Stupid Question about pedals - second attempt

[RW James]

I used to have a volume pedal on my board - it was the last in the train. I used it to kill any ambient noise from the pedals between songs.

I found I was just using it as a kill switch - never to adjust the volume. It was taking up valuable space on my pedal board, so I took it out. But I would still like some kind of kill switch.

So I'm thinking that I can build a little pedal with a simple double pole switch in there and just break the flow to the amp (I'll use the other pole for an indicator light).

Am I over simplifying this? Will I get a "pop" or other annoying noise with this?

I can't find anything like this commercially available and I haven't seen any schematics for this - which leads me to believe this is really simple to do. I'm probably over-complicating things (like my 8th grade algebra teacher used to tell me).

Sorry for being stupid - but that's just me sometimes...

 

[B2D]

Re: Stupid Question about pedals - second attempt

You could put a Boss tuner pedal at the end of the chain and use the main output. When you turn it on you'll have a tuner AND it will kill the output so you can tune silently... if you liek that kind of thing.

If you're just looking for a simple kill switch, I'd imagine it wouldn't be that hard to build something or look into a cheap a/b box with the side running into nowhere.

 

[The Golden Boy]

Re: Stupid Question about pedals - second attempt

You could put a Boss tuner pedal at the end of the chain and use the main output. When you turn it on you'll have a tuner AND it will kill the output so you can tune silently... if you liek that kind of thing.

Most of the time my TU-2 is engaged it's as a mute between songs.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Stupid Question about pedals - second attempt

Yeah, I agree about the tuner. I've always used something like an A/B box that mutes the signal to tuner. You can use it anywhere in the chain.

 

[Pink Unicorn Horsey]

Re: Stupid Question about pedals - second attempt

I also use the TU-2 as a tuner/mute switch. It's a great little utility pedal. Plus, it's got a buffer, which helps if you're running through a large number of pedals.

- Keith

 

[ErikH]

Re: Stupid Question about pedals - second attempt

+1 on the tuner. I do the same thing now that I have one....LOL.

 

[Rich_S]

Re: Stupid Question about pedals - second attempt

If you DO wire up your own "kill" switch, the correct way to switch it is to disconnect the output line from the last effect and ground it, just opening the amp input will make a loud hum.

 

[ericmeyer4]

Re: Stupid Question about pedals - second attempt

I use an A/B box I got from B Bent and one side goes to my pedals the other goes to the tuner so when I want to mute I click on that and no more sound.

 

[RW James]

Re: Stupid Question about pedals - second attempt

I put my tuner first in the pedal train (right behind my A/B from B Bent - I use the A/B to select inputs, that is, two guitars)

Honestly, since I got rid of my DOD pedals I don't have as much of a noise problem - but I use to get a lot of noise generated by the pedals, even with my tuner engaged (since they came AFTER the tuner)

If you DO wire up your own "kill" switch, the correct way to switch it is to disconnect the output line from the last effect and ground it, just opening the amp input will make a loud hum.

Are you saying to ground the output (to the amp)? Is that safe for the amp?