Crazy Mod?

abajakian · October 29, 2006, 10:24:02 AM

Hey,

I'm not much off a DIYer, but I do dabble now and then.

Last night I was playing with my crappy Behringer Distortion pedal, and i connected a cap to a resistor.

Now it makes this wierd synth sound! i know this can be done with the ds1 and other pedals, but here's the wierd thing-

i can control the synth with knobs on my guitar! it's nuts!

does anyone know how this works?

Is it damaging to my 61 les paul?

Meanderthal · October 29, 2006, 10:30:13 AM

It sounds like you bent it into self oscillation(like an oscillator in a synth). Cool that you can control it from the guitar pots! No, it won't hurt your guitar.

abajakian · October 29, 2006, 10:34:24 AM

yeah!

I can modify the pitch!

One volume modifies one pitch and the other another pitch.

Then i can toggle back and forth. And when i hit a note and toggle it's nuts!!!

it does crazy billy corgan stuff.

Meanderthal · October 29, 2006, 10:51:09 AM

That sounds like all kindsa fun... So tell us... what exact pedal and wherebouts on the pcb is the bend?... those are cheap pedals, sure as hell worth a shot...

Harry · October 29, 2006, 11:23:32 AM

I did something similar once. As I turned down the volume on my guitar the box would gradually start oscillating. If I remember correctly I think the oscillating would only work when the tone pot was at 10, so you could blend it in that way too. It was weird and interesting.

Harry · October 29, 2006, 07:14:08 PM

Anyone know how these sort of "accidental oscillators" work, anyway? That would be a neat new effect for a box that turns your guitar into a sort of knob controlled theremin.

markm · October 29, 2006, 07:20:39 PM

Circuit bending at it's finest

abajakian · October 30, 2006, 11:41:02 AM

anyone else know how this actually works?

i'll post what i did later on in the day...

slacker · October 30, 2006, 12:13:57 PM

normally these sort of oscillating things are caused by feeding the output of something back into the input. This can be the output of the whole circuit back into its self or just part of the circuit. Your guitar controls affect the sound because once you plug your guitar into something it basically becomes part of the circuit.

Harry · October 30, 2006, 06:09:08 PM

Hmm... that makes sense, worth some thought...

idlechatterbox · October 30, 2006, 06:55:24 PM

Hurry and patent your mod, before Behringer finds out and issues a new "distorto-oscillator-guitar-controlled" pedal

at the very least, give your mod a name! Take pride in your DIY success

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Crazy Mod?