Mad science-- pots and pedals

[aettin]

Hi all--

I bought a LowRider from madbean pedals (great pearl octaver clone), and  have a bit of a crazy wiring idea. However, it's somewhat of a doozy and I could really use the expertise of people as in the know as you guys are. It's a sweet pedal but I'm finding that 4 knobs are a little cumbersome to turn on the fly for my setup and so my ultimate goal is....

To use a 5-way selector switch to control the pedal!
Like so..

pos5 - only oct down at max
pos4 - oct down and clean both at max
pos3 - clean at max (actually thinking about having the pedal without and on/off switch, and this center pos as a clean signal through that doesn't require 9v power, if that's an option?)
pos2 - clean and oct up1 at max
pos1 - oct up1 at max

(oct up2 not used)

I know a 5 way is not the same as a pot (duh!), but since I'm using all the pots at max, I figured I could replace them with resistors before/ after/ in between the connectors? of the switch. If so, can this actually be done?
Would there be any chance you folks could please help me figure out which leads go where on the the 5-way from circuit-board? I realize this goes a little above and beyond normal troubleshooting, but for any of you that get as geeked out by crazy wiring ideas as I do, I thought it would be such a unique and exciting project and a tremendous help.

Thanks so much!

[slacker]

What sort of switch are you planning to use?
I can see how to do this using 5 positions of a 2 pole 6 position switch, but if you have some other sort of switch in mind we'll need to know what it is.

[Mark Hammer]

Ian raises a very important reality: the most commonly available switch configurations.  They are generally configurations of twelve contacts.  So:
12-position, single throw
6-position, double throw
4-position, triple throw
3-position, quadruple throw

That doesn't mean you could not get presets, but you may need to decide on some sort of combined preset-'n-tweak arrangement that uses a rotary switch and perhaps a subset of pots.

[aettin]

Hey there-- thanks so much for the reply guys. I was wondering if I could use a normal plane-jane 5-way strat selector switch a la below.
I know there isn't a lot happening on these, but if I run the resistors between the connectors (or before?) and then run the pedal so that each "pot" is used at its maximum level (now replaced by a constant resistor), and just switch between them according to the positions I listed above on the 5-way. As I said.. mad science. Conceptially this makes sense to me.. trying to figure out the wiring leaves me a little  Can it be done?

Thanks again.

[slacker]

Yes that should work. You don't need to replace the pots with fixed resistors, having nothing there will will be the same as the pot on full. Remove or don't install any of the volume pots or the mixing resistors R48, R49 and R55 and R45. Then connect one end of R55 to pad 3 of the down 1 octave pot, and the other end to upper tab 3 of the switch. Repeat this for clean with R48 to upper tab 2 and for octave up with R49 and upper tab 1. The resistors should be the same values as in the schematic. Connect the upper C tab on the switch to pin 9 of IC6C. That should give you the switching you want.

[Mark Hammer]

There are also so-called superswitches. that provide 5-positions but several addition sets of contacts such that players can whip up series/parallel and various coil-tap combinations.  Five positions with 4 sets of contacts might give you more room to move.

[slacker]

Yeah one of those would make it neater, with no need for flying components. The mixing resistors could stay on the board and the switch would connect or disconnect pads 2 and 3 of the relevant pots.

[aettin]

FANTASTIC! Gosh I really appreciate the help guys.. what a wonderful forum. Thank you! Just a couple small things--

1) Does it matter which side of the resistor's pcb terminal I connect to the pot and which side I connect to the switch?

2) Do I need to jumper the solder spots for R45 once I've removed it, if I'm not using down 2, or do I just leave them disconnected?

3) If I follow your original setup for using a standard 5-way, I don't seem to have any connections on the bottom half of the 5-way switch. Is this how it should be?

Thanks again!

[slacker]

1) Does it matter which side of the resistor's pcb terminal I connect to the pot and which side I connect to the switch?

I might not have explained myself very well, you remove the resistors from their original positions on the board, then connect one end of the resistor to pad 3 of the relevant pot position on the board and the other end of the resistor to the switch. Nothing goes where the resistors should be on the board.

2) Do I need to jumper the solder spots for R45 once I've removed it, if I'm not using down 2, or do I just leave them disconnected?

No jumper, just remove it.

3) If I follow your original setup for using a standard 5-way, I don't seem to have any connections on the bottom half of the 5-way switch. Is this how it should be?

That's correct, if the switch you use is the same as the one you posted a picture of then you only need the connections on the top side.

Thanks again!

No problem, look forward to seeing it.