Build Report: Acapulco Gold Distortion Pedal DIY Clone

This is a clone of Earthquaker Devices infamous Acapulco Gold distortion which is modeled to sound a lot like the power amp distortion of Sunn's Model T. Of course it doesn't quite get there because you can only get so far with opamps compared to actual tubes but it's close enough and sounds great!

Normally, an Acapulco Gold would cost as much as $129 new but this build only cost me $40(incl. shipping)! But how did I build it?

I used a kit from the German supplier musikding.de(English language available) that should allow even beginner solderers/pedal builders to produce a working stompbox.

Shopping List:

• The Acapulco - Overdrive kit
• 125B predrilled aluminium enclosure(can be added on the product page of the kit)
• 45mm bakelite knob

This is what your getting if you order from musikding.de!

Populating the circuit board was pretty easy as the component count is pretty low. Wiring up the footswitch and LED would be a problem but thankful a daughter board is supplid which makes it a breeze.

The 125B enclosure is also large enough to comfortably house all of the electronics and wires.

For the enclosure, I decided to do nothing special. Just some primer and permament marker. The "name", if you could even call it that, is just based on the fact that there is a certain meme attached to a certain sound quality of the Acapulco Gold pedal that I'm going to talk about later. You can see a pic of the finished product on the top of this post.

The Sound:

This thing is loud! Like, really loud. It is basically an amp with tons of distortion added.

I usually keep the one knob to about 9 o'clock because anything else gets way too loud.

While there is no specific gain control, you can really clean up the sound by turning your guitar volume knob lower.

I've uploaded a small demo to DSound so you can check out the sound of this beast ;)

Conclusion:

Seriously, if you'd like a heavy distortion for doom, stoner, and other metal genres, you need this pedal. And because it is such an easy build, even a beginner/first time builder could do this. Alternatively, just buy the EQD Acapulco Gold.

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