Which pedals need shielded cable?

[Beo]

I've been focusing on modulation pedals (delay, trem, vibe, etc), but am planning on doing a few dirt pedals next. My build wish list includes Fuzz Face, Big Muff, Rat, Dr Boogie, BSIABII, and maybe a few boutique clones like DLS and OCD. It's fairly common knowledge that high gain pedals should be wired up with shielded cable, and I found some good threads describing recommended ways of wiring up shields. My question is, which of the common DIY dirt pedals have high enough gain that shielded cable is recommended? I think Dr. Boogie is obvious, as a crazy high gain pedal. How about the others in my list? How about other pedals that aren't on my list? If I'm not trying for tight enclosure layouts, does it make sense to use shielded cable for any dirt box, or is this overkill?

Thanks!
Travis

[tubelectron]

Re: Which pedals need shielded cable?

I should say : all... but :

- internally : if the box is metal and tight shielding, you usually won't need shielding cable inside - except if it is a tube HV device like an overdrive. But it may be a case by case basis, depending on the wiring arrangement you make.

- externally : shielded cables are compulsory. Period.

A+!

[Paul Marossy]

I've only needed shielded cables in "high gain" tube pedals. Any problems in the rest of my builds could be taken care of by paying attention to "lead dress". And I have built lots of high gain circuits, including the Dr Boogey.

[Hides-His-Eyes]

Someone recommend an article on lead dress? Every time people say "and lead dress!", but nobody ever seems to agree what good lead dress ought to entail.

[tubelectron]

Hides-His-Eyes,

I have articles about lead dress, transformer placement, etc... About tube amplifiers. It's in French and from the 60's... It's were I started From 30 years ago. The rest is experience, experimentation, trials and errors, unwanted good or bad surprises... Nonetheless, here are some simple rules I always apply on tube circuits (amps and pedals) :

1 - the ground bus is insulated from chassis everywhere.
2 - the ground bus is connected to the chassis at the input jack only (or very near).
3 - the other side of the ground bus is connected to the CT of the HV tap of the Xfo.
4 - the ground schedule must follow as close as possible a "sensivity schedule", starting from the input gnd point, then 1st stage gnd, 2nd stage gnd, etc.. Power amp gnd, PSU gnd, and finish at the CT of the HV coil of the Xfo.
5 - internal shielded cables are connected to gnd at one side only, where the sensivity is the highest ( = the signal level is the smallest).

Following these general rules, you will usually avoid :
- signal coupling, giving poor performance, parasitic noises and even HF oscillations.
- hum coupling, giving 50-100Hz (or 60-120hz) remanent noise you can't get rid even with a very good HV filtering.

A+!

[defaced]

For the price of shielded wire, I'd just shield all of the signal wires going from the input jack to the board, and any signal that goes to something off board like a gain pot that's early in the signal chain (say the first two gain stages).  Usually on tube builds after the first two stages shielded wire to the grids isn't required, so start from a known and work from there.