Wiring a pedal board?

[El Dorado]

I want to make a pedal board that allows me to switch the effects out of the circuit. If I have the guitar and amp jacks, and the seperate effects loop jacks, what is the best way to switch the effects out of the circuit? Could I just wire a 2 way switch and if so how do I wire it?

Also where would I attach the grounds coming off of the jacks? Copper foil?

 

[ericmeyer4]

Re: Wiring a pedal board?

loooper.com

that might what you are looking for.

 

[Bludave]

Re: Wiring a pedal board?

Why not just use true bypass effects?

 

[El Dorado]

Re: Wiring a pedal board?

Why not just use true bypass effects?

Because I already have a bunch of effects that aren't true bypass.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Wiring a pedal board?

Because I already have a bunch of effects that aren't true bypass.

that can be changed!

 

[Artie]

Re: Wiring a pedal board?

A simple way to do an overall bypass, is just to build a simple box, with four 1/4" guitar jacks, and a DPDT foot switch:

The guitar comes in the bottom left terminal. A jumper goes out the top left terminal into your first pedal. The output of your last pedal comes into the top right, and the bottom right goes out to the amp.

One foot press to bypass all your effects. And you can add jacks and switches to make it as flexible as you wish.

 

[El Dorado]

Re: Wiring a pedal board?

that can be changed!

Yeah, I looked in to that for my Dunlop 535q wah, but it has the jacks integrated right to the circuit, which sounded pretty complicated to change. I have a boss dd5 delay, an Ibanez chorus and an Ibanez phaser. I just thought it would be simpler and less expensive to have the true bypass effects loop.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Wiring a pedal board?

Yeah, I looked in to that for my Dunlop 535q wah, but it has the jacks integrated right to the circuit, which sounded pretty complicated to change. I have a boss dd5 delay, an Ibanez chorus and an Ibanez phaser. I just thought it would be simpler and less expensive to have the true bypass effects loop.

Artie Too has a fine idea...I'd do that if I were you!

 

[El Dorado]

Re: Wiring a pedal board?

A simple way to do an overall bypass, is just to build a simple box, with four 1/4" guitar jacks, and a DPDT foot switch:

The guitar comes in the bottom left terminal. A jumper goes out the top left terminal into your first pedal. The output of your last pedal comes into the top right, and the bottom right goes out to the amp.

One foot press to bypass all your effects. And you can add jacks and switches to make it as flexible as you wish.

That's great artie. That's just what I was looking for . Now what do I ground the jacks to on this thing?

 

[Artie]

Re: Wiring a pedal board?

All the jacks just ground to each other. A guitar cable is only two conductors. All the "rings" connect together. The "tips" are what you switch.

I'll see if I can post a better drawing tomorrow. Using real photo's of jacks.

(Getting ready to hit the rack here shortly.)

 

[proxy]

Re: Wiring a pedal board?

If you use a metal enclosure you probably won't need to worry about connecting the grounds as the metal of the enclosure will ground them all together. Also Sticking a 1 meg resistor between the hot and ground of both the input and output is advisable since it'll kill most if not all popping that can occur when you press the swtich.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Wiring a pedal board?

Also, pedalboard.com sells single and dual loop boxes. Unless I'm mistaken, the circuit looks a little more complicated than that....probably to make it switch quieter, plus there's a couple LED's in there.

I use a dual loop box in my pedalboard, and the right switch is for bringing in the Line 6's, and the left one goes straight to a tuner, with no return, so it's silent. The rest of the pedals are in at all times, but are true bypass. I'd recommend the dual, if you buy one.

 

[El Dorado]

Re: Wiring a pedal board?

Bump for Artie if you have time. If not I think I can do it from your original drawing.

 

[Artie]

Re: Wiring a pedal board?

Like this:

Green is ground, red is hot.

But, as GJ said, this is just a simple, basic, switcher. You may get a "pop" or "click" when you switch.

I'll see if I can build up a prototype to solve that problem, but it will take me some time. (As in, a few weeks.)

 

[El Dorado]

Re: Wiring a pedal board?

Thanks a ton Artie. I'm gonna order me a small box and switch from Small Bear ( http://www.smallbearelec.com/home.html ) and give it go. And if you design the prototype you can tell us how that goes.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Wiring a pedal board?

If you run into any problems after wiring it up, maybe I can crack open my loopbox, and see what the differences are. They're fairly simple, so it would most likely only be a few more details to get it perfect. I think I paid about $100 for my dual loop box.

 

[El Dorado]

Re: Wiring a pedal board?

If you run into any problems after wiring it up, maybe I can crack open my loopbox, and see what the differences are. They're fairly simple, so it would most likely only be a few more details to get it perfect. I think I paid about $100 for my dual loop box.

Sounds like plan Joneser.

 

[proxy]

Re: Wiring a pedal board?

I would stick a one megaohm resistor between the hot and ground leads of the "from guitar" and "to amp" jacks. Sometimes those switches get static on them and when you go to switch your get a big nasty pop. This will eliminate that.

 

[El Dorado]

Re: Wiring a pedal board?

I would stick a one megaohm resistor between the hot and ground leads of the "from guitar" and "to amp" jacks. Sometimes those switches get static on them and when you go to switch your get a big nasty pop. This will eliminate that.

Thanks for reposting that Proxy. I'll be sure to get some and do it when I make the order from small bear in the next few days.