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Darkglass B3K / Vintage clone kits


dannybuoy
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These have been discussed in the DIY Effects thread quite a bit.
I have an Antique (Vintage clone) on my 'bench' at the moment.
Intermediate/advanced kits due to some surface mount components & angled board mounted jacks (due to enclosure angled sides).
Reckon it will sound good though

Si

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[quote name='HazBeen' timestamp='1482224621' post='3198522']
Makes you wonder why we have to pay so much for the original.... don't get me wrong I absolutely love my B7K (and B3K before it) and Fuzz, but have always felt they were a tad on the expensive side.
[/quote]

I often wonder this in the pedal world, obviously more so with the boutique effects.

I imagine a lot of the costs involved are R&D and setup. But yeah, they are pricey.

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I think the prices are fair for a boutique maker... If you're producing limited volumes of something that takes a lot of R&D and build effort, you can't make a comfortable living out of it if you price match the mass-produced stuff. I don't think too many will be building these due to their complexity though, so it shouldn't make too big a dent in Doug's pocket!

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[quote name='Tuco' timestamp='1482254863' post='3198964']
I fancy trying my luck with one of these... I'd say I was intermediate (at a push lol)
So the drive kit is the B3k?
What's the pumpernickel ??
I think the prices are fair tbh
[/quote]

Not sure about the Pumpernickel without looking, compressor I think?!
Drive is B3K
Antique is Vintage

Si

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[quote name='HazBeen' timestamp='1482224621' post='3198522']
Makes you wonder why we have to pay so much for the original.... don't get me wrong I absolutely love my B7K (and B3K before it) and Fuzz, but have always felt they were a tad on the expensive side.
[/quote]

I always get a little confused by comments like this. Somebody can clone a pedal relatively cheaply, so why pay the boutique inventor so much? Hours upon hours upon hours of R&D, designing the circuit, discarding prototypes, all the while not earning a penny for their work, before eventually having a working product. Then, turn that fully working prototype into an end product that can be produced at reasonable volume by your small team, whilst paying them a fair wage . How else do they get the lost income back during the months or years of designing? How else pay for the team, the workshop rent, all the other overheads? Remember, we are not talking about Roland, Digitech etc, we are talking about small handbuilt units. {most} cloners takes a design at its final stage and their costs are simply production, at a rate they can change to order i.e. they will never be out of pocket from the start and as such can sell at a price that will see them make a moderate profit. The smaller ones like this will probably not have a huge workshop, probably don't have a large team of staff to pay and probably wouldn't have bothered making the clone if any period of loss was involved. Some don't even build the things and just sell kits instead!

As it happens, Darkglass prices have continually dropped and dropped ever since they launched the B3K and Harmonic Booster at some £250 each (the current B3K is £199, and that is with the current comparatively awful exchange rate). The latest Ultra series launched at the same price as the Deluxe/B7K series were selling for only months earlier. The amp is, by all accounts, remarkably prices when you consider its specifications and its competitors. Fair play to them :)

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[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1482168478' post='3198195']
Anyone built one of these?

[url="http://schalltechnik04.de/en/kits"]http://schalltechnik04.de/en/kits[/url]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=270QcjGTHrI[/media]
[/quote]

Sounds quite good actually , but a good deal fuzzier than the B3K from that video. Not too much of a likeness. I wonder if its is closer to that 3Leaf Darkglass clone that took aspects of the Vintage and B3K for theirs.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Made a quick demo of my Guma Antique build for your delectation:

https://youtu.be/RFd51bJM5l0

1983 Squier JV Jazz, played with a pick, into the Ditto, then into the Antique, out into a Focusrite iTrack Pocket.

Si

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  • 1 month later...

[quote name='Sibob' timestamp='1483658968' post='3209181']
Made a quick demo of my Guma Antique build for your delectation:

https://youtu.be/RFd51bJM5l0

1983 Squier JV Jazz, played with a pick, into the Ditto, then into the Antique, out into a Focusrite iTrack Pocket.

Si
[/quote]

Nice. Does it have the compressor on it like on the VM?

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  • 3 weeks later...

[quote name='Left Foot' timestamp='1488184108' post='3246483']
Si, how many hours would you say it took? And what's your impression regarding the unit, is it spot on?
[/quote]

I guess it was 2 or 3 hours all told, but I'm not hugely fast haha.
I've not owned a Darkglass Vintage, but someone made a comparison video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CSh1ERo1vE

All I know is that mine sounds great, which probably means the Vintage great :). Weirdly (because I don't get this feeling with other clones), I feel a bit weird about building clones of the Darkglass (I have the Guma Drive on the way to build too), but for me it's not a way of 'getting a cheap Darkglass', it's a way to practice building them and have a cool pedal at the end. I think what Darkglass do is amazing, and long may it continue :).

Si

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[quote name='Sibob' timestamp='1489671833' post='3258835']
All I know is that mine sounds great, which probably means the Vintage great :). Weirdly (because I don't get this feeling with other clones), I feel a bit weird about building clones of the Darkglass (I have the Guma Drive on the way to build too), [b]but for me it's not a way of 'getting a cheap Darkglass', it's a way to practice building them and have a cool pedal at the end.[/b] I think what Darkglass do is amazing, and long may it continue :).

Si
[/quote]

That's not as long as I thought. I'll check out the schematics - although I'm totally useless at seeing what way around components are placed and generally not built for patient soldering. I get it your sentiment.

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Sibob, is the pedal true-bypass? In the pics of the kits they show a DPDT footswitch and not a 3PDT. I'm aware that they may have a millenium bypass in the circuit, hope you can confirm this to me. True-bypass is a must-have for me as i run my pedalboard with a PSU and is part of my signal chain.

Cheers

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[quote name='Ghost_Bass' timestamp='1489677038' post='3258903']
Sibob, is the pedal true-bypass? In the pics of the kits they show a DPDT footswitch and not a 3PDT. I'm aware that they may have a millenium bypass in the circuit, hope you can confirm this to me. True-bypass is a must-have for me as i run my pedalboard with a PSU and is part of my signal chain.

Cheers
[/quote]

Yeah it's true bypass.....well, in as much as you still get a clean bypass signal with no power to the pedal.

Si

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It has a relay in it, so I am assuming that is what that is for.

I am just building one at the moment, and by 'at the moment' I mean it is actually between me and the keyboard!

I have most of the circuit done but I am just trying to make the box nice.

Edited by Woodinblack
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[quote name='Woodinblack' timestamp='1490470723' post='3265402']
Finally got round to finishing mine - very happy with it. I could have had it done earlier but I went a bit overboard on the box!

[IMG]http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp133/alienrat/Combined_zpsjurmb5sp.jpg[/IMG]
[/quote]

That looks great! Did you do the decal yourself?

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