Rehousing dano pedals or other consumer pedals

[seanthomas46]

I've heard many times that usually what sets apart a normally good sounding mass-produced, consumer brand, product from a boutique ("high quality" supposedly, over-priced) pedal are the parts used. 
  If so, is it safe and possible to rehouse, say a Danelectro AD-1 Wasabi Delay.  I don't like the durability of the original housing and hardware.
  In other words, what's stopping me from replacing say, the stomp switch, the in/out jacks?  What's integral for replacement if no modifications are being done?

[LyleCaldwell]

Usually nothing is stopping you.  Some pedals use the little contact pads instead of a physical switch, and those can be a bit tricky.  And with some germanium fuzzes there is the whole negative power/ground issue to work out.  But most pedals can be rehoused without problems.

Measure everything.  If you need to move a pot off board, verify and write down the stock connections before cutting/desoldering.  Etc.



That enclosure has a Soul-Bender, FD2, OCD, RC Boost, and Axess BS2 in it.

[Mark Hammer]

ANY pedal that uses a solid-state switch, whether FETs or a CMOS chip, can be modified to use remote switching so that you can keep the pedal intact but be stomping on something else.

The Danelectro pedals whose schematics that I've seen (and the Wasabiline may be a bit different) use a momentary switch to tie a line to V+.  The Boss and DOD pedals (and one would assume the Behringers too) use a momentary to tie a line to ground.  It is a relatively trivial matter to do the following:

• pop a small hole in the pedal chassis to acccommodate a 1/8" phone jack (earphone size)
• for Boss-type switching, find which side of the existing switch connects to ground and tie that to jack ground; now run a line from the other side/contact of the momentary switch to the jack "hot"/tip lug
• for Danelectro V+-type switching, use a stereo jack (make sure it isn't just 3-lug closed-circuit mono type jack), leaving the jack ground unconnected, connect V+ to the tip lug and the other tie point on the momentaryswitch to the ring lug on the jack
• for Boss-type pedals, wire up a series of 2 conductor (no need for shielding) mono phone plugs and run the wires to a remote momentary switch; for Danelectro-type, wire up a different set of 2 conductor plugs (using ONLY tip and ring connections)
• build yourself a switch bank using the electrical channeling illustrated here: http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/steelstud/steelstud.htm
• mount your pedals somewhere that is handy and safe for you
• stomp away

My sense is that the major objection people have to these pedals is not their switching system, but rather the difficulty of stepping on them and laying them out in a pedalboard in a manner that makes precise, error-free stomping a possibiilty.  If the switches are laid out in a neat right to left array (or left to right if you want, or staggered in some meaningful way) and the switch layout can be made physically independent of the physical layout of the pedals themselves you can stomp away with minimal damage to the pedals.  If the pedals are mounted on some sort of stand where you can reach the controls and see the status LEDs easier AND route wallwart power to them more easily, so much the better.

The one problem - and it can be a very big one for some people - is where to put the wah.  While the world is full of people whose pedals all use solid-state switches, most wahs in use have mechanical switches, with only a select few being adaptable to this remote switching I described.  My plan may sound glitch free on the surface, but if you have all your pedals set up above ground and have to run a cable to and from a wah on the ground, that may be too cumbersome for some people to justify trying what I suggest.  Your call, I guess.

At the very least, though, it IS technically possible to stick a cluster of Dano mini pedals together at the back of your pedal board, and re-route the stomped-upon switch to a housing at the front of the board, using more suitably spaced, and hardier switches.

[stankyfish]

Usually nothing is stopping you.  Some pedals use the little contact pads instead of a physical switch, and those can be a bit tricky.  And with some germanium fuzzes there is the whole negative power/ground issue to work out.  But most pedals can be rehoused without problems.

Measure everything.  If you need to move a pot off board, verify and write down the stock connections before cutting/desoldering.  Etc.



That enclosure has a Soul-Bender, FD2, OCD, RC Boost, and Axess BS2 in it.

This is very cool.  Could you share a bit of the details on this enclosure and how the effects are controlled, powered, etc?  Looks like a really convenient way to manage lots of effects.  Do you use a true-bypass strip or something similar to control the effects?

[xshredx]

This is very cool.  Could you share a bit of the details on this enclosure and how the effects are controlled, powered, etc?  Looks like a really convenient way to manage lots of effects.  Do you use a true-bypass strip or something similar to control the effects?

I don't want to speak for Lyle Caldwell, but there was a topic with nice pictures on hugeracksinc.com when he made this one...
http://www.hugeracksinc.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=17188

Check all the pages of the topic for lotsa pictures and explanations...

[BDuguay]

Say Lyle, which board is the BS-2? I've got an early axess-electronics buffer. Just curious.
Thanks,
B.

[markm]

 
NICE!