headphone box

[lerxst88]

I was thinking of building a small passive headphone "box" that plugs into my ipod and has a jack for my headphones. Im thinking of having master volume, faders, possibly passive EQ, killswitch, etc....

one feature i really want is a switch for this certain sound i get out of broken headphones or cables. Ive also done it by pulling the headphone jack slightly out of an MP3 player and you get this weird digital sounding gargly sound and usually drums are a digital mess all the bass and vocals are gone. You can hear background vocals loud and clear and it sounds like a really bad mix. Im not sure if you guys know what im talking about but its cool to hear essentially an alternate mix.

sorry its not a guitar pedal but you guys have any tips on any of these circuits? or anything else i should add?

[lerxst88]

actually i figured it out! just lift the ground wire so the only things that are connected are right and left.

try it out sometime! its cool! its like hearing a bootleg copy or something haha

[lerxst88]

well i guess no one reads this but i like talking to myself!

anyway I added volume controls for each channel and I have a ground lift switch which essentially doubles your music collection because you get two versions of everything!! haha

Anyway i was wondering if any one has any suggestions for passive signal screwer-uppers. it doesnt have to sound great but something to muck around with your signal and be interactive with what youre listening to. think 6 year old discovering how a mixing board works.

[pazuzu]

you could by some random capacitors and stick them in line between the source and the out. i did this for a coil tap effect on my emg pickup. but it will take away from the signal, not "screw it up". you would also need a spdt or dpdt switch to turn it on and off. if you get center off you could get your "kill switch" there too. the thing is, there's limitations to what you can do with a passive circuit. why not try the npn boost beginner project?

just go to radio shack and buy random items from their electronics drawers man. experiment.

[Rodgre]

By the way, that gurgly effect you're hearing is one of the things that sucks about MP3s. If they're really low-res rips from a CD, then you are actually listening to a bootleg! (as opposed to a purchased original copy).

That said, that effect is kinda cool. Cool the way the sound of a cassette tape that got chewed up sounds. Check out (a high-res version) of "Who Loves You" by the Four Seasons which has this crazy phasing on a hi-hat track which sounds like the tape was chewed up.