What am I getting into with this idea ?? ( Large floor board )

[MartyMart]

So, I've been staring at dozens of beautifully made and working circuits, using
mostly veroboard and considering my options regarding "enclosures" ....

The idea is to build a "Pete Cornich" style slanted wooden housing, about 2.5 foot
across and 18 inches deep.
I could power it using a recently aquired 24v DC supply ( from 240v ) which is rated
at Max 10 amps ( more than enough juice ) so need to generate a +/- 9v or 12v supply

It would have to house the following, some "DIY" and a couple of commercial circuits
removed from their enclosures :
CA Compressor ( +/-9v DC )
My Mr Drive
Blackfire
JCM800 Emu
My Jfet Bassman
AMZ Mosfet boost
Kay Tremolo
My Big Muff
Guyatone "mini" digital delay
Tonepad Phase 90
Aria Flanger/Pearl Flanger

Mono input and stereo out ( possibly Balanced option too! )
Optional "amp/cab sim"

I'm just thinking about, power requirements from the 24v DC and switching options
electronic or TB ?
Also the wire up and lining the inside of the box with Aluminium etc for shielding ..... etc etc

Any pointers/recommendations very welcome.

Cheers, Marty.

[Toney]

 No actual help here, Marty, but... it must have been mighy tough for you to shortlist your builds...
What happened to the Unidrive and Reamer? I thought they'd be certs.

Someone posted very recently using a diamondplate bumperbar off-cut that seemed to work very well.
Not sure how heavy the whole thing ended up but it would be vitually indestructable and no need for shielding.

Ah..here it is- it's actually made for boats- looks like a great idea.

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=44556.msg324317#msg324317

[MartyMart]

I saw that Toney, very nice BTW but way too small for this idea !
I want lots of  S  P  A  C  E  in there
Reamer is still "short listed" but other things are taking the place of the Unidrive...
soooo many choices, there's around 12 other "OD's" and dozens of "Fuzz" circuits
that I have not even considered yet !!
Phase 45 W/Univibe mods is also a possibility ...

I could use some help with "wire up" ideas though ....

MM

[Austin73]

Hey Marty not sure if I'm technically minded enough to help you but surely if you put your guitar through a buffer or fx pedal first then you shouldn't need to worry about using TB ~(Unlike Pete! ) Its so much easier than doing the bypass switching circuits (see the boss schematic! MAD ) Been thinking about similar pedal projects myself but was wondering whether to have a DPDT switch on the back that takes the pedal out to seperate in and out so its  completely out of the system if that makes sense.

I suppose though if you go down the circuit bypass route you could have nice switches like on the LINE 6 stuff (they are at Bansai) which are pretty cool or maybe even have programmability .

Hope it helps lol

Aus

P.S Good Luck

[Dave_B]

For shielding, I'm guessing Pete's using that 'magnetic' paint that's been discussed here.   It also looks like he uses 13-ply Baltic Birch for lumber.  In my area, the 13-ply is about $30 for a 5-foot square sheet. 

You've seen Pete's photo essay on the latest Dave Gilmour box, right?

[MartyMart]

For shielding, I'm guessing Pete's using that 'magnetic' paint that's been discussed here.   It also looks like he uses 13-ply Baltic Birch for lumber.  In my area, the 13-ply is about $30 for a 5-foot square sheet. 

You've seen Pete's photo essay on the latest Dave Gilmour box, right?

YUP .... I'm feeling both "inspired" and "intimidated" !!
I was going to aim for something similar ... obviously it wont be quite up to Pete's standards
but I'm sure that I could get close ..
I'm thinking about the paint or perhaps just a thin aluminium sheet lining, say 1mm thick so quite
"bendable"
A buffer front and back wouldn't hurt and would solve a long cable run at both ends.

Thinking cap is still on ... MM

[Dave_B]

I was thinking about building one a few months ago, even bought the aluminum panels that look like Cornish's.  Then I got hung up on the idea of switching multiple effects at the same time.  Don't follow that path, or you'll still be kicking your pedals around in August.   

[MartyMart]

I was thinking about building one a few months ago, even bought the aluminum panels that look like Cornish's.  Then I got hung up on the idea of switching multiple effects at the same time.  Don't follow that path, or you'll still be kicking your pedals around in August.   

HAHA ..... that would be enough to put me off the whole idea " Here lie Dragons" ..

No, buffers and the rest TB for each "module" will do, I just have to think very carefully about the
order of FX, Pete recommends :
Buffer->Wah/Comp-> Mild overdrive-> Heavy overdrive-> Modulation-> Delay->Buffer/Amp out/Balanced out
That seems to make sense to me, I may include some "send return" cut in points for adding stuff when needed
external to the box, one stereo jack at each junction shouldn't be too hard ....

MM.

[Toney]

Ok, this stuff is great for shielding...


 

Adhesive metal tape- copper or aluminium

When I went on my fuzz building marathon, I had hoped to reduce it down to two or three max.... I can't let them go, too many options.
The solution for me is a proposed "fuzzline" a long enclosure dedicated to fuzz. I hope to be able to switch quickly between them to nail the perfect fuzz for the day/guitar/amp/environment.

Too much fuzz is barely enough......

[Pushtone]

My Mr Drive
Blackfire
JCM800 Emu
My Jfet Bassman
AMZ Mosfet boost
Kay Tremolo
My Big Muff
Guyatone "mini" digital delay
Tonepad Phase 90
Aria Flanger/Pearl Flanger

What, No on-board tuner?
Perhaps you use a rack tuner.

Ideas...
How about adding some simple footswitches for your amps channel and effect switching?
How about an on-board active ABY splitter, or will your two amps always be stereo?
How about an off-board PSU that featured AC outlets for your amps giving you a mini AC/DC distro.
How about terminal strips to distribute power and ground. This may be too obvious to have mentioned.
How about a cool multi-pin main output with either several coax cables loomed together or one six channel microphone snake cable?
Usually multi-pin connectors are too expensive or fragile to use on a pedalboard. However these thermoplastic CPC multi-pins look very robust, are small, and a panel/inline connection is around $30.00 US for six channel. This would help with the footswitch idea above.

Inline CPC
http://www.alliedelec.com/Search/SearchResults.asp?SearchQuery=512-1110&Submit.x=0&Submit.y=0
Panel mount CPC
http://www.alliedelec.com/Search/SearchResults.asp?SearchQuery=512-1160&SearchType=STANDARD&submit=search+again

We use the 37 pin CPCs for 12 channel sub-snakes to connect to the main snake head. They are very tough plastic and can be stomped on fer-sure. PITA to order because everything is separate, backshell, pins. You need 5 order number to make one connection. Yikes!

I would love to see what you come up with should you decide to take this one on. No doubt those Gillmore board photos are intimidating. I would be happy with something 18" wide and of course 3PDT switching. Guess you don't need the fans either but don't forget the blingbling! How about a programable LED scrolling sign on the front to display the song lyrics. Get the crowd singing with you!

[MartyMart]

Thanks for the ideas Pushtone, er I did "forget" the tuner .... so may de-box
my old TU-2 and stuff it in there ! ( nice flashing LED's )
Looks like I'll have to reduce the number of circuits by a couple !
I'm fitting the PSU for all of them in the board, so will only have one mains cable
one lead in and one/two leads out to amps/recording desk.
I don't think that I'll need a snake as there's no "rack" gera to go/come back from.
Amp footswitching is worth considering, just depends on how big I want this thing !

MM.

[donald stringer]

Hey marty if you listen to these guys theyl have you pushing the completion of this project way into next year.

[Dave_B]

Hey marty if you listen to these guys theyl have you pushing the completion of this project way into next year.

That's about where I'm at.  If I ever have time to get proficient on AVR programming, I'll be all over it.  ...yeah, right.

[Austin73]

Marty where is your sense of adventure ! If your anything like me you'll need the Lou Read sized floorboard to get everything you want in there. Only trouble is you'll need to play wembley to find somewhere big enough to put it on the floor!

And no I'm not good enough to play wembley . . . . well not when I'm awake anyway!

Aus

[BDuguay]

Good for you Marty. I'm probably more excited about this than you! Pete Cornish pedalboards, or even Pete Cornish inspired pedalboards are pure gear porn to me. I need help.
Please keep us well posted and if I can think of anything that'll help, I'll be sure to let you know.
B.

[Pushtone]

I looked up my notes and scketches ...
Theres some more ideas in there, I'm getting all fired up again about this type of project.

Also found a budget I forget doing - total $650.00 

Ideas:
mojotron has a seriously good thing going with the double gang electrical boxes aka modular effect system (see Pictures! thread). He inspired me to build with double gang tops (no boxes). Wood screws mount them to the underside of the ply-wood floorboard top. The top of the floorboard has equaly spaced routed holes for each effect plate. Unlike mojotron, I do not have the jacks on the plates with the knobs , PCB, etc. This combined with the terminal strips should make it easy to swap out effects. I can fit two rows of four effects within an 18" wide floorboard. 

The footswitches would be mounted in a single line to a 17" wide x 2" tall steel strip also mounted under the ply-wood top. With the ply-wood top being 1/2" thick the FS would be recessed enough to JB weld on an aluminum knob that's 1.5" in diameter. This gets me somewhat close to the Cornish "donut" switch look.

The multi-pin output helps to make the amp footswitches pratical. With six guitar cables loomed together with a multi-pin on one end you could do left and right guitar signal, and two footswitches for two amps. Or run separtate signal and footswitch cables. Or make a separate amp footswitch board that lies next to the main board.

Here's a good question... Access from the bottom or hinged top?

[$uperpuma]

For shielding, I'm guessing Pete's using that 'magnetic' paint that's been discussed here.   It also looks like he uses 13-ply Baltic Birch for lumber.  In my area, the 13-ply is about $30 for a 5-foot square sheet. 

You've seen Pete's photo essay on the latest Dave Gilmour box, right?

HOLY CRAP I have a hard time making ONE pedal work.

[MartyMart]

$650.00     !!!!!!
Jeez, I'm thinking more like $250 .... max !
That's taking into account that all the circuits are ready to go, so that's for
Wood/Aluminium tape/switches/Aluminium strips for knobs/Wire/LED's/extra
jacks and balanced XLR sockets/extra circuitry for buffers etc.
PSU was bought for £10 ( $18 )
If I included the cost of around 30 man hours of work, it would be a lot more !!
I've considered using a "piano hinge" to flip the "angled" front that will contain all the switches
and possibly make the bottom from a thin steel sheet, that can be screwed on with 8 screws.
( like bottom plates on synths )
I only have a few "rough" sketches, as soon as I have a "concrete" working blueprint, I'll post it up
for your comments
I'm a week or two away from starting it for real .....

MM.

[RLBJR65]

Cool project!
With something that big it would probably be much easier to shield with copper or brass mess / screen. It's very flexable and you could just staple it into place. A quick Google search came up with this site. http://www.twpinc.com/twp/jsp/product.jsp?type=1

I have been wanting to bring the mess suggestion up since watching an episode of MythBusters. Great show BTW! Check out some of the clips. http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/mythbusters/mythbusters.html I can't remember what they were trying to accomplish but they built a cage out of brass screen and it blocked a cell phone signal.