Strymon Big Sky Reverb Teardown! See what's inside!

Hello and welcome back to the bench. Finally a Strymon pedal makes it's gray bench debut, and it's none other than the extremely popular Big Sky. Enjoy!
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#strymonbigsky #strymon #reverb #guitarpedals #electronics

[@jcrhee]

Damage Control Engineering is the parent company of Strymon.

[@killroy123]

Such a cool name and likely a reference to Marvel. Dorks. Lol

[@VirtualAve]

they used to produce the Demonizer and Womanizer pedals. I craved them during my teenage years, but ended up with 3 boss crunch boxes which I adore.

[@Liushenfanushui]

Really hardcore video! Thanks for the effort, master!

[@gertjeeeh]

Man you deserve so many more views. Quality content, nice editing and enjoying to watch!

[@adeptgopnik]

Damage Control Engineering is what Strymon was called before Strymon. I think all their pedals have that on the boards. Possibly because the engineers still technically work for "Damage Control Engineering" would be my guess. There is actually a Timeline from pre Strymon name change thats branded from Damage Control, though its the same people just the first iteration.

[@adeptgopnik]

also want to mention Damage Control did alot of tube pedals including the timeline was tube originally. You can see where the current version came from with the original having alot of similar ideas implemented.

[@alexandruv]

You are truly amazing my friend for doing those! Wish I had as much knowledge as you!

[@timchalmers1700]

Way cool !! Sorry I'm late in finding you. I'll be going back thru the past videos.

[@coupe-lee]

I vote for either of the Electronic Audio Experiments and Obstructures collaborations (0xEAE Boost/Fuzz).

[@joybuzzer]

I've not opened up my Strymon Timeline, but I kinda wouldn't be surprised if they used the same PCB for that as they do the Big Sky.

[@joybuzzer]

Yep, confirmed. Inside the Timeline is the exact same PCB. Same part number and everything.

[@robertyboberty]

Any chance we could take a peek inside one of the new EHX Pico pedals? I am curious about their repairability :)

[@thorstenoerts]

The through hole DIP part is probably an optocoupler for MIDI.

[@Roikat]

Yup, I was going to make the same comment - it’s next to the MIDI jacks, and looks like other optocoupler chips I’ve seen.

[@grzn5254]

Hey, you should open up a dirty b hinds mastodrive.

[@samedgar2283]

Hey Mate any chance youd be able to do a Tear down on a Stonedeaf PDF1x

[@NERDOFUNK]

Can you do one on the UAFX Golden Reverberator or other UAFX pedals please, i love the reverb, but i hate that the bluetooth is allways on =)

[@MC-hx6nk]

In case anyone has damaged one of their "ribbon" cables and needs to replace, you should look up FFC (Flat Flexible Cable). Considerations are the number of ways (conductors), pitch, length, and whether the bared contacts are same sided or opposite sided. Should be very generic.

[@nisios]

What did you do with the standoffs between PCBs? Its seems so easy to disassemble b3cause you have no standoffs, but its a pain in the ass to do it witht them

[@michaelglidden4765]

Iron Ether Xerograph Deluxe would be my request. Another cross between analogue and digital.

[@BlackMan614]

I think I'll buy the plugin.

[@ZachariahConnor]

You know, I think I see why these cost so much hahaha

[@meesterdinglefritz2064]

Yeah, those things are nuts! At least they can justify their cost.

[@graybenchelec]

That DSP chip is ~$60 on mouser. I’m sure strymon gets price breaks for the quantity they buy, but still.

[@Patrick-pv9pe]

So it's literally a computer in a guitar pedal case.

[@ZachariahConnor]

Most reverb pedals are computers unless they have a spring inside

[@Patrick-pv9pe]

This just tells us that it might as well be a computer plugin.

[@ZachariahConnor]

@@Patrick-pv9pe they made it a plugin actually. $190 or something

[@Patrick-pv9pe]

Learn something new every day, thanks@@ZachariahConnor

[@perekman3570]

It's a DSP which is not the same as a general purpose computer, even though it's programmable.

[@waynegram8907]

Most guitar pedals have only ONE enclosure ground, not sure why they are using 7 different enclosure grounds which will cause more signal to noise ratio issues and ground loop because of the potential difference. I think boss & Ibanez uses a spring or tab from the PCB to the enclosure for the enclosure ground.

[@TristanJCumpole]

I don't think it's that egregious of an error as the distances are small and the conductivity of the grounded parts is very high.

[@dale116dot7]

Since there is a very fast processor on the board and the switching times are pretty fast (sub-nanosecond), having the parallel grounding helps the high frequency shielding and most importantly static discharge immunity - having the multiple grounds probably reduces the chance that hitting the box with a static zap (even just touching it during a show) causes the DSP to reset or crash. I have similar issues with automotive ECMs, I end up trying different grounding combinations to get the best performance for EMI and ESD testing. All-analogue pedals won’t have that constraint.

[@gerrykavanagh]

Holy shit, for such expensive pedal, is it really too much to ask to wash the flux residue off?

[@PickledDill907]

When doing SMD processes, you often use no-clean flux. Which doesn't really need to be cleaned and there are little benefits to doing so. Why add an extra processing cost and make the pedal cost more for no benefit.

[@gerrykavanagh]

@@PickledDill907 I'm talking about the flux around the ring of LEDs. It looks like standard flux that has been washed with IPA, but hasn't been followed up with a water wash to fully clean the residue off. As to why? Strymon's market position is that of 'premium quality', so surely they would want to back that up with high-end manufacturing.

[@quantumm313]

@@gerrykavanagh something is sketchy with this board. Its missing the plastic board to board standoffs. Someone had this thing open and was messing with it prior to this video being shot. Could have been sent in for repair or could have been a different at-home tech. Those encoders break easier than the pots do, and it looks like both were replaced. Def not from the factory looking like that.

[@chrisdee5032]

Stick it in the dishwasher, it'll be fine.

[@matteuklol]

For £500 id rather they made it in china so i can afford it

[@matteuklol]

dispatch master is better

[@jeff1872t]

For 400+ buck please clean the leads off the boards, thanks.

[@DS-nw4eq]

You just voided your warranty. You shameful man. 😂