# Ariel Posen pedalboard on a budget

> Build an affordable Ariel Posen pedalboard with 11 cheap pedals, each matched to a documented position and priced with its trade-off.

- Canonical page: https://pedalboardarchive.com/budget/ariel-posen/goodwood-studio-board-2021/
- Machine-readable index of the archive: https://pedalboardarchive.com/llms.txt
- Evidence and reconstruction conventions: https://pedalboardarchive.com/methodology/

A budget rebuild is the archive’s editorial opinion, not an observation. The substitutes were chosen here; the artist never used them. Prices are new listed prices at a named retailer on the date below and move without notice.

- **Rebuilds:** [Ariel Posen — Goodwood studio and travel board](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/ariel-posen/goodwood-studio-board-2021/) (2021)
- **Original board total:** ≈ $4,268.09
- **Budget rebuild total:** ≈ $816.30
- **Saving:** ≈ $3,451.79 (81%)
- **Prices checked:** 2026-08-21
- **Currency:** USD

Most budget rebuilds are about circuits: find a cheaper fuzz, accept a thinner fuzz. This board is not that. Goodwood Audio built Posen a studio instrument whose organising idea is recall - five loops under MIDI, two Chase Bliss units with motorised faders that physically move to a stored setting, a modular touchscreen processor, and presets on nearly everything downstream. You can get close to the sounds for a fifth of the money. What you cannot buy cheaply, at any price, is the board reconfiguring itself between takes. Every swap below says which of the two it is giving up.

## How to sound like Ariel Posen on a budget

A cheap Ariel Posen pedalboard cannot be everything the original was: this rebuild targets the eleven audio roles on Ariel Posen's 2021 Goodwood Audio studio board. It approaches the sounds, but not the motorised controls, five switched loops or whole-board MIDI recall that define the original workflow.

## Swaps

Every placement on the board it rebuilds is answered exactly once. Fidelity says how near the stand-in gets: **Same circuit** — The substitute is built on the same circuit as the pedal it replaces. Expect the difference to be in the enclosure rather than the sound. **Same topology** — The substitute shares the design the original is built on, but not its exact component choices or full control set. **Same job** — The substitute only shares what the unit does on this board. It sounds like itself, and the row says where it stops matching.

| # | Original | Original price | Substitute | Substitute price | Saving | Fidelity | Why | Trade-off |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | [PolyTune Mini](https://pedalboardarchive.com/pedals/polytune-mini/) | ≈ $53.90 | [Behringer TU300 Chromatic Tuner](https://pedalboardarchive.com/pedals/behringer-tu300-chromatic-tuner/) | ≈ $20.30 | ≈ $33.60 | Same job | This position tunes and mutes, and the TU300 does both accurately for twenty dollars. It is the smallest saving on the page and the easiest decision. | No polyphonic mode, so it is one string at a time rather than a single strum, and the display is harder to read under stage light. Thomann lists it at six to eight weeks. |
| 2 | [ML5 MIDI Loop Switcher](https://pedalboardarchive.com/pedals/ml5-midi-loop-switcher/) | ≈ $199.00 | [One Control Tri Loop](https://pedalboardarchive.com/pedals/one-control-tri-loop/) | ≈ $106.00 | ≈ $93.00 | Same job | Worth being blunt about this one: the ML5 is already cheap for what it is. Five true-bypass loops under MIDI control for $199 is good value, and the only way to save real money is to give up MIDI entirely. The Tri Loop does that - three loops, three footswitches, half the price - and keeps the drives in their published order. | You lose two loops and all recall. On the original, one MIDI message reconfigures the whole board between songs; here every change is a foot on a switch, and two of the five pedals have to live permanently in the chain rather than in a loop. Note also that at $193 a Moen GEC8 JR gives eight loops with presets - only $6 below the ML5, which is another way of saying the original is not the thing to save on. |
| 3 | [Octaland](https://pedalboardarchive.com/pedals/octaland/) | ≈ $319.00 | [Behringer Bass Brassmaster Fuzz](https://pedalboardarchive.com/pedals/behringer-bass-brassmaster-fuzz/) | ≈ $66.00 | ≈ $253.00 | Same topology | Both are octave-up fuzzes with a clean level alongside the fuzz level, which is the control that makes an octave pedal usable rather than a novelty. Setting direct under fuzz and playing above the fifth fret gets you into the same territory. | The Octaland is a hand-built circuit with its own gated character and a far better octave tracker. The Behringer is voiced for bass, so on guitar the octave is weaker on low notes, and the enclosure is plastic. |
| 4 | [Secret Machine](https://pedalboardarchive.com/pedals/secret-machine/) | ≈ $366.00 | [Behringer Fuzz Bender](https://pedalboardarchive.com/pedals/behringer-fuzz-bender/) | ≈ $51.00 | ≈ $315.00 | Same topology | The Secret Machine is a three-germanium-transistor homage to the Zonk Machine MKI with a bias control for the sputter, and the Fuzz Bender is a Tone Bender-lineage circuit with a bias control for exactly the same reason. Same family of circuit, same knob doing the same job. | Germanium is the point of the original and the Behringer is silicon, so the temperature-dependent, uneven character that people wait months for is not there. DanDrive sells direct with a waiting list of several months; this is also the only unit here priced in euro and converted. Thomann lists the Behringer at six to eight weeks. |
| 5 | [Automatone Preamp MKII](https://pedalboardarchive.com/pedals/automatone-preamp-mkii/) | ≈ $789.00 | [Mooer Preamp Model X2](https://pedalboardarchive.com/pedals/mooer-preamp-model-x2/) | ≈ $97.00 | ≈ $692.00 | Same job | What this position gives the board is a recallable gain and EQ stage that is always on. The Preamp Model X2 is the cheapest thing that does the recallable part - two channels, stored presets, full EQ - for an eighth of the price. | These are not the same kind of device. The Automatone is an analogue Benson preamp whose motorised faders physically move to recall a setting; the Mooer is a digital model with a stored patch. You lose the analogue path, the fuzz range at the top of the gain control, and the thing the pedal is famous for, which is watching the faders move. |
| 6 | [Duellist](https://pedalboardarchive.com/pedals/duellist/) | ≈ $349.99 | [Mooer Green Mile](https://pedalboardarchive.com/pedals/mooer-green-mile/) | ≈ $57.00 | ≈ $292.99 | Same topology | One of the Duellist's channels is built on the builder's reference TS808, and the Green Mile is a Tube Screamer-lineage circuit with two voices on a toggle. Low gain and high level puts it in the same place. | Two independent footswitches become one toggle, so the two voices cannot be stacked the way the original stacks them. The dip-switch voicing options have no equivalent. |
| 7 | [Broadcast-AP](https://pedalboardarchive.com/pedals/broadcast-ap/) | ≈ $240.00 | [Mooer Pure Boost](https://pedalboardarchive.com/pedals/mooer-pure-boost/) | ≈ $54.00 | ≈ $186.00 | Same job | The Broadcast is a console preamp used as an always-on colour, and the part of that a cheap pedal can reach is the clean lift with tone shaping. The Pure Boost gives up to 20dB with treble and bass shelving, which covers the job if not the character. | This is Posen's own signature pedal, built on a 1960s recording-console circuit with a transformer, and pushing it hard is where it becomes an overdrive and then a fuzz. The Pure Boost stays clean and then clips unpleasantly. If any single position on this board is worth saving for, it is this one. |
| 8 | [Hydra Stereo Reverb & Tremolo](https://pedalboardarchive.com/pedals/hydra-stereo-reverb-and-tremolo/) | ≈ $246.51 | [Mooer R7 X2 Reverb](https://pedalboardarchive.com/pedals/mooer-r7-x2-reverb/) | ≈ $96.00 | ≈ $150.51 | Same job | The Hydra is a stereo reverb and a tremolo in one box. The R7 X2 answers the reverb half in stereo with stored presets, which is the half this position spends most of its time doing. | The tremolo is gone. Mooer's Triangolo at $67 would bring it back, but that is another position and another $67 - and it would not be stereo. The Hydra's three-and-three mode pairing, where a reverb and a tremolo are recalled together, has no cheap equivalent at all. |
| 9 | [Thermae](https://pedalboardarchive.com/pedals/thermae/) | ≈ $390.00 | [Mooer D7 X2 Delay](https://pedalboardarchive.com/pedals/mooer-d7-x2-delay/) | ≈ $97.00 | ≈ $293.00 | Same job | Both are delays with stored presets and stereo outputs, and the D7 X2's analogue mode is the darkest of its seven, which is nearest the Thermae's bucket-brigade voice. | The Thermae is not really a delay, it is a pitch-sequencing machine that happens to repeat: its two intervals and glide turn repeats into arpeggios and dives. The D7 X2 does none of that. This swap keeps the echo and drops the reason the pedal is on the board. |
| 10 | [Beebo](https://pedalboardarchive.com/pedals/beebo/) | ≈ $415.69 | [Mooer Prime M1 Multi Effects](https://pedalboardarchive.com/pedals/mooer-prime-m1-multi-effects/) | ≈ $86.00 | ≈ $329.69 | Same job | The Beebo's job here is to host whatever effects the analogue chain does not cover and to take the board from mono to stereo. The Prime M1 does both, with presets and stereo out, for a fifth of the price. | The Beebo is a modular platform - you patch modules together on a touchscreen and build effects that do not exist as products. The Prime M1 hands you a list of effects someone else designed. That is the whole difference, and it is not a small one. |
| 11 | [CXM 1978](https://pedalboardarchive.com/pedals/cxm-1978/) | ≈ $899.00 | [Mooer A7 Ambiance Ambient Reverb](https://pedalboardarchive.com/pedals/mooer-a7-ambiance-ambient-reverb/) | ≈ $86.00 | ≈ $813.00 | Same job | This position is the final studio reverb in stereo with recallable programs. The A7 Ambiance is a seven-mode stereo reverb with stored presets and long decays, which covers the shape of the job at a tenth of the price. | The CXM 1978 is a Meris-built model of a Lexicon 224, and that specific reverb is the reason it costs $899. The A7 is a good ambient reverb and not that. The motorised faders go too, which on this board is not decoration - it is how a program is recalled and then adjusted by hand. |

## Method

Every swap keeps what the unit does on this board rather than what it can do on paper, and a swap is called a close clone only when the circuit is the same one. Prices are current retail listings read on the date printed below; the DanDrive Secret Machine is sold direct in euro and is converted at 1.08, which is the only non-dollar price here. Substitutes are new prices at Thomann, with stock status stated wherever a unit is on backorder. Two positions - the loop switcher and the Hudson Broadcast-AP - are ones where the page argues against saving the money, and says so rather than pretending the substitute is equivalent.

## Sources

11 cited sources across 10 independent groups. Two sources sharing an independent group report the same observation and count once.

1. [Ariel Posen's Custom Setup 2021](https://goodwoodaudio.com/blogs/news/ariel-posen-custom-setup) — Goodwood Audio (Primary source · article), published 2021-05-26, accessed 2026-08-02, independent group `goodwood-audio-ariel-posen-build`
2. [Pedal X Pedal: Ariel Posen](https://youtu.be/ITuemLX58BI) — Goodwood Audio (Primary source · interview), accessed 2026-08-02, independent group `goodwood-audio-ariel-posen-build`
3. [Ariel Posen on Teles, string gauge, tunings and rubber bridges](https://www.guitarworld.com/features/ariel-posen-mile-end-ii) — Guitar World (Primary source · interview), published 2023-02-07, accessed 2026-08-02, independent group `guitar-world-ariel-posen-2023`
4. [Automatone Preamp MKII, Thermae and CXM 1978](https://www.chasebliss.com/cxm-1978) — Chase Bliss (Primary source · official), accessed 2026-08-21, independent group `chase-bliss-official`. Builder pages for the three Chase Bliss units on this board. The Automatone Preamp MKII is a Benson-voiced preamp with motorised faders and MIDI recall; the CXM 1978 is a Meris collaboration modelled on a Lexicon 224. Prices used here are current retail listings: $789, $390 and $899.
5. [DanDrive Secret Machine fuzz](https://www.guitarpedalx.com/news/gpx-blog/dandrive-pedal-adds-2-more-compact-pedals-to-the-core-range---the-secret-machine-fuzz-and-working-man-fuzz) — Guitar Pedal X (Specialist source · article), accessed 2026-08-21, independent group `guitarpedalx-dandrive`. A three-germanium-transistor homage to the Zonk Machine MKI with mid and bias controls, listed at EUR 339 and sold direct with a waiting list of several months. Converted to USD at 1.08 for this page, which is the only non-dollar price on it.
6. [Morningstar ML5 loop switcher](https://equipboard.com/items/morningstar-ml5) — Equipboard (Specialist source · article), accessed 2026-08-21, independent group `ml5-listings`. Five true-bypass loops under MIDI control, listed from $199. Used here as a price reference only; note that for what it does this is already an inexpensive unit, which the swap says.
7. [King Tone The Octaland](https://equipboard.com/items/kingtone-octaland) — Equipboard (Specialist source · article), accessed 2026-08-21, independent group `octaland-listings`. Octave fuzz listed from $319, with a Mini version from $260. Price reference only.
8. [Hudson Electronics Ariel Posen signature Broadcast-AP](https://equipboard.com/items/hudson-electronics-ariel-posen-signature-broadcast-ap) — Equipboard (Specialist source · article), accessed 2026-08-21, independent group `broadcast-ap-listings`. Posen's signature version of the Broadcast, a discrete Class-A preamp based on a 1960s recording console, listed from $240.
9. [Keeley Hydra Stereo Reverb & Tremolo](https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/HydraRev--keeley-hydra-stereo-reverb-and-tremolo-pedal) — Sweetwater (Specialist source · official), accessed 2026-08-21, independent group `sweetwater-hydra`. Three reverb and three tremolo modes in stereo, listed around $246. The two halves are why no single budget pedal answers this position.
10. [Poly Effects Beebo modular processor](https://www.polyeffects.com/polyeffects/p/beebo) — Poly Effects (Primary source · official), accessed 2026-08-21, independent group `poly-effects-official`. A touchscreen modular DSP platform where effects are patched together as modules rather than chosen from presets, listed around $416.
11. [Mooer, Behringer and One Control guitar effect listings](https://www.thomannmusic.com/search_GK_gief_BF_mooer.html) — Thomann (Specialist source · official), accessed 2026-08-21, independent group `thomann-listings-2026`. Retailer listings read on 2026-08-21 for every substitute price on this page, together with stock status. Several cheap Behringer units are catalogued but on long backorder, which the swaps say out loud.