True Bypass Looper pedals drawing/schematic??

[Duke of Metal]

hey guys,
anybody has a drawing or instructions on how to build a True Bypass looper pedal??

somthing in pdf format would be nice.


Thanks,
Duke

[Paul Marossy]

I built something similar to this. It is so simple that a schematic is almost unnecessary. All you have to is get a 3PDT switch and wire it like a true bypass effect circuit, except that instead of an effect circuit, it's just another pair jacks for a loop. The rest of the 3PDT switch can be used to switch a bi-color LED to indicate which setting it is on.

Here is a picture of the one that I built:
http://www.diyguitarist.com/Images/FX-Looper.JPG

[Duke of Metal]

I built something similar to this. It is so simple that a schematic is almost unnecessary. All you have to is get a 3PDT switch and wire it like a true bypass effect circuit, except that instead of an effect circuit, it's just another pair jacks for a loop. The rest of the 3PDT switch can be used to switch a bi-color LED to indicate which setting it is on.

Here is a picture of the one that I built:
http://www.diyguitarist.com/Images/FX-Looper.JPG

hey Paul,
I actully found this earlier and saved the pic to use in the future.
http://www.diystompboxes.com/tbbox/tbbox.jpg

thats pretty helpful and shows what i need to do.


Thanks,
Duke

[Paul Marossy]

That's pretty much exactly how I built mine. I never saw the thing that Aron drew up...

The only potential problem that you can have is a pop when switching. I had this problem at first with my digital FX unit, but I fixed that by changing the level on the unit. I think there is still a really small pop. I just had a thought that maybe one loop could use a grounded input scheme, maybe it would help with the pop? Or maybe pulldown resistors?
Anyhow, have fun!  

[remmelt]

i made one to this exact picture and it works very well. next time i would  change it to be input-grounded when off. the switch made a nasty pop when it had my big muff pi in the loop. i fixed this by tying the effect send signal line to ground through a 2M2 resistor.

i also added a switchable 500K lin pot between the effect send and effect return signal lines. this turns the box into a sonic annihilation feedback funny man. fun to be had.

search this forum for a picture, i made a nice one explaining exactly what's here.

have fun!

[Duke of Metal]

i made one to this exact picture and it works very well. next time i would  change it to be input-grounded when off. the switch made a nasty pop when it had my big muff pi in the loop. i fixed this by tying the effect send signal line to ground through a 2M2 resistor.

i also added a switchable 500K lin pot between the effect send and effect return signal lines. this turns the box into a sonic annihilation feedback funny man. fun to be had.

search this forum for a picture, i made a nice one explaining exactly what's here.

have fun!

Can you possibly help me search for the picture??

Also, regarding the 2M2 resistor. Do you mean you solder 1 side of the resistor to the loop send jack and 1 sideof the resistor to the wire thats going to the jack??

So the resistor would be between the wire and the jack.


Thanks,
Duke

[siaoguitar]

Hi can someone tell me what this looper does?
so it let u send your effect in and out? what else?

Thanks, i m trying to decide whether i need a aby box or thhis looper thing
will an ABY box let me use 1 guitar to 2 amp & 2 guitars to 1 amp?

[Mark Hammer]

A/B/Y boxes are focussed more on the output, with the option to send your output signal ( after all effects processing) to amp/path A, path B, or both.

In contrast, a looper assumes there will be only ONE input and ONE output (to the amp or some stage/device that will apply in all instances), BUT there may be either one set of effects inserted into that path OR a different set.

So, for example, you may have a compressor and EQ box set for a bright. clean, and nondistracting rhythm tone in one loop, and a wah/distortion/chorus combo set for solos in the other loop.  Stepping on the loop-select switch lets you leave everything where it needs to be within each loop and, in essence, turn all the pedals in one loop OFF and the pedals in the other loop ON with one footpress.

If you use closed-circuit send/return jacks that are "normalized" (i.e., the send jack is automatically connected to the return jack when nothing is plugged in) then the same pick-one-loop-out-of-two box can serve as a simple effects bypass where one of the loops is a straight wire feedthrough.

In truth, an A/B/Y box *can* do a lot of this except that whatever is inserted after the A or B outputs may go to separate amps or channels.  That, in itself, may be what some players need to do (e.g., clean rhythm goes through one signal path to an amp that complements rthythm playing, while solos go through another set of effects into an amp that best complements the tones you want for solos), but obviously this assumes one uses a multi-amp, or at least multi-channel, setup.  For players who have more pedals than their feet can step on but only ONE amp a loop-select box is optimal

Clear?

[Gilles C]

Thanks, i m trying to decide whether i need a aby box or thhis looper thing will an ABY box let me use 1 guitar to 2 amp & 2 guitars to 1 amp?

Why don't you build a box which will have both, A/B and Effect Loop.

Like this one:

http://gtechblues.fateback.com/schem_switch_box.html

(do not click on the other menu items, it was on that site only for a test.)

You need only a togle switch to change between the AB and Effect Loop options.

And add a footswitch to add the Y option that would connect both outputs to one input.

Gilles

[siaoguitar]

hi Gilles, sorry, i can't read schematic, can someone send the witing diagram to me thanks. I think it's cool

[Gilles C]

Ok, that's what I am trying to do on the new version of my site that is not completed yet. I want to update the drawings of my ab box to make it easier for those who don't read schematics.

BTW, here is what I have so far: www.gtechblues.ca

Here is a pic of my box

http://www.finitesite.com/gtechblues/photos/SWpict.gif

When the toggle switch is in the AB position, INPUT 1 goes to A and INPUT 2 goes to B in the normal position of the footswitch. INPUT B is connected to ground if not present. So is B output.

When the footswitch is pressed, INPUT 1 goes to B and INPUT 2 goes to A. If INPUT 2 is not used, it is still connected to ground. So is A output.

NOW... when the toggle switch is in the Effect position, and that you connected the INPUT of an effect to output B and the OUTPUT of the effect to INPUT 2.

When you hit the footswitch, the guitar will go from INPUT 1 to OUTPUT B to the effect input to the effect output to INPUT 2 to OUTPUT A.

Btw, the only thing I would change is the position of INPUT 1 and INPUT 2 to have INPUT 1 on the right.

I will try to finish the wiring diagram of that as soon as I can. Normally people prefer to make an AB box OR an effect loop box, but I like to have both options in the same box.

Gilles

[Gilles C]

I lost control of my mouse...

[jasonober]

http://www.singlecoil.com/tb-strip/tbstrip.html