Soldering in the Cold November Wind

Monday the 6th of November came in sunny and 70 degrees, but very breezy (again!). I decided it was good enough, so I set up my soldering station and got to work. Ever since I saw the Boss SP-1 clone layout on Dirtbox Layout's website I really wanted to give this circuit a try. The Boss SP-1 is a bit of a strange beast, and as explained by Aionfx.com it's not easy to clone. You'll need to create a hybrid 10k Log and Anti-Log dual potentiometer. Thanks to their guide making one is super simple, although you will need to sacrifice a 10k Log in the process. If you really, really want a Boss SP-1 Spectrum clone, like I did, it's well worth it.

My main motivation was to find an alternative to my topless Behringer HellBabe. Since it's missing the treadle it added a really cool cocked-wah flavor to my sound that I really liked. I've tried finding a treadle for it, but it seems I just can't. I asked Behringer and they've given me a few different answers. One time they told me I could order any part I needed and even sent me a diagram explaining each part and giving the part's number. When I went to make the order the next person I talked to acted like I was stupid and said no, they don't sell spare parts, they've never sold parts and they never plan to sell parts. That person did suggest I contact local dealers, as they might have some "broken" ones. Just to humor myself I contacted a few dealers and started with the line "I know this is going to sound stupid, because if you had any broken ones they would be sent back to Behringer under warranty, but....". Every single one of the dealers I called, which was only three, agreed that any broken Behringer pedals they would have taken in on return/exchange would be sent back to Behringer. 

ANYWAY! As I really want to get that HellBabe working again one day, I decided to pack it away for safe keeping. Afterwards I did notice there was something missing from my tone. Over time I did get over it, but I always kind of miss it, even though I've forgotten exactly what it sounds like. That's where the Boss Spectrum comes in. To me it sounds like a wah pedal that you can manually dial in which frequency you want and boost that frequency to your liking, which it essentially is. Once the clone circuit was built I did my preliminary testing and yes, it's absolutely something I can use to add back that missing part of my tone, and then some! At first it had a really bad oscillation problem, but adjusting the trim pot seems to have fixed that. Exactly what the trim pot is for, I'm not sure, but it did seem to help.

Like I said, the potentiometer isn't difficult to make, but the wiring of the two dual pots is tedious. As some of you might know, I hate wiring. I'm pretty excited to get this one housed up as quickly as I can because it's pretty much exactly what I've needed. I would dare say this is much better than the HellBabe, which leaves it to do it's job as an actual wah pedal rather than a tone spicer. I've had an idea in my head about making a pedal to emulate a certain sound, and this pedal already comes really close. I imagine with an EQ pedal this circuit would be able to nail the certain sound I'm after. The problem being IF there is data showing the EQ curve on this particular sound I'll never find it. I'm going to have to do some experimenting and if I come up with something that works I'll put together a prototype. As for now, I'm just glad this is my second ever November build, and it was a success. Now, Wednesday looks like a really good day to build the Green Channel clone. That's the plan for now!