LED Insanity

[Philippe]

An acquaintance has asked me to assist him in building his first DIY project...a TS808 overdrive derivative with clipping options & a frequency cut-off (aka Landgraff Dynamic Overdrive).

Sounds basic enough except for what I perceive to be his obsessive-compulsive mentality.

Dig this...(1) he wants a green & red LEDs to indicate effect/bypass; (2) two ultrabright LEDs for the clipping modes; (3) two ultrabright LEDs to indicate frequency settings; (4) plus similar LEDs on the AC adaptor & input/output jacks to verify current source, input jack on/off current drain & effect out.

Other than suggesting a larger Hammond 1590BB enclosure & possibly DPDT switches for the LEDs (?) I had to decline any involvement with this moronic project. Maybe Beavis Audio can steer him in the right direction.

Chances are this effect is going to sound like a bag of microwavable popcorn if it even functions at all...or worst case, he can use it to help illuminate the stage. *wondering where these kinds of people come from...must be some sort of Freudian anal thing*

[mth5044]

Mmm I love LED's. The more LED's a pedal has the better. Sounds like a fun project to me. I have no interest in a tubescreamer though 

[zombiwoof]

Sounds to me like he wants the pedal to also light up his pedalboard.

Al

[jasperoosthoek]

I have three white 1 watt LEDs. Interested? They can serve as input/output cable indication. Put the third in the bottom to indicate that the box is upside down.

[amptramp]

An acquaintance has asked me to assist him in building his first DIY project...a TS808 overdrive derivative with clipping options & a frequency cut-off (aka Landgraff Dynamic Overdrive).

Sounds basic enough except for what I perceive to be his obsessive-compulsive mentality.

Dig this...(1) he wants a green & red LEDs to indicate effect/bypass; (2) two ultrabright LEDs for the clipping modes; (3) two ultrabright LEDs to indicate frequency settings; (4) plus similar LEDs on the AC adaptor & input/output jacks to verify current source, input jack on/off current drain & effect out.

Other than suggesting a larger Hammond 1590BB enclosure & possibly DPDT switches for the LEDs (?) I had to decline any involvement with this moronic project. Maybe Beavis Audio can steer him in the right direction.

Chances are this effect is going to sound like a bag of microwavable popcorn if it even functions at all...or worst case, he can use it to help illuminate the stage. *wondering where these kinds of people come from...must be some sort of Freudian anal thing*

Clipping with LED's is fine as long as they are shielded from ambient light.  Keep them totally enclosed inthe box or you will find they make efficient photodiodes that respond to ambient lighting by modulating the sound with all kinds of hum.  Outdoor concerts will have the clipping levels vary with ambient light, so that cloud that comes over the stage will increase the volume and clipping level if the LED's are outside.

[pjwhite]

It doesn't sound moronic, but it does sound expensive.  It would be great to have visual indicators for every possible state on a stompbox, but space, complexity and cost considerations can make you start to think twice about how much you really need all those lights.

[bassk81976]

Clipping with LED's is fine as long as they are shielded from ambient light.  Keep them totally enclosed inthe box or you will find they make efficient photodiodes that respond to ambient lighting by modulating the sound with all kinds of hum.  Outdoor concerts will have the clipping levels vary with ambient light, so that cloud that comes over the stage will increase the volume and clipping level if the LED's are outside.

wait, light shining on an LED effect it's clipping/sonic affects?


AWESOME.

[Taylor]

Put the third in the bottom to indicate that the box is upside down.

Get this man a beverage.

[Quackzed]

if your overkill led is lit, it is working properly.

[Bad Chizzle]

Oh man, LED on the bottom is Classic!

[Earthscum]

Jes*s, man! I thought I had the only friend who apparently has a fetish with indicators!

Just make sure you tell him you have to charge an extra $50 for the breakout box. Then another $20 as a power surcharge from wattage you consumed during testing and debugging  

... As a side thought, have you made sure he doesn't want his own stage light controller built in, and maybe an incandescent or two for 'mojo'?

[stringsthings]

An acquaintance has asked me to assist him in building his first DIY project...a TS808 overdrive derivative with clipping options & a frequency cut-off (aka Landgraff Dynamic Overdrive).

Sounds basic enough except for what I perceive to be his obsessive-compulsive mentality.

Dig this...(1) he wants a green & red LEDs to indicate effect/bypass; (2) two ultrabright LEDs for the clipping modes; (3) two ultrabright LEDs to indicate frequency settings; (4) plus similar LEDs on the AC adaptor & input/output jacks to verify current source, input jack on/off current drain & effect out.

Other than suggesting a larger Hammond 1590BB enclosure & possibly DPDT switches for the LEDs (?) I had to decline any involvement with this moronic project. Maybe Beavis Audio can steer him in the right direction.

Chances are this effect is going to sound like a bag of microwavable popcorn if it even functions at all...or worst case, he can use it to help illuminate the stage. *wondering where these kinds of people come from...must be some sort of Freudian anal thing*

Does your acquaintance ever visit this forum?

[kupfer_m]

don't LED yourself go on that!

[rustypinto]

most of these sound easy to do, and you may consider a tiny microcontroller to manage all the I/O and alleviate some, if not all, of the popping problems you might run into.