20 pedals, eight footswitches

[Pushtone]

Lately I've been asking myself;
Why do I put a footswitch into each pedal I build?

I only use four to six pedals at a time.
By next summer I will have some 20 builds.
I'm the only one who will be using it.
I already don't do batteries because I know I won't use them.

When I saw ToneFreaks most excellent EFX loooper in the picture thread it hit me.
An eight footswitch loop box mounted to a board and no FS in the effects.
I would still use the 1590 series boxes of course.
Then I could reclaim realestate inside the box where the switch isn't.

I'm talking about a pedal with only knobs and jacks on the exterior.
It's a paradime shift, a pseudo-modular idea, a proprietary novelty.

I could even spend a lot of time perfecting an electronic switching system and get tons of milage out of it.

Opinions, history, projects?

[Psych0F0x]

Cool, I'm even worse, I don't want to spend all the money on pots, so I use trimpots thinking I probably won't mess around with the settings after I found a good setting :X  and I'm even buying a square box instead of two 1590B's and i'll put two pedals in it.

I try not to spend too much money on pedalbuilding, but in the end I do 

[Pushtone]

Yeah, I know it too. I put five effects into a 1590DD just to end up rehousing in separate boxes. $$$

I'm thinking that with dedicated switching on the board and not in the pedal I still get...

1. individual boxes and flexibility,
2. get to mess around with artwork and paint,
3. swap pedals till my ears bleed.
4. my pedalboard stays 22 inches wide.

Great idea with the trim pots. I'm going to use that one. They're 3 for a dollar here.

[choklitlove]

i was thinking about some sort of modular board myself.  i drew this last week:


it uses effect modules that can be as small as you want.  they don't need a switch or battery, those would be in the main board.  they would have 3 male 1/4 plugs coming out of the back.  those connect into the main board.  one is in, one is out, and the last would be stereo if you want an led in the module itself, for led and battery.  the leds can easily be in the main board, then you would just need 3 mono plugs.  i thought about using a simple 3 to 5 pin din connector for this, but decided on the 1/4" for effects that aren't in the modular form.  would be pretty neat, i think.

nice ideas!

[Pushtone]

No not modular, pseudo-modular.
A modular effect is a super cool project and there are several brilliant ones in the Pictures thread.
Your design is chop full of plug and play goodness

But...

I still want to use my commercial Boss and RAT pedals seamlessly with mine.
I still want to build individual projects for less $$$.
If I find a cool cigar box I want to use it as an enclosure.

I need the 1/4" cables comming out the looper to do that.

About your design...
Is the purpose of the stereo 1/4 plug to provide the power and if so
is the sleeve providing the isolation from chassis with tip and ring handling the 9v/gnd?
If so, clever!

How to mount 1/4" plugs to the back of the module?  Or on the back of anything for that matter?

[choklitlove]

No not modular, pseudo-modular.
A modular effect is a super cool project and there are several brilliant ones in the Pictures thread.
Your design is chop full of plug and play goodness

But...

I still want to use my commercial Boss and RAT pedals seamlessly with mine.
I still want to build individual projects for less $$$.
If I find a cool cigar box I want to use it as an enclosure.

I need the 1/4" cables comming out the looper to do that.

About your design...
Is the purpose of the stereo 1/4 plug to provide the power and if so
is the sleeve providing the isolation from chassis with tip and ring handling the 9v/gnd?
If so, clever!

How to mount 1/4" plugs to the back of the module?  Or on the back of anything for that matter?

you would still be able to use commercial pedals with it.  it has normal 1/4" in/out jacks for each loop.  you would just leave the 9v one alone.  about the plugs in the back: i couldn't figure that out either.  maybe just jacks, then use one of those coupler adapters to connect them.  i'm sure there will be a lot of changes when i actually build it.

[darron]

if you are going to do something so custom, just for yourself, maybe put the 6.5mm socket at the base of the pedal so it goes right down to the looper.

crazier still? use a stereo one! that way you could have the audio go in to the effect and return in the one neat cable