JHS versus Aion pedal kits.

[Mark]

Having electronics as a hobby I had to look inside the JHS Bender pedal to take a look at it. Regrettably, I didn’t know that I had to remove the red end of the switch and push it in to remove the board. I pushed the button in and tried to remove the board. This wasn’t a good idea as the switch broke.

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JHS were great in allowing me to buy a replacement switch.
However the ribbon cable was rather sensitive and it broke, so I had to fix that too.

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What does annoy me is the Aion DIY pedals have a lot better engineering than JHS.
Firstly, notice that the external power socket isn’t aligned with the outside of the enclosure. There is only one spring washer in the whole pedal too, which is on the on-off switch.

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Have look at the gut shots of these two Aion pedals I built. They are far superior, they don’t use SMD components which makes repair easier. The ribbon cable has sockets and strain relief on the side that is terminated to the pcb. The battery cable has strain relief. Everything that is bolts to the enclosure has lock washers and yes the power socket aligns with the outside of the enclosure.

I can’t speak for all JHS pedals only the one I have. It’s a nice sounding pedal, but the engineering leaves much to be desired.

End of rant.

[Colossal]

I've built at least eight Aion pedals and every one was excellent sounding and fun to build.

[Dr Tony Balls]

What does annoy me is the Aion DIY pedals have a lot better engineering than JHS.

Is this shocking in any way? MOST mass-market pedals are built like absolute dog-excrement.

[GAStan]

I've built several pedals using pcb's from PedalPCB. They just supply the boad and documentation, you have to source everything else so it's basically a scratch build where you get to choose the quality of components that go into it. That site has an EXCELLENT forum for pedal building.

[Mark]

I have used Pedal PCB too and they do make a good product. Though I think Aion is a touch better with strain relief added to their boards.

[Mark]

I've built at least eight Aion pedals and every one was excellent sounding and fun to build.

I always have trouble with the artwork on the enclosure, so the kits are appealing for that reason. I wish other pcb makers would offer something similar, or liaise with a company to supply enclosures that accommodate their boards.

[Mark]

What does annoy me is the Aion DIY pedals have a lot better engineering than JHS.

Is this shocking in any way? MOST mass-market pedals are built like absolute dog-excrement.

I don’t mind Keeley, Boss, and MXR. Those pedals are built better. Though the Aion kits deliver a better internal design.

[audiohub]

I’ve built a number of pedals from both Aion and PedalPCB. They’re both great, and I often use Tayda to source the build parts (although, like everything else, this gotten a lot more expensive lately).

For me, the edge goes to PedalPCB because they print the actual component values for each location right on the board, which makes the whole construction process way faster and easier, and lessens the possibility of a mis-stuff.

Aion just prints the reference designators (C29, R12, etc.) on the board, so you have to look up the value of each component from a list before stuffing, which can be slow and more error prone.
They DO have some cool stuff that’s not available from PedalPCB though, so I buy stuff there from time to time.

[Mark]

I’ve built a number of pedals from both Aion and PedalPCB. They’re both great, and I often use Tayda to source the build parts (although, like everything else, this gotten a lot more expensive lately).

For me, the edge goes to PedalPCB because they print the actual component values for each location right on the board, which makes the whole construction process way faster and easier, and lessens the possibility of a mis-stuff.

Aion just prints the reference designators (C29, R12, etc.) on the board, so you have to look up the value of each component from a list before stuffing, which can be slow and more error prone.
They DO have some cool stuff that’s not available from PedalPCB though, so I buy stuff there from time to time.

Building the pedal is normally quite easy, doing the artwork for the pedal is problematic for me. The Aion kits eliminates that issue for me.

I use Tayda too.