Your favorite pedal you've built?

[gordo]

This will open up a fire storm but what's your favorite pedal you've built?

I've pondered this question for ages and it boils down to the "must have" pedal on my live board.  The weird part is that it's a "non-effect-is-this-thing-on" but it makes my whole rig.

If been thru a million compressors and barring the Cali (way out of my budget but ultra cool) I've never played a comp that beats this thing.  The MBP 4:1 comp is a variation on the Afterlife variation on the Flatline.  It has a few key points that make it my fave:

• It easily achieves unity gain but can also act as a booster.
• It's quiet unless the Sustain control is maxed.
• The Clean control is the deal breaker on this thing...your high and low end doesn't get messed with, it just augments whats already there.
• No "pumping".  If you want the chicken-pickin "puck" attack...this isn't your compressor.
• Small footprint.

That said, it's not really an effect.  My double-neck sounds crazy cool thru this but not in a Byrds sort of sound.   It drives my overdrive pedals nuts and sounds great behind a booster but it also changes the tone, width, and attack of those overdrives in a way that makes it almost an A/B switch on them.

My only issues were that as a gain changer it would be audible if I forgot to engage it before my delay (Nova) which I almost always do.  You'd get a click...click...click..click thru the FOH.  And a tongue lashing from the sound person.  So what to do?  Add a relay bypass.  But in a "G" enclosure?

Roll back to the Christmas PIF's and I was lucky enough to score a Soup39 enclosure.  It was a "G" and I had no idea what to put in it.  It was the coolest pattern though. The 4:1 would be a perfect candidate because I didn't have to rely on labels.  This is a set it and forget it pedal for me.  I had a 1776 relay bypass waiting for a relay and it dawned on me that I could float the 1776 board under the 4:1 board.  If I'd had the foresight to not socket the ATTiny chip it would be invisible but it still worked.

Drilled out the enclosure and figured out where I could double side tape down the relay and wire it up for power, lights, jacks, and switch.





Then layer in the effect board.  Pretty easy at this point, just have in/out/gnd/9v connections.  I have the luxury of making sure that the bypass and LED portion work correctly first.  BLMS knobs, switch, and jacks.

[HamSandwich]

You may have sold me on the 4:1 really cool enclosure too. Looks like liquid marble.

I don't have a story behind it, but my favorite is the lunar module deluxe. Such a versitile box, I hate to label it a fuzz as it definitely covers distortion and drive sounds. I've used it for years and haven't gotten tired of it.

[junkemail86]

Agreed, the lunar module is amazing.
I'd have to go with the BSIAB II or Pinnacle personally

[alanp]

Doppelganger.

[juansolo]

Supernature (Jumbo Tonebender). If I could have only one pedal, it'd be that.

[sonnyboy27]

It's cliche, but my Klone hasn't left my board since I built it. But I'm gonna have to check out the 4:1 now cause I love my Rothwell Love Squeeze but it sounds like the 4:1 has a little more in terms of options.

[Willybomb]

My Leviathan (boost, zendrive/englishman, plexi) hasn't left the board.  Covers so much ground in the cover band situation.

[Strategy]

I've built mostly really exotic pedals, but the one thing that's always in the chain is Red Llama/Hot Tubes. Bulletproof, compact + versatile for any kind of music or input signal (guitar, rhodes, synth, drum machine, miscellaneous).

[EBK]

My Wayne Kirkwood One Knob Squeezer (now pedal design five on the THAT Corp. pedal page).  I added a bicolor bargraph display that tells me exactly what it is doing to my signal at every moment, and I'm happy to leave it on 100% of the time.

[chromesphere]

Tough question.  So hard to choose just one but I would probably go with my prismatic reverb (BTDR-2) because I like to play ambient and my amp overdrive (bad cat) is kind of hard to beat!

[thesmokingman]

I think my favorite is the fuzz factory. It isn't particularly special or complicated but it was the first effects pedal I built so I suppose there's some sentimental things going on there.

[dan.schumaker]

My favorite that I have built is Brane's Voodo Vibe

[matmosphere]

I don't think I could pick just one.

I really like my Bearhug comp, and my Jawari. But I use the demo tape Fuzz and my stomptown Muff almost constantly.

[Aleph Null]

Overall, my Astro(not): http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=25287.msg246140#msg246140

It can be whacky in a lot of settings, but it can also be set for "instant lead tone". It's a surprisingly good sounding circuit once you learn how to set it. I am also very pleased with the aesthetics of the build.

[Boba7]

Aleph > That's seriously one of my favorite builds ever! Beautiful beautiful work.

My personal favorite is my Lofi Machine that I sold to a musician who was really insistent. I will have to build myself another one someday. It was very inspiring to play.
How it sounds : https://soundcloud.com/user-322140065/lo-fi-machine-subtle-detune-and-noise
How il looks :