anatomy of a custom switcher build, touring band (long post)

[joegagan]

i was commissioned by a santa fe band ,  'round mountain'   (       http://cdbaby.com/cd/roundmountain   )

to simplify their stage setup with a custom switching/pedalboard setup.
each of the two brothers plays multiple acoustic/amplified instruments, switching almost very song!  fortunately, the percussion, bagpipes , trumpet and accordian were outside the scope of what i was dealing with.

previously, they had multiple fishman etc preamps ( each instrument runs unique EQ etc) right at their feet, along with the multiple signal and power cords for each, cluttering the stage and adding confusion during live performance. this created problems- noises, delays and general unprofessionalism in their live shows. cords would get tangled, volumes would be off at the wrong moment and on and on.
they also were tuning by ear on stage, during performance.

we had a 2.5 hour meeting to come up with a technological solution to the stage madness.
we considered many options, but finally it was decided that they would be best off manually unpluggin the prior song's instrument and pluggin in the upcoming song's inst between songs, and that the switching could be post-tuner to send each instrument's send to it's respective preamp (rear of stage) via a custom a-b-c switcher. they will use special pop-free cords to plug in the instruments to cut down the possibility of pops/buzzes if they forget to use the tuner to mute the signal.



i recommended boss tu-2 tuners since i really like the buffer in those pedals , and they can be used to power other pedals later should the need arise. this also simplified my build since i didn't need to build buffers, my boxes only contain LEDs and switching functions.

the other simplification factor would come from only having to plug in one signal cord and one power cord at the stage end.. these were heat-shrinked together as a simple snake. the stereo jack for  the a-b channels is split into two mono cables at the back- of -stage end for the preamp inputs.

i decided to borrow the power for my LEDs from the power of the tu-2 internally. this was one of the challenges of the project... the boss PCB had to be modded slightly since the power output for aux power is normally disabled during battery only power. for max flexibility, round mountain needed these boxes need to work on either wall wart power or batts equally.

the 'c' output is for future expansion. if needed, the c channel uses a separate mono guitar cable and the 'c' output jack.

the switching utilizes common 3pdts, with each output side grounded when not in use to eliminate open hots on the unused channels.

the entire thing was built on 1/2" high density masonite, primed , then painted 4 coats with automotive 'duplicolor' flat black enamel from checker auto parts.

the boss tuners were mounted directly to the board sans bottom plate using 3/4" #4 screws through the pedal board. they screwed down very securely. these screws threaded nicely into the boss holes that previously held the stock bottom plate.

the switch enclosures were mounted upside down, with the larger part screwed directly to the board. internally, the LEDs were glued to the tops using automotive RTV silicone.

appropriate heat shrink was used for the custom cables, which utilized  3 -conductor high quality mic cable and switchcraft ends. the boss power supplies needed their cords extended by splicing in high quality 2 conductor cable.

special note on the new boss power suppies: they are now utilizing some sort of dual doughnut transformer filtering at the pedal board end.  the power supply is silent, so far so good!

altogether this project had over 20 hours invested due to the design/ consultation aspect and the care taken to assure years of trouble-free roadworthiness, along with the custom cabling and extensive work to procure all the parts.


questions / comments welcome!

[aron]

>for max flexibility, round mountain needed these boxes need to work on either wall wart power or batts equally.

Too bad they required this, otherwise it would have been much easier. Cool job!

[joegagan]

thanks aron. figuring out the power supply internally on the tu-2 was only a small part of the job. even if they only used power supply power, i would have still had to run the power cable into the tu-2. i think this looks cleaner and takes less setup time than having  two power inputs on the pedalboard.


now i have a greater respect for those companies that make switches and cables for touring bands.

i will take pics of the power adaptor isolation transformers, interesting to see.

[Incubus]

As you mentioned that you secured the tuners without the bottom plate, couldn't you still have the bottom plate under the tuner, and have the screws coming up from under the board, through the bottom plate holes and into the tapped holes in the tuner itself ?

This way, they could avoid the situation of the bottom plates ending up in a box somewhere at home, never to be seen again.

[joegagan]

since i tapped into the power, and hotwired the output for durability and ease of stage setup, the tuners will permanently be married to the boards. longer screws would have been required, weakening the setup, since the #4 screw has a small diameter. also, i like the lower height of the footswitch this way.

the bottom plates were dispatched to europe, where they will see a second life as snowshoes for bunnies.

[joegagan]

BTW, good question incubus, thanks for the input.

here is the internals of the power supply filtering from boss.

[Incubus]

The reason I asked about the bottom plate is because I'm going to mount my pedals onto some type of board exactly like you did, but I think I'm gonna use the plates as well.

I just didn't want to do the whole velcro thing because in future, if I want to take a pedal of the board and remove the velcro, I didn't want to face the possibility of a stack of glue being left behind.

BTW, that filtering you showed, what cable is that a part of ?

[joegagan]

yes, i agree. for more 'normal' pedal board applications i think it is good to keep the bottom plate for future reselling etc.

i have heard of people using bicycle chain sections for a dual screw mounting tab on the outer corners of pedals.

not a real big fan of velcro either.

the photo of the two transformers is on the boss psa-120S, near the pedal end. now i am reading the box, it says the ps contains 'output current protection circuit', so is the protection in the ac end or is it in these transformers, not sure.

[frank_p]

Sure, about all this. Ferrite cores might introduce our study labs ....   Those two in a row, ferrites are intersting me from a very logical, non discrimitory, and  "commmon sense" point of view...
Let your day pass, and come back to it!
FHP.