Boss RV-5 Rehouse and Mods

[frankenteletron]

Hello.

So I've been obsessing over a Boss RV-5 project for a while now. I simply love the sound and not interested in buying a different reverb. The modulate setting is magic to me and I'd love easy access to using another mode on the fly, expanding it's capabilities by rehousing it for dual settings, full wet as well to make wiring easier.

I had someone that I sent my RV-5 to for all of this. After over a year wait and literally getting 90% finished with the project they had some unfortunate personal issues that made them unable to finish. So they chose to bail but kindly replaced my original RV-5 and I've been pursuing other avenues from square one since.

I'm looking for a total rehouse/recase to allow more internal room for these mods. I'm hoping maybe even do this myself as I've done countless other simpler mods over the years but not this complicated of course.

The goal is soft-touch off/on (replacing the original off/on switch), "dual modes" toggled by a foot switch with 2 LEDs or a bi-color LED indicator, "dual settings" that would follow that switch... and a kill dry / full wet foot switch. I realize this is a really tall order because finding info on doing ANY part these myself is like hunting for unicorns.

If someone who has done anything close to this would be able to share diagrams, wiring info or gut pics that would be AMAZING!

Happy Saturday y'all!

[Digital Larry]

Not offering to do it, but just brainstorming a little.

I think the switching could be accomplished using analog 2x1 mux functions.  That is, your pushbutton for "A/B" would actually first go into a T-type flip flop (like the crossed transistor/cap circuits you see everywhere).  Then you'd have a logic signal that would alternate between 0 and 1 for each button press - that's your "select" signal.

Then you double up on the pots and assuming the top and bottom of each one is GND and +V, and the wiper just goes to a chip somewhere, disconnect the wiper from somewhere, connect the old wiper to a 2x1 mux input, connect the new pot's wiper to the other 2x1 input, and the switch toggle signal to the mux's select line.  Then the mux output goes back to "somewhere". Do the same for the other two pots.  If that's NOT how the pots are wired then it becomes more complicated.

Assuming that the mode selector switch is simply a 1P6T rotary connecting pulled-up signals to ground 1 at a time, then the last mux gets wired as a demux.  The input (the 1-side) would get connected to ground and the output would get connected to appropriate mode pin.  If you wish to be able to select any mode for your two settings, then you'd have to get another 1P6T rotary and then you'd have to connect the demux outputs to the common pin on each rotary.  The "selected" rotary switch would be able to ground the mode select line through the demux and the other one would just be waving in the breeze awaiting its special moment.

That's a lot of assumptions though!

Keeping in mind my strong bias against soldering, and the thought that all these little wires would be somewhat fragile, if the intention was to gig with this I'd go so far as to suggest getting two RV-5s and just use an A/B switch to select the one you wanted.  OK, OK, I realize half the fun is conceiving and building it, so don't let me ruin your fun.

[frankenteletron]

Thanks for the response! I really do appreciate you taking the time and effort.
I guess I'm in over my head on this one because I do not understand several of the terms in your post. "mux functions", "T-type flip flop", "logic signal" etc...
The mode selector is a 9mm B50k potentiometer with 8 detents.
I'll keep hunting or maybe someone can dumb it down to a diagram, drawing or pic.
I know JHS pedals and many other companies at one point or another have offered similar mods in the past.
Some still do but I'm just looking to do it myself or try and reverse engineer it from visuals.

[Digital Larry]

Mux/Demux refer to "multiplexer/demultiplexer".  I would look up CMOS chips 4051, 4052, 4053.  I am old school so don't know if those are still around but something equivalent probably is.  They are like controllable switches that analog signals can go through in either direction.  Digital equivalents have a fixed idea of input and output and can't be used here (not to mention they don't pass voltages right through).

A T type flip flop is one that "T"oggles on every clock pulse (like from a footswitch).  Any Boss pedal has this kind of circuitry inside.

If the mode selector switch is a pot rather than a switch then that makes things a little different.

Hopefully I've given you some hints and terms you can search on and find out more, or somebody here with more free time might be able to assist.

I started on my journey of learning about electronics more than 50 years ago so my explanations are probably excessively short or vague and maybe even sometimes wrong.  I hope this doesn't put you off continuing to learn.  I blew a few things up in my hobbyist phase which is why I went to university to study electronics... I don't like admitting defeat when I don't even know what happened.

Good luck!

[roseblood11]

If you want two totally independent modes with independent potentiometer settings, switching would be very complex. Why don't you buy two RV-5 pedals and mount both circuits in one enclosure, with an A/B switch and a master bypass?

[frankenteletron]

If you want two totally independent modes with independent potentiometer settings, switching would be very complex. Why don't you buy two RV-5 pedals and mount both circuits in one enclosure, with an A/B switch and a master bypass?

Yeah. I may actually wind up doing that one day when I decide to drop the cash on another RV-5. I managed to add a mini toggle that gives me the kill dry option on this one. It's scratching the itch for now. Very cool sounds and easy enough to click the toggle with my foot. It would definitely be nice to have dual modes AND dual settings at some point.

Thanks for offering feedback!

Mux/Demux refer to "multiplexer/demultiplexer".  I would look up CMOS chips 4051, 4052, 4053.  I am old school so don't know if those are still around but something equivalent probably is.  They are like controllable switches that analog signals can go through in either direction.  Digital equivalents have a fixed idea of input and output and can't be used here (not to mention they don't pass voltages right through).

A T type flip flop is one that "T"oggles on every clock pulse (like from a footswitch).  Any Boss pedal has this kind of circuitry inside.

If the mode selector switch is a pot rather than a switch then that makes things a little different.

Hopefully I've given you some hints and terms you can search on and find out more, or somebody here with more free time might be able to assist.

I started on my journey of learning about electronics more than 50 years ago so my explanations are probably excessively short or vague and maybe even sometimes wrong.  I hope this doesn't put you off continuing to learn.  I blew a few things up in my hobbyist phase which is why I went to university to study electronics... I don't like admitting defeat when I don't even know what happened.

Good luck!

Thank you sir! Very helpful info.