. It kicks most commercial distortion pedals asses.

Last but not least, here are my clips. It's my first time recording with a "real microphone" at home; although, I've done it in the studio many times. I set it up about 6" from my Blues Jr. and just cranked the hell out of it (without engaging the preamp gain). I probably could have EQ'd both a lot better, but this was an experiment and a fun one at that. My recording setups were as follows.

1979 Gibson Paul (super distortion pickups) -> Blackfire -> Blues Jr. -> SM57 -> Garage Band (volume full on gain set high)

2001 Les Paul Jr. (P90 pickups) -> BSIAB II -> Blues Jr. -> SM57 -> Garage Band (working the volume knob up slowly throughout)

The only effect added was a tiny bit of compression to normalize the volume.

The Blues Jr. is probably the wrong amp for the way I was using the Blackfire, but it actually cleans up nicely at lower gain settings. For some reason, I felt like playing it heavy as hell though. Probably because it lends itself to that style. Anyhoo, sorry for the mile long bulid report. If you're still reading at this point, please enjoy these clips.

http://towersofhanoi.org/fxclips/BSIAB2.mp3

http://towersofhanoi.org/fxclips/Blackfire.mp3

[Alex C]

Great work, they both sound excellent.  Which 2N5457 did you sub out for the J201 in the BSIAB II?  Great tone and playing on the clips.
It's fitting that you live in GAINesville.  Nice stuff.  I'm in the middle of my BSIAB II build (board is all wired - Vero- all that's left is to wire up the pots and jacks), and I can't wait to finish it.

[robotboy]

Great work, they both sound excellent.  Which 2N5457 did you sub out for the J201 in the BSIAB II?  Great tone and playing on the clips.
It's fitting that you live in GAINesville.  Nice stuff.  I'm in the middle of my BSIAB II build (board is all wired - Vero- all that's left is to wire up the pots and jacks), and I can't wait to finish it.

Thanks for the kind words. I subbed Q5 with the J201. I just played around with transistor combos until I came to the one I liked best. The J201 transistors compress more while the 2N5457 seem to be a bit smoother. Have fun with your BSIAB. It's a fun build.

[markr04]

Do you know the difference between the two different Blackfire layouts in the "jdavison-pack.zip"? One has an M beside it, the other a T. Different transistors used. Same sound?

[Marcos - Munky]

The difference is that Joe released two versions of it, one with 2N5089s (T) and one with BS250 (M), also released once as Hellfire.

[markr04]

The difference is that Joe released two versions of it, one with 2N5089s (T) and one with BS250 (M), also released once as Hellfire.

Can you describe the tonal difference between them?