Am I stupid?

[nic53188]

So, I'm fairly new to pedals to begin. Just now starting to play the pedals I've had for a few years. However, I'm not new to soldering at all. I need to know if my idea makes sense and if it's going to cost me significantly more than $100 to make.

I want to make a seemingly complicated looper pedal. One switch will be an A/B to send most of my effects to the front end of my Fender bluesy amp and Orange Dark Terror. For this particular part of the looper, obviously a one IN two OUT. 

This is where it gets confusing. The other part of the looper pedal will switch between the effects loops of both said amps. I literally had to draw this out to make sense of it. From what I can tell,  there would obviously be the IN and OUT for the effects pedals themselves and then two INS and two OUTS for each amp. Not at all sure how to wire an A/B with that many INS and OUTS but...

Oh yeah, I want there to be two LEDs per switch to know which ones are selected. I have a headache thinking about this.

[Joe]

You can use relays for this, like this:


A transistor circuit can drive them:


(Make sure the transistor can handle enough current to drive multiple outputs, might need a heftier transistor than the 2N4401.)

Edit: Probably just keep it simple and use one transistor per relay.

[nic53188]

Might be willing to just pay someone to do it for me lol. I can't really look at electrical plans like that and know what I'm doing lol

[MrBinns]

so do you want the 1st looper part to have either a or b into the front of either amp or a into one amp and b into the other?

For the Fx looper part, do you want to switch a chain from one fx loop to the other. So switching a chorus pedal from your fender  to the orange amp?

[mth5044]

I believe you're asking for something like this for the second part? (Tilt screen accordingly    )

[MrBinns]

^ that looks right to me. I think you could save a resistor and connect just one to both LEDs since only one LED would be connected to ground at a time.


For they first part, something like the left side of the splitter-blend would work.

http://www.runoffgroove.com/splitter-blend.html

[nic53188]

For the first part MrBinns, I want A into one and B into the other. 

MTH5044, you're telling me I could do all of that on just two switches? That's awesome.

[nic53188]

But wait, how specialized of a switch is that to be able to do all that in two stomps?

[nic53188]

I believe you're asking for something like this for the second part? (Tilt screen accordingly    )

Do you think there would be any noise or ground loops if the amps were or were not plugged into the same electrical circuit?

[mth5044]

But wait, how specialized of a switch is that to be able to do all that in two stomps?

I don't really understand this. In the diagram I posted, it's a simple 3PDT found at small bear electronics, pedal part plus, Tayda, this web store, etc.

I don't know much about plugging amps into different outlets, but perhaps you could use isolated jacks.

[MrStab]

one IN two OUT

would there be an always-on, buffered pedal before this? or just straight guitar signal? cos you don't wanna passively split the raw signal like that.

when it comes to switching both the front and FX loop in the same box, apocalyptic images pop into my head, with all that potential for crosstalk and ground loops. i know it's not what you wanna hear, but i think you should at least consider using relays or something, like Joe hinted at. Instead of the front & loop signals being so close to one-another, you'd only have "inert" control signals to deal with.

having an objective, even if you don't yet know how to accomplish it, is the perfect way to get started in DIY electronics!

[nic53188]

one IN two OUT

would there be an always-on, buffered pedal before this? or just straight guitar signal? cos you don't wanna passively split the raw signal like that.

when it comes to switching both the front and FX loop in the same box, apocalyptic images pop into my head, with all that potential for crosstalk and ground loops. i know it's not what you wanna hear, but i think you should at least consider using relays or something, like Joe hinted at. Instead of the front & loop signals being so close to one-another, you'd only have "inert" control signals to deal with.

having an objective, even if you don't yet know how to accomplish it, is the perfect way to get started in DIY electronics!

Thank you for the heads up. Too bad most of what you said is above my head lol. I don't know what buffers are/used for and I've seen mentions of crosstalk which I'm assuming is another word for bleed over. I might just have to have the guy over at Saturnworks build it for me. If I spend time researching all of this I'll never get my recording studio finished lol.