ideas: easily tasting diodes in circuits and a patch cable saver

[bonkdav]

Basically i just found the program and started messing around with it today.  I drew out two ideas i thought might be helpful in the guitar pedal world.  the first larger one is just a way to quickly switch between different types of diode clipping in a circuit.  I thought it would be really useful to build one of these and then plug it into the breadboard for the diode clipping stage so you could try out a bunch of different combinations. i suppose you could put it into a pedal if you really love switches. switch 8 allows asymetrical clipping and switch 9 chooses the direction of that and the rest just selects the pair of diodes.  you could also add more switches or eliminate some (like switches four and 5 if you dont want to fill in your own diodes) i left diodes 13 through 16 blank because i wasnt quite sure of what to put in but i know theres a ton more ways to clip a signal like transistors or different silicon diodes.

the other thing thats drawn on there (horribly) is an idea to save patch cables. connect the sleeve of the plug to ground and the ring of the jack to ground and use a switch to send the signal either to the jack tip thing or to send it to the tip of the plug so the signal can be put directly into another stompbox.

let me know if you find this useful or wrong. im really new to this so im sorry if it seems oversimplified or things are left out. also all switches are spdt.

[bonkdav]

im not sure if i set up the asymetrical clipping part correctly. i may have too many switches and not enough wire. also another way to do this would be to use an spst on every diode and then make them all connectable between the two points. this would allow you to really mix and match your diodes for selection. if you dont understand what im saying i can draw it out too. but both these posts are kinda worthless because they are so simple im sure people have thought of them before. o well.

[GREEN FUZ]

I`ve got to say, I don`t really understand the switching thing. Don`t get me wrong, I`m not saying it wont work just that I don`t understand it. How would this be an advantage over socketing the diodes?

[foxfire]

you might be surprised? everytime i think i have a bit of a handle on things i'll read a post on something so simple it makes me mad and then ultimately glad that i at least know it now.

[GREEN FUZ]

I absolutely agree, that`s why I qualified myself. I don`t want to shoot the idea down in flames I`m just trying to get my head round it.

[boyersdad]

I love the idea, and have one myself, that I made with a rotary switch, but I just don't understand this drawing at all.

[bonkdav]

yeah its very similar to using a rotary switch but instead it uses switches (spdt) to choose. think of it kinda like the march madness ncaa bracket thing except in reverse order and the winner is the pair of diodes you select. also im not 100% sure on the asym clipping part so if you actually do build it i would leave that part out. but ill give you a basic rundown of  how it works.

start at switch 7 (because the very top part is wrong i think. i was trying to get cute) and you can choose either the left bank of diodes or the right bank of diodes. then you can choose left or right again. and then finally you can choose the set of diodes.  one end is connected to ground and the other is sent into the circuit.

this govnor layout from ggg has the idea kind of built in. my idea just allows a lot more diodes to be used.

http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/pdf/ggg_mgv_mod_lo.pdf

the reason this would be better than socketing is it would allow you to sample different diodes against each other instantly when testing out a circuit.

if you can find a rotary switch it would probably be easier and cheaper but not as cool as flipping tons of switches. make sure you label too.

also this wouldnt be limited to diodes. you could quickly sample caps too, even electrolytic, just make sure they're all aligned the same way and you plug in the two end wires correctly. (resistors are a possibility too)

i just figured this/these little thing(s) could be built and used when breadboarding and sampling to compare things against each other instantly. or you could. but they do require a lot of switches which kinda sucks.

i hope this cleared things up a little bit if not ill redraw it somehow or maybe explain it better.

[Alex C]

This reminds me of dano12's "Clipboard."

think of it kinda like the march madness ncaa bracket thing except in reverse order and the winner is the pair of diodes you select.

Nice explanation. 

[bonkdav]

that clipboard thing would probably be better to build. i didnt know switches like that existed.(im really new to electronics) mine and his both show ways to test out your favorite diode pairs in a circuit, but i think ill eventually draw up a way to find your favorite diode pair, now that i know you can get large banks of spst switches.  it wont be anything spectacular but it will be really fun when testing out a circuit i think.

Does anyone understand the patch cable saver thing or is that also a terrible drawing?