this . thread . must . never . die
Here is my long overdue review of RandyMarsh's DIY creation - YBMB (short for "You're Breaking My Balls")
Brief background:A couple of months back I was considering incorporating a low-gain OD pedal into my setup as an always-on pedal. The usual pedal buzzwords apply -- "touch sensitive", "dynamic", "amp-like", "cleans up nicely", etc. The usual suspects that were shortlisted were the likes of the Barber LTD and Gaspedals Carb OD. Then I stumbled upon clips of the CMATMODS Buttah, which according to one other forum that I frequent, is based off a Marshall Bluesbreaker OD pedal (the original one and not the current BB-2). I really loved the clips of the CMATMODS Buttah and immediately thought of that tone as something that I could use for my setup. Then, I also stumbled upon the knowledge that the AnalogMan KOT is essentially 2 identical Marshall BluesBreaker circuits in a single housing, with a some mods and upgraded components. Naturally, more GAS set in and curiosity about the BluesBreaker circuit got the better of me, hence I present to you guys the YBMB pedal by PhilMusic's very own, RandyMarsh.
Build details:The YBMB is clad in a tastefully and accurately applied one-piece decal (a window decal, I presume), which from afar actually looks as if it's a handpainted pedal. The control labels are sharpied on but thankfully, RandyMarsh's penmanship is helluva lot more legible than my chicken-scratch handwriting. A blinding blue LED was used for the indicator, which to be honest, in use in a dim room, can get a bit irritating especially if I'm trying to see the position of the two toggle switches beside it...it does look cool though from afar. There are a total of 4 knobs and 2 2-way switches (more on these controls below). The D/C input of the pedal is on the north-side as specifically requested from RandyMarsh (I personally hate pedals with the D/C input on the side of the pedal, but I do understand that most builders do this to have a cleaner wiring layout, i.e. no flying lead from the north side of the pedal going to the bypass switch).
Out of curiosity (and this is something I do with all pedals that I own), I opened up the YBMB to see the insides in all its glory, and what I saw was a shocker. The YBMB's guts reveal an extrememly tight build. I was astonished as to how RandyMarsh was able to cram all of these components in an MXR-sized box! The build was in fact so tight that the circuit board was not laying down as it is with most pedals, but was actually standing on its side over at the south side of the pedal, where a battery would usually be placed.
In terms of overall build, it's still an obvious DIY job, but one can clearly see the attention to detail, tight tolerances and the quality of circuitry and clean soldering.
Before I forget, the inside of the bottom plate was signed by Mr. RandyMarsh, alongside a sticker of a wizard. I'm not sure if the sticker was meant as a reference to his electronics wizardry (I wouldn't be surpised if it was).
If ever Randy Marsh becomes the next John Landgraff, I'll sell my signed YBMB on fleabay for boatloads of money! (just kidding, Mr. Marsh)
YBMB Controls:The controls of the YBMB are as follows:
Volume - Self explanatory
Gain - Self explanatory, although an interesting tidbit about the gain knob is that it noticeably adds volume in addition to saturation. Another quirky thing about the Gain knob is that at the last 20% of the pot's rotation, it adds even more top-end bite and "zing" to the tone.
Tone 1 & Tone 2 - Tone 1 is the tone knob on the original BluesBreaker schematic. Tone 2 was one of the mods done by RandyMarsh to make the YBMB even more versatile. In essence, Tone 2, in terms of circuit placement, is similar to the circuit placement of the presence trim pot in an MI Audio Crunch Box. My assumption is that Tone 1 is pre-OD circuit and Tone 2 (essentially a presence control) is post-OD, much like how "presence" knobs in most amps work (Mr. Marsh, pls correct me if my assumptions are wrong).
Tone 2 seems to have been wired to add more presence counter-clockwise. Interestingly, at both ends of the knob's sweep, the control seems to be at zero point. What I mean by this is, say, at 4:00 the "presence" is at its lowest setting. Sweeping the knob all the way to around 9:30 bring it to the setting that adds the most presence, then at around 8:00 on the knob, it sounds like the setting at 4:00 again (i.e. lowest setting). It's was a bit quirky trying to figure this out at first, but once you get the hang of it it's easy to dial in your sound. Tone 1 and Tone 2 controls are interactive, and thus the YBMB has the ability to specifically tailor the high-end content of the signal. Since Tone 1 is pre-OD, it has an impact on overall gain whereas Tone 2 can be used more for fine tuning of the highs. While the two tone controls are interactive, they do NOT, by any stretch, have the ability to alter the overall voicing of the pedal. They impart incremental changes to the top end content pre- and post-distortion, but the midrange and low frequency content remain virtually untouched, which is something I really liked about this pedal. The YBMB DOES NOT homogenize your tone.
"D" switch and "L" switch - To make the pedal more versatile, RandyMarsh added 2 two-way clipping diode switches. The "D" on the "D" switch stands for diode and the "L" stands for LEDs. "D" switch toggles the silicon diodes in and out of the circuit, whereas the "L" switch toggles between LED clipping diodes and no LED clipping diodes. This allows for a total 4 different combinations for clipping diode configuration. To dial in the stock BluesBreaker configuration, toggle the silicon diodes to ON and turn off the LED clipping diodes.
*There are other modifications performed by RandyMarsh to make this pedal a "ball breaker" instead of a cloned BluesBreaker, but I'm not allowed to give out the secret sauce (mostly because I also don't know exactly what he did!) :p
Performance and Sound Quality:The YBMB can be classified as a low gain pedal. It has about the same maximum gain as a Barber LTD, although the YBMB with LED clipping engaged can be perceived to have more gain compared to the LTD. It's also a circuit that doesn't have a lot of volume on tap, with unity volume at around 2:00 on the volume and around 1:00 on the gain (at least on my set up).
Tonally, the YBMB is an inherently bright pedal. Don't let this scare you though. It's the kind of pedal that is bright but not brittle, i.e. it obviously adds more high end but the highs can still be considered as smooth. The highs can be dialled down via Tone 1 and Tone 2, however, I found that the sweetest tones from this pedal are best enjoyed by not trying to change its signature tone too much. After about an hour of use and experimentation, I settled on this particular setting:
Silicon Diodes - ON
LED - ON
Tone 1 - 10:30
Tone 2 - 2:00
Gain - 3:00
At these settings, on the bridge humbucker of my guitar, the YBMB screams classic rock crunch - think Johnny Winter's "Rock & Roll Hoochie Koo". Switching to the neck single coil will bring the gain levels down to "almost squeaky clean" with moderate picking, but one can get a bit of growl and sustain through heavier picking. Basically, at this setting of the YBMB, the guitar's pickup switch BECOMES the OD switch. Even with the guitar's volume at 10, the neck pickup remains pristine for cleaner, arpeggiated guitar passages, whereas switching to the bridge humbucker can bring the rock, without touching anything else or adjusting any other setting.
Another plus point of the YBMB is that it does something magical to neck pickups. Because of the enhanced top end of the YBMB, playing on the neck pickup gets extremely enjoyable. There is a certain hi-fi clarity imparted that becomes very obvious when one is using the neck pickup. The wound strings immediately become clearer and distinct and one's playing nuances and string attack are heard better. The YBMB hides NOTHING.
With the YBMB, notes on complex chords ring clear even on its highest gain setting. The YBMB's compression is just enough to let passages played on the higher register to sustain properly with natural-sounding note decay, but at the same time still rewards the user with the dynamic response and clarity that encourages better right-hand dynamics and nuanced picking.
Stacking with other dirt pedals:
Because of the YBMB's relatively flat response (at least as far as lows and mids are concerned), it performs admirably as a stacker. Out of a few stacking combinations tried, I settled on the YBMB doing the goosing (i.e. going into other drive pedals and not after). The pedals I tried stacking the YBMB into were the Skreddy Screwdriver and the Freakshow Brown Rabbit. I won't talk about stacking into the Skreddy since there are so many variables with the Skreddy that it deserves a thread of its own, but suffice it to say, the YBMB stacked into the Skreddy sounds excellent. What surprised me though was stacking the YBMB onto the Freakshow Brown Rabbit -- it sounded like a raging, hot rodded British amp! The YBMB made the Brown Rabbit clearer, brighter and more forward sounding. It was particularly a blast being able coax feedback on demand from this stacking combo. THIS COMBO ABSOLUTELY SCREAMS!
In summary, the YBMB exceeded all of my expectations about the BluesBreaker circuit, and the fact that Mr. RandyMarsh was able to make an already good sounding circuit even better is a testament to his good ears and technical know-how. Muchos gracias again to Mr. RandyMarsh for his excellent work on building the YBMB. The YBMB is certainly a great addition to my rig
