Lectric-fx Panacea-Boss PN-2

[Thewintersoldier]

Well, I guess it's time to start doing build reports again. This was a fun project and something different. The panacea is a clone of the boss pn-2 tremolo and stereo panner. Props to Keefe at lectric-fx for such a cool project and excellent execution.

The PN-2 was the first dedicated boss tremolo pedal and was released in 1990. It uses the discontinued VCA chip used in the first version of the TR-2. The pedal offers both trem and panning of both triangle and square wave form. The original pedal had stereo in and out but the panacea was simplified to mono in and stereo out, and it is possible to still make it stereo in as well. The tremolo is a standard tremolo that while good is not as refined and versatile as the TR-2, and will be a dual mono sound when using a stereo rig. The panner is where the pedal shines. It's essentially the same thing as tremolo but instead of dual mono it splits the signal between the two outputs panning between them. Going between two amps can be trippy but to fully appreciate the effect you need to experience it panned hard left and right in headphones.

The build itself was very simple and straightforward. The stacked board design.is very well thought out and is very stable thanks to the standoffs used. During testing the 4pdt switch board was not yet available so I improvised and used what I had on hand. For the enclosure I went with brother voodoo since he was perfect to represent the trippy and swampy nature of the effect. For the sound clip there is no video this time, I simply looped something simple and ran it direct to the interface and panned each output hard left and right in my DAW and used a plugin for the amp modeling. I only used the panner modes since everyone knows what trem sounds like. The drive parts use my OD-3 build. Make sure you use headphones when you listen to get the full effect.




[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/chris-175381927/lectric-fx-panacea-1?si=b89ad92d184344ab9f89b919a97b645d&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing[/soundcloud]

[jessenator]

Excellent work, Chris!

That demo is super trippy with phones on, and while it messed with my equilibrium for a brief moment, I think that's a good thing that's how you know it works.

I think I need to get one of these on queue.

[zombie_rock123]

Stellar work as ever - guts and those pcbs look amazing. One of my favourite pedal demos!

[Thewintersoldier]

Excellent work, Chris!

That demo is super trippy with phones on, and while it messed with my equilibrium for a brief moment, I think that's a good thing that's how you know it works.

I think I need to get one of these on queue.

Yes, this is an awesome project and such a fun pedal.

Stellar work as ever - guts and those pcbs look amazing. One of my favourite pedal demos!

I can't wait to show the revision that's coming to my build!

[Haberdasher]

Bad ass build & demo, dude!

[Invertiguy]

As usual, your graphics, wiring, photography, and even the demo are all top-notch! Stellar work!

[Thewintersoldier]

Bad ass build & demo, dude!

Thanks Keefe, you did all the real work. Thanks for making awesome stuff!

As usual, your graphics, wiring, photography, and even the demo are all top-notch! Stellar work!

Thank you, hopefully it inspires people to wanna build cool pedals like this one and make noise with them.

[Bio77]

Dude, this one is museum quality.  Those guts look like a computer render.   

[Bret608]

The guts do look like that! They're almost trippy with that curve in the wires, which goes well with the sound. The PN-2 was definitely the first tremolo I wanted but they were already out of production by that time.

[Thewintersoldier]

Dude, this one is museum quality.  Those guts look like a computer render.   

Thanks John, I think I finally figured out this pedal building thing hahaha

The guts do look like that! They're almost trippy with that curve in the wires, which goes well with the sound. The PN-2 was definitely the first tremolo I wanted but they were already out of production by that time.

Now is the perfect time to build one then!