Luna Obscura (Dark Side of the Moon Pedal)

[dan.schumaker]

Here is the last build of 2022 for me.  This is a continuation of my artist-pedalboard-in-a-box series.  This time I put together a build based on David Gilmour's Dark Side of the Moon pedals. 

For the majority of Dark Side tones, Gilmour used a combination of Fuzz Face, Overdriver, Uni-vibe and Echorec (along with a few more, but those are the bulk of tones).  The pedal starts with a modified Silicon Fuzz Face (I used the Lunar Module as a base for the Fuzz).  This moves into a Powerbooster circuit ran at +18V.  Then it hits an effects loop if you want to add other pedals and then onto a Uni-Vibe circuit.  This is the same Uni-Vibe I used on my Gypsy (https://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=34170.msg327607#msg327607) pedal.  It sounds really good and vibe-y and the addition of being able to use an expression pedal really adds to its versatility.  The Delay portion on this is a multi-head PT2399 delay I've been working on based on the Binson Echorec.  Its taken a lot of inspiration from the Skidmark Sonomatic and DiabloChris's Sagan Delay.  It has basic controls for Mix, Swell (Feedback) and Delay time, with 4 switches to select what heads are active.  Unlike the Echorec with a max delay around 310-340ms, this goes up to about 800ms. Each head compounds into the other, so the ratio's of all delay heads are the same as a true Echorec.  When you have multiple heads active, it creates a really cool sounding effect, something you don't hear anywhere else.

All in all, this is a really cool pedal.  I'm really happy with how it turned out, and even if you aren't looking for Dark side tones, I think that it would be a very versatile grab-and-go pedal that would work in plenty of situations.

[Haberdasher]

Crazy-cool, brother!

[jimilee]

Crazy-cool, brother!

Just wow!


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[Bio77]

Amaze-balls!   

[jessenator]

[jjjimi84]

This is looking super amazing! Nice job!

[Bio77]

Was wondering, what is the vactrol for? 

[dan.schumaker]

Was wondering, what is the vactrol for? 

The Vactrol is to convert the normal Dual Gang Speed pot to a Single Gang speed pot (which then can be wired to an expression pedal).  I took the idea from Brian's Harbinger 2 and RG Keen's UVICS (Univibe in a Crybaby Shell) document.

[Bio77]

Gotcha, thanks for the explanation.  Killer build, dude

[dan.schumaker]

In case anyone is interested, I've made up a demo of this guy.