VOX Satchurator true bypass tutorial link

[Ice-9]

I found this while searching for some info on the Vox satchurator pedal, its a tutorial on true bypass mod for this pedal. I have not got this pedal so am unable to verify the mod.
http://arjinted.blogspot.com/2009/01/vox-satchurator-true-bypass-mod.html

[Mark Hammer]

It's well done, and I trust it on face value, but you would think that the target market for any product associated with Joe Satriani would be tonal purists.  In which case, I honestly can't see why Vox would produce a pedal that could in any way benefit from true bypassing.  There are, to be sure, pedals that do benefit from true bypass, but they sort of stopped making them around 1980 or so.

Just as a point of information, I made myself a "Great Cheddar" pedal, using the layout and project information at geofex.  The switch is standard DPDT using an actuator like Vox uses (purchased from Small Bear), and one of those little PC-mount DPDT latching switches that Steve Daniels refers to as "bypass-on-board" (I buy them from a place in Toronto for a little over a buck apiece, and they come without the bracket shown on Steve's http://www.smallbearelec.com/Detail.bok?no=33 ).  Very nice soft-touch action and convenient foot action (i.e., you don't have to work at it). 

Although I'm an adherent to the do-I-really-need-an-LED-to-know-my-fuzz-is-on way of thinking, I'll freely admit that such soft-touch switches do not provide either the tactile or visual feedback to know you've effectively gone from bypass to effect (or vice versa) until you play.  And of course, by that point it may be too late.

Consequently, I'll say that where DPDT stompswitches may be sufficient for bypassing in-your-face effects like fuzzes, without requiring a third set of contacts for an LED to let you know, soft-touch switches of any type (whether a purely mechanical bypass or something like Boss electronic switching) can benefit by having visual indication to compensate for the lack of tactile feedback (the "click").  No big deal if you simply noodle in the workshop like I do, but clearly a necessity if you gig.  A pity nobody makes a 3PDT PC-mount mini switch like the one Steve sells.  That'd be sweet.