Sun Beta Lead kit

The good: this pedal is one of my favorites. VERY powerful (I actually plugged it straight into my 2x15 sunn bass cab for fun, and it put out tones (faintly)), so it will slam tube amps, no doubt. I seldom have to go above 10:00 on the volume knob. The tone stack is one of the best I have heard in a pedal--very versatile and very clear, as each knob makes a big difference in the sound. In the clean range, the pedal really brings out the character of the guitar and pickups. Breakup starts around 10:00 of the gain pedal, and goes from light gritty overdrive to super saturated all-out distortion. I ended up making a working pedal with TL072 ICs. The switch from Lead to Bass is a very nice and versatile addition (especially from someone who switches from bass to guitar) and the bass distortion is very very nice.

The not-so good: The first-generation boards from PCB Guitar Mania require some funky workarounds, which ended up sucking up a lot of my attention and frustration when troubleshooting. I thought it was something in my assembly skills when the pedal refused to work, but actually, I had... faulty ICs. Klaus made it right and updated the assembly docs, but overall I have to say the build was a bit frustrating. I think its a bit shoddy to sell boards with known errors and its made me think twice about ordering PCBGM kits, even though I really enjoy their selection and taste.

Rene H., 23.08.2022