New Pedal designed by Fellow Aussie

Guys and gals, check this out.

While visiting my favourite local watch store, I discovered this...

How cool are they! Built by a West Australian, using Tubes for that warm guitar sound and germanium's to give that great fuzz sound.

I have asked Trintin who designed these himself to send me some sound clips which when I get I'll link up to this post. What's also really cool is Trintin has a band that's gaining traction with a few televised appearances and plenty gigs on the go.

Can't wait to give one of these a try. I hear they sound fantastic. What-is-more, it's about time we had a local give the Americans a run for their money in the Distortion Pedal game. Tristan builds these by hand and has sold a few already.

...and how did I hear about these in a watch shop. They know my love of guitars and the manager happens to know Trintin.

I presume the pictures are of the prototype? It's obviously a voltage-starved tube design (with Behringer style 'glow' LEDs), which avoids the safety issues surrounding mixing normal tube voltages with normal electronic circuit voltages, but doesn't get the best sound out of the tubes.

Obviously it's a 'none more black' concept for the control panel, but it really would benefit from some readable labels for the knobs and foot-switches. If I was buying one I'd like to see proper PCBs in production models rather than the prototype board used here, and I'd also like to see a much taller protection arrangement for the tubes. At present there's nothing to stop anyone putting their foot on the top of one and crushing it, or dropping something on it to the same effect. You really don't want broken glass everywhere as well as a defunct pedal. It's not an audiophile hi-fi amp that's going to be sitting on a shelf so that you can get away with such rudimentary protection. It's designed to go on the floor, and on a darkened stage, anyone could stand or trip over it.

Not at all sure why it's got a number of display boards inside, where no-one will see them. Again, this may be just the prototype, but if it's for 'tweakability' purposes, then maybe using a larger box, mounting them on the side and bringing any adjustment pots there as well would be a better solution. Asking untrained people to mess around on live pedal with screwdrivers is always asking for trouble IMO.

If it sounds wonderful, then great! But even so, there are issues that should be addressed before there's an accident and the designer gets sued.

Hi Simon firstly thanks for all your useful input it's greatly appreciated, firstly yes it is a voltage starved set of 12ua7's and yes this helps with the safety issues and I'm afraid you will NEVER see a PCB in one of the these they are not mass production pedals and EVERY SINGLE PEDAL is different in its own right. the finished pedals ARE MARKED, you will also never see taller protective cages for the valves. And if using switches is difficult for a person, and they lack the co-ordination to avoid standing on the valves or dropping things on them perhaps they would be better suited to something like a boss pedal, or maybe just the channel changer on their amp. You know something simple...
I also like colours however the people who have requested them so far have opted for black and being eager to please I provide the colour they want...
And onto the "DISPLAY BOARDS " lol, well they aren't actually displayed boards Simon, they are linear power regulation and voltage steppers, they are inside because although quite pretty, they are not to be tampered with, people like pretty things Simon,.. and if it's on the outside or anywhere they can adjust them easily they may just destroy the pedal! as a matter of fact any person adjusting the voltages would have to be mildly retarded.. if you think you know better than the person who made it, then go for it but as I CLEARLY STATE during the process of all sales the tampering of any part of the insides of any of these pedals immediately voids the two year warranty, as I'im afraid it's a case of tampering at own risk and I would instantly know what has been adjusted, and yes we are insured up the ass just in case someone feels the need to pump 12v massive through themselves!!! yep Simon even the people who know all there is to know, can still break things they don't truly understand, and yes Simon I'm sure we will encounter all kinds of issues in time, but I'm sure we will overcome them with due diligence and perseverance. Once again thankyou for your input and we'll be sure to take everything you've stated into account,
These pedals aren't for everyone...
I NEVER intended them to be, if it's not your thing or you want pcb or you don't like point to point or even if the inherent unpredictably of germanium parts worries you, I would consider buying something like a DIGITECH modelling pedal or maybe BOSS hey why not get a fancy BUTLER valve pedal,
I'm sure anyone with your list of concerns would be much better suited to a ever so sturdy and impregnable FOOLPROOF pedal, yep mate I'd say that's your best bet,... leave all that nasty custom stuff to the silly buggers who like something different, maybe you should start making them yourself... that's probably the best way to go....
cheers and once again I can't thank you enough for your insights cheers mate

Thanks for posting this Gav. It looks freaking awesome.

Well done Trintin. My eletrical skills have now dropped to kindergarten level....

Couple of q's as I am such a noob, it looks expensive, is it? can it be used with a solid state amp just fine? Is there a link to a demo would love to hear this beast in action.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

I presume the pictures are of the prototype?

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Hi Simon

Yes, the pictures are of the prototype, but the completed project is well under way. Trintin builds these by hand so it's not his intention to mass produce these and hence my excitement to share what he has done. He "tunes" each one by "ear" which is really cool.

Trinton has figured a way to technically get over four hundred possible options from the one pedal Sounds silly right?? But it's actually just a matter of putting everything in its place and making every aspect switchable diodes valves input capacities circuits etc etc every aspect has been carefully planned. He spent almost 2 years developing these pedals. There are 4 different options.

Some more photo's below.

I think it's great that these pedals exist. Lawry makes dome great Tube Amps, double Tubes if you put them together!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Andy40

Thanks for posting this Gav. It looks freaking awesome.

Well done Trintin. My eletrical skills have now dropped to kindergarten level....

Couple of q's as I am such a noob, it looks expensive, is it? can it be used with a solid state amp just fine? Is there a link to a demo would love to hear this beast in action.

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Hi Andy not too expensive given the hours worked on each and all the research that went into them.

They go for between $340 (Aussie) and $670 for the beast! Tommy Emmanuels favourite pedal the AER set me back $540 and I'm still trying to figure out what it does other than add a bit of sparkle...apparently....I'm still looking for it!

Hey andi how's things mate?? Umm first things first this isn't the place for prices but I'm only too happy to discuss all that in my Facebook page bock effects or just Trintin bock that's where you'll find your answers in the price departing saying not overly dear I try as hard as I can to keep all prices down depending on the specific requirements of the customer and pretty much everything is customisable!!! So there always options, I'm currently in the process of recording but it's been a real battle as no sooner have I made then then they're gone to the customer sooo Im actually making a batch of 14 different pedals ranging from one to four valves and with a wide array of colours hardware and sounds If you'd like to have a look on the bock effects page at approx 1:00pm est there will be a HOW TO MAKE YOU SHIT RIG SOUND GOOD USING A SINGLE VALVE FUZZDRIVER!! Which will be a demo of a 1.5 watt danelectro amp powering a 12" peavy viper speaker cab!! We're gunna show that ABSOLUTELY ANY AMP. Can sound great with these pedals solid state , valve , micro ANYTHING you can throw at it!! The pedal does exactly what it should it gives warm valve tones and thick rich overdrive tones all the way regardless if the amp it's played through, I promise you'll be pleased with its performance although in saying that we're also using a very cheap recording system (personus mic into an iPhone!!!! Lol) as I just haven't had time or the products on hand to do professional recording, yes I will get around to it though lol but still I think this simple demo will blow people's socks off when they hear it!
It's good to see there's others experimenting with their own pedals, keep at it mate it just takes time, I literally spent everyday for two years in my shed getting it all sussed out lol anyway like I said check me out on face book this arvo and let me know what you think BOCK EFFECTS cheers andi

Thanks for dropping in Trintin. It's always good to see people doing and making things that they are passionate about, I wish you much success.

While I'm sure these things sound great, they look absolutely unreal. Great aesthetic.

A little insight... Keith Urban....come on Trintin, tell the story!

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