| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 1468.1 | big project... | NRPUR::DEATON | | Mon Sep 11 1989 09:27 | 31 |
| I've been thinking of doing this. I have some thoughts on what I'd
like to see in it...
- It may end up being somewhat large, as I have four pedals I'd
want to install, plus a volume pedal. Different brands of pedals make the size
problem inevitable.
- I'd like to put a power strip on it, but I'd prefer to not have
that exposed. Therefore, I'd probably have a compartment inside it to install
the powerstrip (a six-outlet fused strip). Since two of my pedals are boss, I
am hoping to rig up the dc power supply in such a way that one feeds the two
pedals (plenty of leftover amperage).
- I'd like the board to have the flexibility to easily change the
order of pedal lineup. Therefore, I've been toying with the idea of building
a small patchbay into it. The arrangement would be such that all pedals would
plug into a default setup, but by inserting patch chords into jacks adjacent to
the ones the pedals are plugged into, I could change the order of things. I
don't know how important it will be for me to do this, but it seems like it
would be a nice feature.
- I want it to have a cover such that, when closed up, will look
like a road case.
Just some of my thoughts... It'd be nice to be able to get a pre-made
unit like the one Boss sells (it'd be a lot less work, too), but as good as Boss
is, they don't have everything perfect. I have the Real Tube overdrive unit
that far exceeds anything I tried of Boss' overdrive units.
Dan
|
| 1468.2 | | DNEAST::BOTTOM_DAVID | The sea refuses no river... | Mon Sep 11 1989 10:29 | 10 |
| I did this about 7-8 years ago. I had a wah, pahser, chorus, distortion,
compressor. Everything was powered by a power supply that I built, I had some
redundancy in that I had two power supplies that I could switch between, both
were monitored with leds, the box even had a bypass if everything failed
It closed nice, looked like a road case etc...
It was too big for nearly every club I played in and it wasn't that big, 2' x 1'
x 10" (packed it tight eh!)...the box hardly went out.
dbii
|
| 1468.3 | 2c worth of advice | ANT::JACQUES | | Mon Sep 11 1989 15:25 | 42 |
| I built one years ago. It was wedge shaped, like a small floor
monitor. It held a large Morley pro-panner pedal, an MXR micro-
amp, a EH distortion, a Boss CS1 chorus (about 6x the size of a
CE3), and a Boss KM04 mixer (about the same size as the CE1).
The power strip and 9v power supply was hidden inside the wedge,
with everything attached to the top of the board with velcro.
It had some advantages to it (ie. quick setup, and safer storage/
transporting of efx), but it was large, heavy, and was difficult
to re-wire anything once it was assemble. I have retired it along
with most of my old efx pedals. I now have a Boss BCB6 carry box
which contains a CS3 (compressor sustainer), FT2 (dynamic filter)
a DD3 (digi-delay), PSM5 (power supply/master switch), and a TU12
tuner. I have room for two more efx, but they must be Boss efx
or of the same size and shape. This limits me to using Ibanez
stomp boxes, and possibly DOD, as well as Boss. TC electronics
makes a few boxes which are the same size, and could be integrated
into a Boss carry box, for someone that wants the best and doesn't
mind paying for it, however most TC efx won't fit. I still use my
Morley pedal, but set it on the floor next to the BCB6. I paid
$100 for my carry box, but have seen used ones at Daddy's for $50.
A see a unit advertized in GP from a company called efx center.
They make a pedal board with a pop-off-top which holds about 4
stomp boxes (various sizes/brands) as well as two pedals, but I
doubt it is big enough for a large old-style Morley pedal. This
board is covered in Ozite carpeting, and sells for just under
$200 (ouch). This efx board includes a power strip and a 9v
power supply which sources 1.5amps of DC for running efx.
Ross used to sell a board with Velcro to hold efx. I modeled mine
after it. I haven't seen them for quite a few years.
Arion makes a pedal board for their efx. McDuff's music has one
in stock if you would like to check it out. Actually, although
I am not too hot on Arion efx, this carry case looks very well
made, similar to a Rhino rack case. Check it out.
Mark
|
| 1468.4 | I agree 100% with dbii | SALEM::ABATELLI | I don't need no stinkin' Boogie! | Tue Sep 12 1989 09:40 | 22 |
| RE: .2
dbii brings up an excellent point here. I also have put together
a pedal board, although I don't know whether or not, I'm ever going
to be able to use it. It's HUGE! I don't have alot of stuff in it
either. The biggest thing I have in this board is an older type
Morley volume pedal, the rest includes a compressor, chorus, delay,
my amp's channel switcher and a AC strip. That's it, but just like
Dave, my board is 2'x 1'. Maybe it doesn't seem like alot, but
when you're cramped onto a stage, which is nothing more than an
oversized drum riser you need ever inch of space you can get. The
solution? Drop that oversized volume pedal? No, I need it for the
Les Paul cause they designed the volume pots too far away from the
strings ;^). I'll use the Strat for everything right? OK! Now I'm
down to a board that's 1.5' x 10" gosh... this isn't much better!
Find out for yourself. I'm sure you can find middle ground on this
somewhere. Maybe buy a Boss ME-5 effects pedal! Yea... that's the
ticket! ;^) now we're down to ~1.5' x ~10"... hey wait, isn't
that what we had before? ARGGGGHHHH!
Fred
|
| 1468.5 | How About A Remote Pedalboard? | AQUA::ROST | Chickens don't take the day off | Tue Sep 12 1989 10:36 | 21 |
|
The last couple of replies are great.
I used to use effects when I was playing top 40 but gave up on them
simply because of the clutter on the floor. Even with a pedal board,
it would have been unusable in a lot of situations due to space.
On thing you might consider is modifying your effects....
Most modern stomp boxes use electronic switching to avoid the "pop" of
placing a mechanical switch directly in the audio path. It's easy to
rewire the switch leads to go to a phone jack (hey, you could even use
a "switching" type jack so that you bypass the box's switch only when
you insert a cord) then run a guitar cord from this jack to a small
footswitch. This way, all you need are as many footswitches as you have
stomp boxes plus your wah/volume (if you use one) in front of you and
you can have your stomp boxes mounted in a box twenty feet away.
I notice that DOD now sells a footswitch with LED that would work great
for the above, or you could of course, build your own with
multi-colored LEDs for a couple of bucks.
|
| 1468.6 | Good Idea! | NRPUR::DEATON | | Tue Sep 12 1989 11:23 | 13 |
| RE < Note 1468.5 by AQUA::ROST "Chickens don't take the day off" >
What a super idea! That would solve a number of problems I have besides
the size issue... Every once in a while I want to be able to tweak the effects
and this way, I can set the effects box up near me (rather than having to bend
down).
Would these have to be latching on/off pedals or momentary? How would
you wire an LED to light when switch is pressed? You'd need some kind of power
supply in the pedal wouldn't you?
Dan
|
| 1468.7 | Quick Explanation | AQUA::ROST | Chickens don't take the day off | Tue Sep 12 1989 11:52 | 42 |
|
Re: .5, .6
You want latching, not momentary. To light LEDs is easy. Most
footswitches work on the principle of switching a voltage to ground.
You merely wire up a battery's hot side to the LED in question, and
the other side of the LED in parallel with the switch. When the switch
is open, the circuit through the LED is not completed, and the LED is
off. When the switch closes, the LED lights as current passes from the
battery through the LED to ground. One battery can light alot of LEDs
too.
Battery +
|
|
|
____________________|_______________
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
LED LED LED LED
| | | |
| | | |
/ / / /
Switches / / / /
/ / / /
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
|___________|___________|___________|
|
|
GND (Battery -)
You also wire these switches up to a jack or cord to go to your
effects. You can add resistors in series with the LEDs to limit
current draw and control brightness.
Brian
Brian
|
| 1468.8 | resistors or else!!!!!! | HAMER::KRON | KA-BOOM | Tue Sep 12 1989 15:36 | 5 |
| just for the record....you MUST put a resistor in this circuit or
you will need new l.e.d.s as soon as you turn it on!!!
this is turning out to be a good topic-but I'm not patting myself
on the back!!!!THANKS GUYS(AND OR GIRLS)!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bill
|
| 1468.9 | ohm my | NRPUR::DEATON | | Tue Sep 12 1989 15:49 | 6 |
| RE < Note 1468.8 by HAMER::KRON "KA-BOOM" >
Any suggestion on what value of resistance to use?
Dan
|
| 1468.10 | <yagotta experiment!> | HAMER::KRON | KA-BOOM | Wed Sep 13 1989 10:32 | 6 |
| dan,
any value should be okay....the idea is to limit the current through
the l.e.d.s . try 1-k ohm and see how bright it looks....then adjust
from there.
-bill
|
| 1468.11 | | NRPUR::DEATON | | Wed Sep 13 1989 10:44 | 7 |
| RE < Note 1468.10 by HAMER::KRON "KA-BOOM" >
O.K., it's just that when you said the LED might be zapped that I
thought there might be a minimum value to save the LED.
Dan
|
| 1468.12 | ohms law | ANT::JACQUES | | Wed Sep 13 1989 12:25 | 38 |
| There are various types of LED's but they all need a minimum amount
of current to make them light. Some LED's require 20ma to turn on.
If you are using a 9v transistor battery, and the LED needs 20ma
to light, ohms law tells you that you need
9v
---- = 450ohms
.02a
If you were using a 9v battery with a 1000 ohm resistor the current
would only be 9ma and the led would not light.
LED's also have a max current they can handle. Let's say it is
50ma.
9v
----- = 180 ohms.
.05a
180 ohms is the lowest resistance value you could use in this
case, anything with a lower value resistance will result in current
in excess of 50ma and blow the led.
I've mentioned this before but Boss makes what I feel are the best
footswitches available. They offer the FS5L (latching type) and the
FS5U (momentary type) foot switches. The latching type switches
include an led to tell you on/off state, as well as a polarity
switch to make them compatable with all types of equipment. The
momentary type works well as a punch-in pedal for multitrack
recorders, and also works in other applications (ie. switching
banks on an ME5, using manual mode on the ME5, etc) and also
includes a polarity switch. Perhaps the nicest feature is that
these switches are keyed so they can be ganged together into one
unit. You can gang as many as you want and use them to control
rack-mount efx, or rig up your own set up using Brian's suggestion.
Mark
|
| 1468.13 | Typically Roland... | CSC32::G_HOUSE | Ghastly ghoulish apparitions | Wed Sep 13 1989 19:28 | 7 |
| re: Boss footswitches
Yes they are very nice, but for footswitches (a device that really does
nothing more then a two dollar piece of hardware, regardless of how
much internal processing is really involved) they are DARN expensive.
Greg
|
| 1468.14 | you get what you pay for | ANT::JACQUES | | Thu Sep 14 1989 10:53 | 43 |
| I beg to differ slightly. A very simple Peavey on/off footswitch
sells for about $15.00. These feature mechanical stomp switches,
no led, no polarity switch, do not gang together, and are stamped
out of cheap sheet metal, with a plastic cover on the bottom.
I bought one of these to use with my 701R but have never used it
even once. If someone would like to buy it, I am asking $10 for it.
A Boss FS5L or FS5U sells for about $25.oo. For the extra $10.oo
you are getting a micro switch like those used on The Boss ME5,
and the FC100 foot controller. The internal switch is also used
in all Boss stomp box pedals. Besides being noise-free, they are
also mechanically designed so that no pressure is placed on the
switch mechanism itself for long life. The fact that the switches
can be ganged makes for a much neater setup on stage, especially
if you are using 2 or more foot switches. Another neat feature is
that the Boss footswitches do not have a hard-wired cable, but
instead have a 1/4" phone jack, which allows you to use any cable
you desire. The optimum setup is to use angled 1/4" plugs for
a nice close fit, and custom length cables to match the application.
Some people may consider this a dis-advantage, since you now have
to pay extra for a cable, but I consider it a convenience, since it
affords you greater flexibility, and easier servicing. If you need a
long cable to connect to a rack, you can use a 25'er or longer. If
you just need a 2' cable to hook into an ME5, you can do that.
The bottom line is that you get what you pay for, and if you want the
best (again, I believe Boss makes the best foot switches) you must pay
a higher price. To me spending $25.oo on a footswitch to accompany a
$500 rack-mount effect is not unreasonable.
I have one FS5L which I use with my midiverbII, and one FS5U which
I use as a punch-in/out pedal for my multi-tracker. I plan to get
another FS5L's for the reverb in my mixer.
Another supplier of high quality footswitches is Mesa Boogie. They
offer several differant models, which are not limited to working
only with Mesa Boogie amps. The smaller Mesa footswitches (with
one or two stomp switches ie:channel switch/reverb) are approximately
the same size and shape as a Boss stomp box pedal and can fit into
the Boss BCB6 and several other pedalboards.
Mark
|
| 1468.15 | I scwooed up | CSC32::G_HOUSE | Ghastly ghoulish apparitions | Thu Sep 14 1989 17:56 | 7 |
| Regardless of what Peavy sells one for, it doesn't make the switch part
any more expensive. Agreed that the Boss ones are very nice. For some
reason I thought that they were significantly more expensive then $25
(like $50). Guess my analogy breaks down if there isn't that much
difference in price huh?
Greg
|
| 1468.16 | | BUSY::JACQUES_FIS | | Fri Sep 15 1989 11:50 | 13 |
| I bought both my Boss footswitches at the same time, and paid
$45.00 for both. I paid $25 for the FS5L and $20 for the FS5U.
The FS5L is slightly more expensive because it includes a battery
clip, and an LED.
BTW, the Tascam punch-in/out pedal sells for about $25.00, and
none of the local Tascam dealers had them in stock. I was prepared
to buy one, but I am really glad I stumbled across the Boss switches
first, because for the money, they are a much better switch.
Mark
|
| 1468.17 | | VLNVAX::ALECLAIRE | | Sat Sep 16 1989 12:42 | 3 |
| Does anyone have a Boss ME-5 they could comment on?
595$ at daddy's seems high, but if I were to buy pedals and put a box
together it would probably be more expensive.
|
| 1468.18 | | ASAHI::SCARY | Pretty neat username, huh ? | Mon Sep 18 1989 04:10 | 7 |
| I demo'd one before I bought my GP-8, and I was thoroughly unimpressed.
It sounded like a bunch of stomp boxes wired together. I simply
didn't like it ...
Scary
|
| 1468.19 | Nuff said ? They make a lot of RACKET! | ASAHI::COOPER | Insert Heavy Metal phrase here.... | Mon Sep 18 1989 09:09 | 1 |
| Sssssssssssssssssssssssssssss....
|
| 1468.20 | pros and cons | ANT::JACQUES | | Mon Sep 18 1989 09:11 | 19 |
|
For one thing, the ME5 has digital reverb, a headphone jack,
and a built-in noise suppressor. The GP8 does not include any of
these features.
The GP8 is for people with deeper pockets. It's made to rack-mount
with other efx. The ME5 is really intended to be standalone, although
it does include an efx loop to hook in additional efx. Realistically,
how many pedals can you afford to have on stage ?
For the price of an ME5, you can get a ART SGE, which has a lot
more efx, and is rack-mountable.
It's all a matter of personal preferance.
Mark
|
| 1468.21 | | VLNVAX::ALECLAIRE | | Mon Sep 18 1989 11:40 | 7 |
| Thanks for the aside to this note. I don't have a rack and won't be
getting one either, and since I don't play out I don't care about
stage usage. What I want is something that has the controls on the
floor, Roland has a new machine with a pedal controller, I'll check it
out.
I've heard the ART SGE in demo many times and to me it squashes the
sound too much.
|
| 1468.22 | Factory presets can only show you so much | CSC32::G_HOUSE | Ghastly ghoulish apparitions | Mon Sep 18 1989 12:50 | 9 |
| >I've heard the ART SGE in demo many times and to me it squashes the
>sound too much.
That's the way most of the factory presets sound because they almost
all have compression on them. It doesn't have to sound that way. You
might still want to give it a chance, it really does do a lot for the
money.
Greg
|
| 1468.23 | | ASAHI::SCARY | Pretty neat username, huh ? | Wed Sep 20 1989 02:47 | 9 |
| Rule #1 with just about any multi-effect unit is to build your own
patches. The ones on my GP-8 are pretty canned too, but I've come
up with some real sweet ones that don't sound anything like the
factory presets. The factory presets usually show too much of what
the effect can do, resulting in overkill. Less is more ...
Scary
|
| 1468.24 | | CHEFS::DALLISON | Cocked and loaded | Wed Sep 20 1989 10:09 | 42 |
|
Slight rathole, but below is a diagram of the pedalboard Randy
Rhoads used :-
Distortion controls
| Chorus controls
| | Flanger Controls
| | |
V V V
----------------------------------------------------------------
| O O O O O O O O O |
| |
| o o o o o o o o |
| ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ |
| |1| |1| |2| |3| |4| |5| |6| |7| |8| |9| |
| |a| --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- | | |
| --- --- |
________________________________________________________________
1a = Cry Baby Wah-Wah
1 = Wah-Wah pedal on/off switch
2 = MXR 10 band EQ on/off switch
3 = Aux. effects loop in/out switch
4 = Pedal Board by-pass switch
5 = MXR Flanger pedal on/off switch
6 = MXR Stereo Chorus on/off switch
7 = MXR Distortion pedal on/off switch
8 = Echo unit on/off switch
9 = Roland Volume pedal
10 = Marshall Amp(s)
This is how its rigged :-
mono -> 9 -------------------> 10
/
Guitar -> 1 -> 7 -> 2 -> 5 -> 6 -
\
stereo -> MXR (or Yamaha) ---> 10
Analog delay
Cheers,
-Tony
|
| 1468.25 | PEAVEY STRIKES AGAIN!!!! | HAMER::KRON | KA-BOOM | Fri Oct 06 1989 18:38 | 8 |
|
Guess what.....I saw a Peavey MIDI-able 'board at Sam Ash for 75
piastas and snatched it up. All my standard Boss sized stuff as
well as the blue tube will fit and I can program it to switchthem
all in and out and all I need to do now is make a small board for
the volume pedal and the wah and I'll be all set.
Thanks again guys and dolls for all the input it was much appreciated!!
-Bill
|
| 1468.26 | Don't build your own | DREGS::BLICKSTEIN | Conliberative | Mon Oct 09 1989 17:37 | 31 |
| I haven't got through all the replies here (I've haven't read this
file for awhile), but if you're open to radical ideas:
Don't!
That is, don't build a pedal board. If you want something that
makes sense for the long haul, and will be adaptable to different
situations, new equipment, etc., get a MIDI foot controller and put
everything else in a rack.
Pedalboards are things of the past. With MIDI it's possible to
setup "patches" so that each piece knows what it's supposed to
do for that "patches" (which could include doing nothing or BYPASS).
You push a pedal on your MIDI controller and everything does what
it's supposed to. You wanna replace your reverb with a new hot one,
no problem, you wanna add a pitch shifter, no problem.
About the only thing you need at your feet is the patch selector,
a CV pedal which with the right equipment can be just about ANYTHING
according to how you program it (with patch 8, it could be a wah pedal,
with patch 9 it could be a volume pedal, with patch 10 it could control
the amount of reverb, etc.)
Not all the current MIDI stuff accepts CV (control voltage) information
but the newer stuff coming down the pike does.
I'd also take a good look at devices like the Boss ME-5, Ada MP-1,
Roland GP-8 or GP-16, etc.
db
|
| 1468.27 | | DNEAST::BOTTOM_DAVID | Rock and Roll doctor | Tue Oct 10 1989 13:45 | 5 |
| re: -.1 Keeping in mind that many midi multi-effects units have momentary
loss of signla processing when switching patches, causing sometimes-wart-like
burps when you punch up the new settings...
dbii
|
| 1468.28 | OH NO..MR BILL! | HAMER::KRON | ELECTRIFIED | Mon Jun 24 1991 12:41 | 28 |
| in the interest of gumming up the works and wasting valuable time
effort and $$$ I gave the peavey 'board to a buddy of mine to use as
it wasn't doing what I wanted and was a pain in the a$$to program.
Not so much difficult but the good sounding combinations of effects
are shall we say somewhat limited....especially for bass.So here we
go again.......................
input-----volume pedal-----p/s-2-----flanger------amp
amplifier's-----chorus-----blue tube-----60 watt 1x12"
Biamp hi-out Guitar combo
amplifier's------poweramp section----2x18" cab.
Biamp lo-out
the porpoise of all this is to allow the clarity of the
biamp setup with the ability to cover an even wider area
of sound by distorting the hi end to fill up the trio sound
during sparse segments like solos.I have diddled with this
a little bit and it is quite effective .
AND NOW ......WATCH ME CRAM ALL OF THIS INTO A USEABLE
SIZED BOX!!!!!!
-STAY TUNED KIDS!!!!
-Bill =:3)
|