Combining 3 circuits in 1 pedal

[WelshWonder]

This has probably been asked before so apologies if I'm covering old ground...

If I wanted to intergrate 3 circuits (all 9V) into one pedal where I could switch them all on or combine two for example, would it be able to run off 1 9V battery or would I need a 27V source?

[rockgardenlove]

Nope.

[southtown]

helpful answer rockgarden, yes you can run it off one 9 volt battery, if there high current draw circuits however prepare to move through em

[tungngruv]

Yes you can do that. Just make sure that all three circuits are the same polarity (ex. negative ground). If the pedals you are wanting to put in the same box are just different distortions, boosters and overdrives, they won't drain the battery too quickly, especially if you are only using one or two at a time. One tip though, try to get an idea of what pedal order sounds best to you. Some boosters sound better before another effect, some after it. Also, Fuzz pedals sound better in certain positions depending on your rig and other pedals. Look under Dragonfly's gallery under the Mods folder and it even shows how to wire up the switches. Hope that helps.

[WelshWonder]

Thanks guys,

Basically I want to run a TS-808 -> RAT -> May Queen Booster. So I got overdrive/distortion when needed then I can kick in the booster for lead when I need to. Can anyone see any problems doing this?

[Alex C]

Here's neat article about multiple circuits in one enclosure.  It covers powering, wiring, and switching:
http://geofex.com/Article_Folders/jiab/jiab.htm

[tungngruv]

Basically I want to run a TS-808 -> RAT -> May Queen Booster. So I got overdrive/distortion when needed then I can kick in the booster for lead when I need to. Can anyone see any problems doing this?

Sounds cool.  So from guitar to 808, then Rat and finally Boost and then the amp? That should work out great. You might want to consider doing the Visual Sound Jekyll & Hyde deal by putting the 808/Rat bypass switches close enough together so they can be switched separately, or both switched on (or off) by stepping on them both at the same time. The Rat/808 together will likely be a high gain sound you may want to use also.

[WelshWonder]

Basically I want to run a TS-808 -> RAT -> May Queen Booster. So I got overdrive/distortion when needed then I can kick in the booster for lead when I need to. Can anyone see any problems doing this?

Sounds cool.  So from guitar to 808, then Rat and finally Boost and then the amp? That should work out great. You might want to consider doing the Visual Sound Jekyll & Hyde deal by putting the 808/Rat bypass switches close enough together so they can be switched separately, or both switched on (or off) by stepping on them both at the same time. The Rat/808 together will likely be a high gain sound you may want to use also.

That's the plan anyway, the final FX chain would be...

Guitar -> Tuner -> Boss OC-2 -> Keely TS-9+ -> [My box: 808, Rat, Boost] -> Vox 847 Wah -> EH Deluxe Memory Man -> DSL100 Amplifier.

[theman]

This has probably been asked before so apologies if I'm covering old ground...

If I wanted to intergrate 3 circuits (all 9V) into one pedal where I could switch them all on or combine two for example, would it be able to run off 1 9V battery or would I need a 27V source?

When you connect pedals to a power source (say 9V), they are all in parallel, so each circuit sees 9V.  If you plan on putting them in a box and use footswitches to switch them in and out, then you should realize that nearly all implementations of this simply switch the inputs and outputs in the signal path, but the circuits are ON ALL THE TIME.  Thus, the current draw for a 3 effect pedal would most likely be the same, regardless of whether all or none are switched in the signal path.  Current draw for a TS-based circuit is dependent mainly on the op-amp used. JRC4558D will probably draw 3 mA, then 0.45mA from the 10K/10K bias network.  The RAT LM308N draws less than a 1mA, and also needs a bias network. Not sure about the May Queen Booster -- is it a NPN?  A 9V battery should be fine ...

[WelshWonder]

Thanks theman, yes the May Queen Booster is NPN (5088 and 3904), there's also a J201 in there too.

[tungngruv]

Does the wah sound good after the od's? I've always had the best sound putting the wah closest to the guitar.

[WelshWonder]

Does the wah sound good after the od's? I've always had the best sound putting the wah closest to the guitar.

I have tried it before the OD's, but I prefer it after the TS-9+, to my ears, it just sounds smoother...

[ezanker]

Just as an aside, The ROG May Queen is not really a booster.  It is a distortion pedal that tries to mimic Brian May's AC30 on "11" with a treble boost.  So there is no clean boost.  If all you want is a clean boost after distortion/od, you might consider the Brian May treble booster project or any of the many other fine boosters out there: Sparkle boost, LPB, etc.

Erik

[Fuzzy-Train]

Don't mean to hijack your thread but I'm planning on doing the same thing with a Ge FF, Si FF, and a Tyco octavia.

I'm going to have the Tyco first in line, but I 'm not sure which would sound better 2nd or 3rd Ge or Si... any ideas? I was thinking Octavia>Ge>Si would be good.

Also, this little layout might be helpful for you if your plannin on using LED's. But I'm not sure if I wired it correctly.... anybody see any problems/errors I made? The layout shows the Tyco 2nd but I wired it for 1st because the FF's are the 4 knob ver. and it looks better to have 4 knobs, 2 knobs, 4 knobs.

[Pushtone]

Also, this little layout might be helpful for you if your planning on using LED's. But I'm not sure if I wired it correctly.... anybody see any problems/errors I made? The layout shows the Tyco 2nd but I wired it for 1st because the FF's are the 4 knob ver. and it looks better to have 4 knobs, 2 knobs, 4 knobs.

The layout looks OK, I only gave it a short look though. Didn't see any issues.

Here are some suggestions that I have used on my multi-EFX projects.

1. Worried about battery power lasting? If there is room you can put in two batteries wired in parallel to last longer.

2. I would install a separate power and ground distribution board to make wiring the circuits easier.
Here is an example of a P&G distro board that also holds the LED resistors as well. I think this is better than splicing several power leads together and soldering three wire to the + lug on the DC jack. It also will make removing the PCB easier for repair/moding/painting.
It's hard to see but there are little loops made from cutoff leads that the off-board wires get soldered to.



here's another



3. I think its a good idea to wire the 3PDT switches in the GGG method that grounds the input of the bypassed effect.
Noise in some open circuits can drain off into the ground.
http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/diagrams/switch_lo_3pdt_ig_dcjack.gif

4. I think the jury is still out on the subject of which switch lugs to use for audio and which to use for power LEDs
Check this thread out. It ends in a question left hanging by Aron. I've done some tests and was able to reduce squeal in a high gain pedal by  using the outside lugs for LEDs/power. There could be something to what lugs are used for audio and which ones are used for power.
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=35693.0

[Fuzzy-Train]

The layout looks OK, I only gave it a short look though. Didn't see any issues.

Here are some suggestions that I have used on my multi-EFX projects.

1. Worried about battery power lasting? If there is room you can put in two batteries wired in parallel to last longer.

Not using batteries at all.

2. I would install a separate power and ground distribution board to make wiring the circuits easier.
Here is an example of a P&G distro board that also holds the LED resistors as well. I think this is better than splicing several power leads together and soldering three wire to the + lug on the DC jack. It also will make removing the PCB easier for repair/moding/painting.
It's hard to see but there are little loops made from cutoff leads that the off-board wires get soldered to.

That's a great idea. So I just wire the DC jack to a stripboard, and seperate it into pos. and neg. sides, than hook the appropriate wires to it.... seems like excess work to me, but I guess the benefit of having it nice and neat outweighs the work... plus I think I read somewhere that having all the neg. and pos. wires going to one source is good for some reason... can't remember the reason though.

[Pushtone]

So I just wire the DC jack to a stripboard, and separate it into pos. and neg. sides, than hook the appropriate wires to it.... seems like excess work to me,

For a two-in-one box multi-EFX it could be considered excess work, but for three or more PCBs/LEDs (things that need power and ground)
it becomes very important feature.

Imagine a five effect box. If one of the circuits needs work its a lot easier to remove for testing.

Heres another photo where I used the headers from Small Bear to make distro points.
Look closely and you can see the perf board is also mounting the LEDs. Something I saw at www.geofex.com (Thanks RG)
These days I just weave leads cut off from resistors to make loops from one perf hole to another.



Heres a photo of a five effect box. I used a screw terminal strip to distribute power and ground.


this one has the LED resistors hiding underneath the screw terminal

[RaceDriver205]

That 5FX looks real cool. What did it have in it?