Can I wire in an "always on" dry signal to run parallel with the effect signal?

[Dave Locher]

Is it possible to run the dry signal right through an effect pedal so that it is always there, whether or not the pedal is on?

I have a home-built overdrive pedal that I bought off of the builder and I really like it. It is true bypass. I would like to be able to blend the overdriven signal with my dry signal, and I thought an easy way to do that would be to just wire the two jacks together with a jumper wire. I thought that would give me my guitar signal 100% of the time, and when I kicked the pedal on I would be able to play with the effect volume to balance with that dry signal to suit my taste.
Well, I tried it last night. It did not work. At all. Depending on where I jumped the input hot signal to, I either got nothing at all, or the pedal didn't pass sound but generated its own squeal.

Is it possible to do what I want? I am guessing it is not, because I am guessing the signal is affected whether or not there is a wire jumping from hot to hot, but this is all a guess because although I have wired and re-wired and modified the wiring on several guitars over the years I have never messed with a pedal at all.

If it IS possible, HOW do I do it?

[devastone]

Re: Can I wire in an "always on" dry signal to run parallel with the effect signal?

Without giving it much thought (I'm supposed to be thinking on someone else's dime right now), it probably doesn't work because you are shorting the input of the circuit to the output, hence your feedback loop. It would probably require some active circuitry, like a single opamp mixer circuit, to blend the 2 together. Look up the Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive schematic, it has a clean blend control.

[Hank-]

Re: Can I wire in an "always on" dry signal to run parallel with the effect signal?

Is it a 3PDT or DPDT switch? Also is the input socket stereo or mono?

You should be able to do it, but you may need to do the mod at the footswitch terminals instead of straight point to point from the in/out sockets.

Edit: the addition of blend control like Devastone suggested would be more effective though.

[Dave Locher]

Re: Can I wire in an "always on" dry signal to run parallel with the effect signal?

Stereo input jack. 3PDT switch.
I was hoping to completely bypass the switch.
If it requires anything more complicated than adding a wire it is over my head and I will just leave well enough alone.

[Chickenwings]

Re: Can I wire in an "always on" dry signal to run parallel with the effect signal?

http://xotic.us/effects/x-blender

[VinceT]

Re: Can I wire in an "always on" dry signal to run parallel with the effect signal?

Gibsin175 beat me to it. The XBlender does this really well - and with some added functionality. I use one for me effected lead tone, effectively bringing several pedals on at once and being able to blend on the fly (just wish they'd make it with an expression pedal style blend, rather than the large knob)


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[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Can I wire in an "always on" dry signal to run parallel with the effect signal?

Never knew about the X-Blender; a lot more convenient than a wet/dry rig! I really want one!!

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Re: Can I wire in an "always on" dry signal to run parallel with the effect signal?

It's easier to do with rack units in conjunction with line mixers.
I used to run all of my effects in parallel during my ADA rack days. One side of the ADA went straight to the mixer dry, then I used the other side going into a 1x4 split, and each of those splits went to their respective device, ie; Digitech DSP256XL, Digitech IPS33-B, ADA 2-FX, & an open spot.

My dry signal was always preset, and I used CC assignments to engage each effect respectively.

In theory, I imagine that you might be able to achieve similarly with pedals, but the line mixer becomes and issue on a pedal board. Only ones that I'm aware of that are small enough would be one of the CAE half rack ones, or one of the 80's pedal sized 1x4 line mixers that Digitech/DOD used to make.

[jtougas]

Re: Can I wire in an "always on" dry signal to run parallel with the effect signal?

There are other Gate/Loop pedals, but the X-Blender looks like a solid solution...

[Hank-]

Re: Can I wire in an "always on" dry signal to run parallel with the effect signal?

Boss LS2 line switcher would work as well for cheaps.

[Dave Locher]

Re: Can I wire in an "always on" dry signal to run parallel with the effect signal?

Boss LS2 line switcher would work as well for cheaps.

I might give that a try. I see it has +20db boost as well, which means it could also replace a boost pedal.
At first glance it doesn't look like it would work because the choices are all "this OR bypass" but I figure one could just use a patch cord for one of the loops & use the "loop A+B" option.

[Hank-]

Re: Can I wire in an "always on" dry signal to run parallel with the effect signal?

I might give that a try. I see it has +20db boost as well, which means it could also replace a boost pedal.
At first glance it doesn't look like it would work because the choices are all "this OR bypass" but I figure one could just use a patch cord for one of the loops & use the "loop A+B" option.

That thing can do so many things if you get creative with the connections for different applications, should be cheap used too. The A+B option will let you control how much of A or B is present in the mix, i think a plug instead of a patch cord might be needed for certain things.