Looking to build a fuzz wah with switchable signal chain order - some questions

[Dom Eleven72]

Hi everyone,
I'm new here and new to pedal building, so please forgive me if some of my questions seem a bit stupid, we all have to start somewhere though.

What I'm looking to do is put fuzz pedal and  a wah board into a colorsound/solasound style case, so plenty of room. They'll be independent pedals sharing the same enclosure, input/output and power supply. I want to build it so that I can swap the order that the two boards appear in the signal chain, ie. be able to swap it between being a fuzz wah and a wah fuzz if you like.
Now I also have an old Vox WowFuzz (not working at the moment) in this the fuzz is definitely the first in the signal chain and the power goes to the fuzz board first and the wah board piggybacks off this. So my question is: Is chain order as simple as this, is the board that receives power first the one that will be the first in the signal chain and if so can I just add a simple toggle switch to determine which board receives power first and which one piggybacks?
If it's not as simple as this, how do I go about doing it?  Any advice please.

Cheers
Dom

[patrick398]

This comes up fairly often. In short, no that is not how signal order works. Both circuits need power and just because one circuit is daisy chained to another it doesn't mean it receives power first. And even if it did, that wouldn't make a difference to the order.

The order is dictated by the offboard wiring. Think about what circuit your guitar 'sees' first. With wiring you decide what circuit your input hits first, it goes through this circuit, comes out of the output and into the input of the next circuit, through that circuit and out of the output then into your amp. You dictate what order that happens in with your wiring. Getting another switch involved means you can flip which circuit the guitar sees first.

Have a read through here:

https://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=123208.msg1164419#msg1164419

https://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=123715.msg1170914#msg1170914

https://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=118913.msg1108276#msg1108276

[Mark Hammer]

No need to begin with a "please forgive me". The post count by your name suggests you are a novice.  And even if it doesn't generally the nature of the question provides some indication of how much background knowledge one has.

When a question is asked in pompous fashion, folks can get a little testy sometimes, but a sincere and innocent question is nearly always met with genuinely helpful, and appropriately-gauged, replies.

This is the circuit I always use.  If one is using a stompswitch, then a 4PDT is needed to show which order via a status LED.  If one uses a toggle switch, then only a 3PDT toggle is needed, since the position of the switch handle can be used to show order.

[Dom Eleven72]

Ah right, that makes more sense.
Thanks for your replies

Dom

[antonis]

No welcome, guys..?? 

[Marcos - Munky]

Welcome! 

Just to add some bit: I don't know where you're located, but do know 4PDT stompswitches may be hard to find/too much expensive on some places. There are indeed other ways to do that (using cmos ics or relays), but they're more complex. As Mark said, you really need a 3PDT switch, the 4th pole is just for led indicator. You can try to get a 3PDT toggle switch or, if you're going for a stompswitch, use a regular 3PDT and just skip the most right side on the drawing (the led part). It'll work, but you'll have no led indicator.

[antonis]

Or utilize 3PDT with millenium bypass implementation..

[patrick398]

No welcome, guys..?? 

I've lashed my back with my belt as penance