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Sea Urchin or Cavedweller?

Started by Willybomb, July 17, 2013, 01:56:05 PM

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Willybomb

I want to make the multi from hell and it will, of course, have a delay.  I have an unpopulated Sea Urchin board kicking around (thanks Haberdasher), but I see the Cavedweller on the projects page.

Besides the obvious size advantage, what's the functional difference between the two given that they're both pt2399 based delays?

Thanks in advance,
Willy.

midwayfair

The Cave Dweller has no "dry" path -- everything is done in the PT2399. The headroom for the entire pedal is therefore more limited (5v instead of 9v). It has somewhat low fidelity due to minimal filtering on the repeats. It is, however, a very easy build, and the sound of the Dwell repeats are very reverb-y and not quite like anything else in a simple delay.

The Urchin has more filtering on the repeats. It does have some headroom issues in the delay path (again, 5v), but the dry path is fairly transparent. Not my favorite PT2399 delay by any stretch ... but plenty of people seem to enjoy it.

They're both slightly dark.

If you want brighter/more tape-like repeats, I'd recommend the Zero Point mini (if you want the small board and want modulation, or the DD if you have room and want longer repeats) or the Multiplex Jr from 1776 (if you want modulation).

jimilee

I have built the cave dweller and it hasn't left my board yet. I use it for the long echo delays. I love it. I've never built the urchin, but the deprofundis is the second delay that lives on my board that has yet to be bumped. I may build a dd next though just to see.
Pedal building is like the opposite of sex.  All the fun stuff happens before you get in the box.

GermanCdn

If buying another board is an option (and it sounds like it is), I'd probably pick the ZP mini over the cave dweller, as it's got more features while maintaining a similar footprint.  The ZP DD and the MP Jr are both great boards as well, but the will take up a lot more space then the ZP mini, which might not be desireable.
The only known cure in the world for GAS is death.  That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.