Phil O'Keefe Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 I finally got around to building a Pep Box - basically it's a clone of an early and very rare fuzz pedal from the 1960s, with an added tone control. It's the silicon version, and uses two BC107 NPN transistors. I used a Ghost Effects Pedals (Birmingham UK - http://www.ghosteffects.co.uk/ ) PCB and tried to shoehorn it into the smallest sized case that I could. Ian at Ghost is a great guy, and will sell you a PCB if you're interested in building one for yourself. The paint job was originally intended to be regular gray Hammertone, but it went south on me; I kind of liked the effect, so I decided not to re-do it. I used inkjet printed waterslide decals for the labels. The logo is a engraved plastic badge and was inspired by the one on the original WEM Pep Box, which credits the circuit's original designer (Pepe Rush - a picture of an original Pep Box badge can be seen at http://www.watkinsguitars.co.uk/pep5.jpg ), but since it isn't a WEM build, I instead credited Ghost on it, using lower case lettering, as per their logo. It's an interesting sounding fuzz. I have it biased so it gets a somewhat gated sound when dimed, but it's thick and rich, with a lot of sustain at slightly lower settings. It's not very good at cleaning up with your guitar's volume knob, but you can get tones with much less fuzz at the lower end of the Pep knob's range. There is a ton of volume on tap - unity gain is pretty low on the volume knob. John Lennon was famously pictured in the studio at Abbey Road using a WEM Pep Box on the Paperback Writer / Revolver sessions, but after hearing it first hand, I seriously doubt the pedal was actually used on any of the final recordings... but there's no way to really know for certain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GuitarSlim101 Posted March 17, 2015 Members Share Posted March 17, 2015 Looks nice, Phil. Very clean work. I dig the paint job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members t_e_l_e Posted March 17, 2015 Members Share Posted March 17, 2015 too clean built for my taste, i need some messy cables congrats on the very nice built Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Stubacca Posted March 17, 2015 Members Share Posted March 17, 2015 Looks great Phil. Any chance for a clip? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Preacher Posted March 17, 2015 Members Share Posted March 17, 2015 Wow, looks beautiful, Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 Thanks guys... Heres a clip. Not mine, but it really does a good job showing what the commercial version of the pedal sounds like. Mine uses the same circuit, but has the added tone control. [video=youtube;sX2he7u8yyg] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members travisbrowning Posted March 18, 2015 Members Share Posted March 18, 2015 Cool pedal, Phil!I haven't brushed up on my Beatles gear knowledge in awhile, but didn't they use the built in distortion on those solid state Vox amps for a lot of the Revolver sessions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted March 18, 2015 Author Share Posted March 18, 2015 Yes they did Travis. On Revolver it was the hybrid (ss front end, tube output stage) Vox UL4 and UL7-series amps like the UL4120 bass head and the UL730 and UL7120 guitar amps. Being a huge fan of some of the tones on Revolver I've looked into those amps a bit. They're scarce as hen's teeth - most accounts say there were fewer than 100 of each model made, and many were lent out to bands, and Vox most likely destroyed a lot of them when the bands returned them in exchange for later models, such as the solid state Conquerors and Defiants that replaced the 7 series models in their lineup the following year. The footswitch activated distortion/fuzz circuit on the guitar amps in the 7 series was based around a pair of clipping diodes. The basic sound of the amp (without using the onboard distortion) is fairly bright and really rather unique, but if you dig those tones, the Lumpy's Tone Shop Lemon Drop / ZII (same pedal, but with different graphics) really does a great job of duplicating them. They also recently released a mini version of the Lemon Drop in an even smaller enclosure - looks like it's about the same size as the Moorer mini pedals. Castledine Electronics also made (still makes?) the 7120 (look in their "custom builds" section), which I have not tried, but as I understand it is based on the distortion/fuzz circuit of the 7-series amps. I've also looked into the distortion circuit on the solid state UK-built Vox amps like the Supreme, Defiant and Conqueror (as used by the Beatles for some of the Magical Mystery Tour / White Album era recordings, and possibly on some Sgt Pepper recordings) and it is more complex and more tightly integrated into the preamps on those amplifiers. It's also noticeably different than the distortion circuit used in the USA Thomas Organ-built Vox amps, which is much closer to a Fuzz Face type fuzz. The only two companies who I know of who have ever attempted to recreate the unique distortion of those UK built SS Vox amps are again, Castledine with their Magical Mystery Box, and KR Effects with The Conqueror - but I don't know if you can get either one. I don't think KR actually ever released The Conqueror - just announced it on their website. The Magical Mystery Box is still up on the Castledine website, but I don't know if it's still in production or not; either way, they're not inexpensive and used ones don't show up for sale very often. If my financial situation improves, I'd like to buy one if they're still being made. If I do, I'll review it and try to find somewhere to upload the review for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted March 18, 2015 Author Share Posted March 18, 2015 Thanks Tele! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members travisbrowning Posted March 19, 2015 Members Share Posted March 19, 2015 Thanks for the info, Phil! I actually read your review of the Casino Coupe again today, thinking about getting one. I'm 5'9", 140 lbs so I think I might like the smaller body. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted March 19, 2015 Author Share Posted March 19, 2015 I'm 5'8", and I really liked the compact size of the Casino Coupe a lot - although to be honest, I prefer the more slender neck dimensions and overall neck profile of my personal Casino... but the smaller body really is pretty neat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted March 20, 2015 Author Share Posted March 20, 2015 BTW, I emailed Stu at Castledine, and he does indeed still make the Magical Mystery Box. I think I'm going to order one from the new batch he's prepping soon. Stay tuned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted March 21, 2015 Author Share Posted March 21, 2015 Order'd. I'll probably have it in my hands in a few weeks, and will write up a full review once I have had a chance to spend some time with it. Again - stay tuned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members travisbrowning Posted March 21, 2015 Members Share Posted March 21, 2015 Thats awesome! Can't wait to hear some stuff about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members H.R. Shove and Stuff Posted March 26, 2015 Members Share Posted March 26, 2015 Very nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted March 26, 2015 Author Share Posted March 26, 2015 And of course, I have my custom built Midrange Boost, which was built for me by H.R. Shove and Stuff... this thing's amazing, and the build quality is first-rate all the way; it allows me to get those cocked wah-like midrange boosts that the Beatles used on various recordings. One good example is the piano on "Birthday." They achieved that effect by manipulating the three-position MRB knob on the amp as it was being played. You can really hear it clearly on the very last chord of the song. [video=youtube;QQf13fpbxpY] I asked Matt if he could build me a pedal that could do that (so I could use it with the Lumpy's ZII, even though the Vox UL-7120 didn't have the MRB) , and he knocked it out of the ballpark. If you need a custom-built pedal, I can't recommend his services highly enough. :philthumb: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted March 28, 2015 Author Share Posted March 28, 2015 Stu said it's ready, and will be shipped out on Monday... A couple of low-res teaser pics... I can't wait to try it out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members travisbrowning Posted March 30, 2015 Members Share Posted March 30, 2015 Looks nice! Can't wait to hear about it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted March 30, 2015 Members Share Posted March 30, 2015 You can see its got the parts of a wah in the circuit. Namely the inductor coil. I have a Dunlop pedal I haven't used in ages since I got a Morley. I was thinking about removing the circuit and putting it in a box along with a fuzz pedal. I know the pot in that wah is shot so I'll have to get a standard replacement. That wont cost nearly as much as a new wah pot. Everything else should be fine to use including the switch which I believe is already wired for true bypass. The reason I haven't done it already is I have a couple of other pedals which do pretty much the same thing. I have a Mestro parametric EQ/Overdrive which is a great pedal for wah tones. Its even got a knob that can be worked with the foot to dial up the specific frequencies and to boost or cut them with a sharp or smooth Q or with overdrive. The other one was made by Snarling Dogs. Its kind of a hybrid variac circuit with additional preamp built in. Not exactly a wah circuit but it has got a coil cap combination to act as a filter and does get some of those boosted mid tones as well ad as some nice clean ones. Depending on the settings you can make a Strat sound like Gibson or a Gibson sound like a Fender or anything in between. I really don't use any of those pedals much any more though. When I had few guitars I needed to have boxes to get those tones. Now I have the guitars themselves that get those real tones I don't need to fake getting them. I just focus on the drives needed to make them sound best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted March 30, 2015 Author Share Posted March 30, 2015 I believe the MRB circuit came first, and Vox developed their first wah pedal from the MRB. I've thought about building a wah in a non-treadle case so I can use it for those Mick Ronson fixed wah type tones. I'll probably get around to doing it one of these days.The MRB allows you to get fixed wah tones, but you're limited to the three pre-set frequencies. That's great as far as it goes, but a treadle offers a lot more frequency options than the three incorporated into the MRB. A treadle does have some disadvantages in terms of returning to your favorite position / sound; a fixed wah pedal with a fully variable frequency control, like the Big Knob Wah Fix or discontinued Dunlop Q Zone has the advantage of being easier to set than a treadle, with more frequencies to select from than the MRB, but with repeatability that's almost as good - you can take a picture of the settings or mark them and return to them a lot easier than you can with a wah treadle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted March 31, 2015 Members Share Posted March 31, 2015 Yea. That's one reason I like this one. You can see the frequencies you dial up. It will dial between around 50hz up to around 4K . Then you can Add or subtract that frequency with the left knob, then select a broad narrow or sharp peak with or without mild overdrive with the center knob. . It will work like a wah if you don't mind sweeping the frequency knob and the bottom of your shoe. What I did was to mark the dial with the harmonic frequencies that will self regenerate. I for example marked a high E around 660 and If I set it for that frequency I know I'll be able to get that note to produce an endless sustain if my volumes high enough. I did the same thing for the other strings. Then when I'm playing in that key I can look down and select the exact frequency that will make that note or chord sustain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted April 2, 2015 Author Share Posted April 2, 2015 Stu said it's ready, and will be shipped out on Monday... A couple of low-res teaser pics... I can't wait to try it out! It arrived yesterday... and my initial impressions are very positive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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