Scrambler Expression Pedal w/ sound clips!

[Ben N]

Awesome clips. I'll bet this would be great with an Octup Blender, too (but without that gnarly--in a good way--Scrambler quality). I just happen to have an old shell that might do just fine...

[ppatchmods]

that sounds great! I'm in the process of installing a photo lens expression right on the pedal with a switch to turn it on/off. I've considered the blend knob but was wondering if there is a better resistor in the circuit that would cause a more drastic sound in the high frequencies...something like a fuzz probing sound?

[rousejeremy]

Yeah, or a Voltage Sag controlled by an expression pedal.

Thanks! 

I agree that an expression pedal could be fun in a number of different applications.  I've been thinking that with any pot, you could wire in a switching stereo jack (that breaks the signal path to the pot when a stereo cord is plugged into it), and then use an expression pedal when you want. 

I recently got a Colorsound Swell on ebay, and I've been thinking of a using a dual gang pot so one side can work the Swell (actually the inductorless Colorsound Wah), and the other can be wired as an expression pedal.  That way, I can use the wider sweep of the Colorsound design on any wah circuit by boxing it and wiring it as I described above.  Or, in fact, I can use the wider sweep with any circuit that has 100k pot in it.  If an application called for it, I could even put a 100k resistor across one side of the pot to make it a 50k pot.

Possibilities abound!

[tcobretti]

that sounds great! I'm in the process of installing a photo lens expression right on the pedal with a switch to turn it on/off. I've considered the blend knob but was wondering if there is a better resistor in the circuit that would cause a more drastic sound in the high frequencies...something like a fuzz probing sound?

You'd have to search to see if there is a good resistor to make things very weird in a Probe-like way.  I think it might be tough; I suspect this circuit is too stable to freak out like that.   Something I haven't tried, but might be the way to go is to pick a high value PR, like 1 meg, and wire it as a resistor between the input and the output - create a feedback loop with the photoresistor blocking the signal is it's resistance increases. 

Let me know if it works!

[tcobretti]

Ok.  I've been thinking for a while about building a scrambler expression pedal.  Instead of making it an expression pedal, I just built it into an old volume pedal I had laying around that was too neat to remain unused.  After doing it, I think it is pretty cool, very easy to do (if you have a wah/volume shell to work with) and much more flexible than just a typical octave stompbox.  I used a PCB from GGG, put a 10k resistor across the texture pot connection (maxes the texture), and made the pedal spin the blend pot.  There are no switches; the buffer in the scrambler is active all the time.  The pedal adds no hiss at all even when stacked with the Metal Zone.  I didn't EQ or effect the clips in any way. 

Also, notice on the end of the first clip I'm moving the pedal back and forth in tempo and it sounds kind of like a Univibe.  Weird!








These Clips are all thru the scrambler into my Line 6 set for Non-topboost Vox AC30:

No pedal beside the Scrambler
http://the23rdcentury.com/scrambler vox NTB.mp3

Dunlop FF after the Scrambler
http://the23rdcentury.com/scrambler FF vox.mp3

Behringer DS1 after the Scrambler
http://the23rdcentury.com/scrambler DS1 vox.mp3

Boss Metal Zone after the Scrambler (This is my pitiful attempt at some pseudo metal playing)
http://the23rdcentury.com/scrambler MZ vox.mp3

Black Russian Big Muff Pi after the Scrambler
http://the23rdcentury.com/scrambler BMP vox.mp3

On this clip the Scrambler runs into the Mesa Dual Rectifier setting on my Line 6 with no other stomp boxes.
http://the23rdcentury.com/scrambler mesa dual rect.mp3

Enjoy!

Hello gents.

I haven't posted in quite a while, as I haven't had time for electronics tinkering for many years now.  I had kids and my career became more time intensive, so I'm lucky to have time to play much less build gear.

I hope all of you are doing well. 

I had someone PM me about the broken links in the original post, and I figured I'd update the URL for any folks interested in the future.  The only difference is my website changed from http://the23rdcentury.com to http://the23rdcentury.org.  We have several free albums worth of 60s/70s psychedelic pop there if you are interested.

So here are the updated links.

No pedal beside the Scrambler
http://the23rdcentury.org/scrambler vox NTB.mp3

Dunlop FF after the Scrambler
http://the23rdcentury.org/scrambler FF vox.mp3

Behringer DS1 after the Scrambler
http://the23rdcentury.org/scrambler DS1 vox.mp3

Boss Metal Zone after the Scrambler (This is my pitiful attempt at some pseudo metal playing)
http://the23rdcentury.org/scrambler MZ vox.mp3

Black Russian Big Muff Pi after the Scrambler
http://the23rdcentury.org/scrambler BMP vox.mp3

On this clip the Scrambler runs into the Mesa Dual Rectifier setting on my Line 6 with no other stomp boxes.
http://the23rdcentury.org/scrambler mesa dual rect.mp3

I hope y'all are doing well and building great stuff.  Maybe one of these days I'll get back to it, and I hope to talk to you then!

Travis

[rousejeremy]

I can't believe I didn't post my build of this thing.

[tubegeek]

Wow - 10-year necrobump. I love this forum. ROCK ON!

[DougH]

What a cool idea!