Has anyone here built the Pompei (EMS Synthi Hi Fli Clone) from Dead End FX?

[peAk]

Just curious how it went?



Looking for a unique, challenging build, but not sure about this one. This might be more than I want.

[Govmnt_Lacky]

Yes... yes I have!

All I can say is that it is an EXTREMELY challenging build. Although, DEFX did a fantastic job with the build doc which answers just about any question you could have.

Some things to remember:
- This build required 2 expression pedals. That means DIY (like I did) or you will have to invest in 2 pedal shells (or the like)
- This is NOT something you can build "on the cheap."
- The "peculiar" parts required for the build are not impossible to find but, they will cost you a few $$$ (see above)
- MAKE SURE TO GET THE "TYPE 1" ON-ON-ON TOGGLES!! (After completing mine, I discovered I accidentally installed the wrong type and had to do a full disassemble 
- Use a proper JFET matcher like it says in the doc. Saves A LOT of headache

In the end it is an AWESOME pedal and great project. If you are looking for unique sounds and something to "spice up" your playing than this will check a lot of boxes.

If you need any help with the build... let me know!

[peAk]

Yes... yes I have!

All I can say is that it is an EXTREMELY challenging build. Although, DEFX did a fantastic job with the build doc which answers just about any question you could have.

Some things to remember:
- This build required 2 expression pedals. That means DIY (like I did) or you will have to invest in 2 pedal shells (or the like)
- This is NOT something you can build "on the cheap."
- The "peculiar" parts required for the build are not impossible to find but, they will cost you a few $$$ (see above)
- MAKE SURE TO GET THE "TYPE 1" ON-ON-ON TOGGLES!! (After completing mine, I discovered I accidentally installed the wrong type and had to do a full disassemble 
- Use a proper JFET matcher like it says in the doc. Saves A LOT of headache

In the end it is an AWESOME pedal and great project. If you are looking for unique sounds and something to "spice up" your playing than this will check a lot of boxes.

If you need any help with the build... let me know!

awesome info and exactly what I was looking for. I figured the price wasnt going to be cheap. I was concerned about parts and if there were any difficulties finding any of them.

I'm still on the fence but I think will at least go through the BOM and start getting an idea of what this is going to take.

Again, thanks for your breakdown and I appreciate the help offered.

[lars]

I was curious what an original EMS Hi Fli goes for, just to get an idea of the cost benefit of building one instead...
Oh, man:
https://reverb.com/ca/item/34841198-ems-synthi-hi-fli-like-new-in-original-box-1973-hifli-hi-fli
Yes, that's "asking price"...but 
Yeah, building one seems very cheap in comparison!

[rockola]

https://reverb.com/ca/item/34841198-ems-synthi-hi-fli-like-new-in-original-box-1973-hifli-hi-fli

Later model Hi-Fli with the matching pedals (rare) has the growl feature

Wazzat?

[Govmnt_Lacky]

Later model Hi-Fli with the matching pedals (rare) has the growl feature

Wazzat?

Growl feature:

"The switch is a 3-way centre off slide type. The growl circuit takes the suboctave
square wave from the Octave Shift section and divides its frequency by
2 and 4, thus producing a wave that drops the fundamental by 2 or 3 octaves
(!) depending on the switch position. Rather than simply mixing these subharmonics
with the original signal something rather more sophisticated is
implemented.
These sub-harmonics are in fact used to modulate the phase filter but only
when the filter control modulations is set to one of the 4 waveforms involving
Sine waves (thus operating the Growl switch has no affect when the up/down
ramp modulations are selected). This gives amazing/bizarre new modulations!
The amount of growl is controllable via the modulation depth slider and also if
the increasing/decreasing sine modulation is selected, by the modulation ramp
time.
Growl can produce probably some of the most alien sounds from the Hi-FLi!
Certainly it can turn a plucked guitar string note into something more
associated with a synthesizer. Combined with all the other effects and
treatments it can give a mind boggling array of sounds just from a single
plucked guitar string. If two or more strings are struck then many additional
complex harmonics and modulations are created (recall the Growl modulation
of the phase filter is not something 'static' of fixed frequency. It changes with
the pitch of the fundamental frequency extracted from a note.) This explains
why plucking two or more strings at same time produces very complex
modulations."