# Paragon Mini



## Big Monk (Sep 21, 2021)

Thought I’d document my Paragon Mini build here.

Here is the enclosure I had drilled from Tayda:





Had a chance to populate the majority of the board yesterday and today:





Any opinions on the high/low gain resistor options? I’m emptied to make one side high gain or just put the resistors on a switch but enclosure real estate is tight.


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## JamieJ (Sep 22, 2021)

I put sockets in mine to swap between high and low gain but I still haven’t got round to trying trying the high gain option out.


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## Boba7 (Sep 22, 2021)

thewintersoldier said:


> I agree with Jamie, do sockets. I did on my paragon. I would do high gain regardless because it only adds about 20-25% more available gain and that's not a lot on a pedal with very little gain. At the very minimum I would do it on the side you plan on using for overdrive and leave the boost side regular gain.



Agree

I find that the classic higher gain (100k) into lower gain (1k) is perfect.


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## K Pedals (Sep 22, 2021)

Big Monk said:


> Thought I’d document my Paragon Mini build here.
> 
> Here is the enclosure I had drilled from Tayda:
> 
> ...


Or trimpots could be cool…


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## Big Monk (Sep 22, 2021)

Boba7 said:


> Agree
> 
> I find that the classic higher gain (100k) into lower gain (1k) is perfect.



So Side 1 = High Gain and Side 2 = Normal?



thewintersoldier said:


> I agree with Jamie, do sockets. I did on my paragon. I would do high gain regardless because it only adds about 20-25% more available gain and that's not a lot on a pedal with very little gain. At the very minimum I would do it on the side you plan on using for overdrive and leave the boost side regular gain.


I may just end up going high gain for both as it is not that much more gain to be honest.


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## SillyOctpuss (Sep 22, 2021)

I put sockets in my last king of tone build too and after playing with it for a few weeks have ended up on the lower gain values for both sides. 

Somewhat annoyingly though the yellow boost side sounds marginally better than the red side.  It doesn't matter how I set the knobs the yellow side always sounds just a bit sweeter.  Yay parts tolerances.  Because I built it on vero I could take both sides out and switch them but I'm not sure I can be bothered with the hassle and will probably just live with it... Maybe.


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## Big Monk (Sep 22, 2021)

Alright Gents.

I/O tonight and DC and Switch wiring. Should be ready to play tomorrow.


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## Boba7 (Sep 22, 2021)

Big Monk said:


> So Side 1 = High Gain and Side 2 = Normal?



Yes, that's what I do, and I believe it's the classic Analogman combination (Red higher gain into Yellow lower gain)


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## Big Monk (Sep 22, 2021)

Ended up going with 100k on both sides. I left both treble trims all the way off and both sides with side 1 of the switch engaged to start. 

Now that I think about it, I’m not 100% sure what the internal switches even do!


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## SillyOctpuss (Sep 22, 2021)

Big Monk said:


> Ended up going with 100k on both sides. I left both treble trims all the way off and both sides with side 1 of the switch engaged to start.
> 
> Now that I think about it, I’m not 100% sure what the internal switches even do!
> 
> ...



The internal switches select the clipping for both sides.  I haven't looked at the build doc for the mini but all switches off is the boost setting so you're just getting opamp clipping.  Switch 1 on either side should select soft clipping diodes for the overdrive setting and switch 2 will probably be the hard clipping for distortion mode.


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## JamieJ (Sep 23, 2021)

King Of Tone
		


There is DIP switch setting info half way down the page.


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## Big Monk (Sep 23, 2021)

I played it at full volume today.

I’m really impressed. It has a different flavor than my Boss SD-1 at equivalent settings and I really enjoyed layering boost and drive and then kicking them both on. Between my Vick Audio Overdriver, SD-1, Paragon Mini and the soon to be finished Kliche Mini, I have a real comprehensive overdrive section on my board.


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## Popnfreshbass (Sep 24, 2021)

What diodes did you end up using?

You’ll love the kliche mini. Kliche into paragon is probably my favorite stacked drives.


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## Big Monk (Sep 24, 2021)

Popnfreshbass said:


> What diodes did you end up using?
> 
> You’ll love the kliche mini. Kliche into paragon is probably my favorite stacked drives.



Using the recommendation from @JamieJ I used 1N4148 and 1N914.


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## Popnfreshbass (Sep 24, 2021)

Big Monk said:


> Using the recommendation from @JamieJ I used 1N4148 and 1N914.


Nice. Thats what I’ve used on all 3 of mine. They sound great!


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## Big Monk (Sep 24, 2021)

Popnfreshbass said:


> Nice. Thats what I’ve used on all 3 of mine. They sound great!



I’m loving both the Paragon and Kliche Mini. They have different ranges and drive flavors than my SD-1 so it’s been great having them all on my board.


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## NSJ (Oct 6, 2021)

Hi All, I was looking at data sheets for 1n4148 (https://www.vishay.com/docs/81857/1n4148.pdf) and it says 1n4148 is equivalent of 1n914. Are they same diodes just with different part numbers. Am I missing something? Does that mean I can (theoretically) use 1n914 for all 12 clippers (hard as well as soft)?

here are the data sheets: https://www.mouser.com/datasheet/2/308/1N914_D-2309448.pdf


			https://www.vishay.com/docs/81857/1n4148.pdf


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## Big Monk (Nov 21, 2021)

My beloved PM is going in for some minor surgery next week. When I built it, I had to use 0.68 uf instead of 1 uf film caps. So I added some 1 uf films in with my SBE order. 

Also, I’m going to tweak up the treble trim caps as well. I find mine hella bright and I’m a humbucker guy!


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## jeffwhitfield (Nov 21, 2021)

Noice! I'm building a full Paragon. Enclosure and parts should be here this week. First enclosure I'm using that uses the hammered copper type. Should be very interesting in terms of design.


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## Sturdag Lagernathy (Nov 22, 2021)

NSJ said:


> Hi All, I was looking at data sheets for 1n4148 (https://www.vishay.com/docs/81857/1n4148.pdf) and it says 1n4148 is equivalent of 1n914. Are they same diodes just with different part numbers. Am I missing something? Does that mean I can (theoretically) use 1n914 for all 12 clippers (hard as well as soft)?
> 
> here are the data sheets: https://www.mouser.com/datasheet/2/308/1N914_D-2309448.pdf
> 
> ...


Yeah, you can use either, or both diodes. 1n914 are an older version, but they are essentially the same. I built mine with sockets and tried all sorts of diodes, 1n914 and 1n4148 sounded no different. IMO, a diodes circuit placement and Vf has most effect on tone. Experiment!


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## Big Monk (Nov 27, 2021)

My Paragon Mini went through minor surgery today. 

When I originally built it I had to use 0.68 films in place of the 1 uf. Rectified that today and swapped in 0.022 uf for the Treble/Presence cap over the stock 0.01 uf. 

Have not rocked it yet other than to make sure I didn’t mess anything up.


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## jojofogarty (Dec 17, 2021)

Nice! What'd you use for the coordinates on tayda? I built one a while back, but I hand drilled the holes in a raw enclosure. I'm looking to re-house it.


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## Big Monk (Dec 17, 2021)

jojofogarty said:


> Nice! What'd you use for the coordinates on tayda? I built one a while back, but I hand drilled the holes in a raw enclosure. I'm looking to re-house it.



I made the coordinates in Corel from the Drill plan. I posted the coordinates somewhere here. 

I’ll screenshot the coordinates this week.


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## jojofogarty (Dec 19, 2021)

This is what I have so far based on coordinates adapted from the Terrarium template on Pachyderm Pedals Blog. Does it look about right to you?





						Tayda Electronics Drill
					

Tayda Electronics Drill Designer for custom enclosures.




					drill.taydakits.com


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