Guyatone MD-3 to true bypass

[Belt]

Looking at the pedal, it looks similar to an MXR.  My question is, in order to true bypass, can I use the diagram from Andi Allan for a 3pdt switch?

http://www.singlecoil.com/tb-strip/images/dia1.gif

[Ben N]

Aren't the switches on those pedals mounted directly to the PC board? I would think that would be a very hard job to do, especally in that tiny enclosure. Which is a shame, because my experience with Guyatone fx is that they sound good when they are on, but suck tone like nobody's busness when byassed.

Bn

[Belt]

I actually have not seen the inside yet.  However, I have heard they suck tone also.  I believe they have an spdt switch which would make sense for the tone sucking part.  I am thinking of just making a bypass box for it.  But a schematic or layout would still help.
Thanks

[theblueark]

I happen to be in the midst of rehousing 2 of these.

The switch is not mounted onto the pcb. The pcb is too close to the hole to automatically drop in a 3pdt though. It should be possible to relocate the hole lower on the enclosure, and drop in a 3pdt. However you'll lose the battery space. Also you'll still need to deal with the jack connections for true bypass.

The good news is the md3 is the easiest effect i've ever had to turn 'always on'. No need to deal with shorting flip flops or removing of any parts. Just take out the original footswitch, and it's always on. Happy me. 

[jonathan perez]

I actually have not seen the inside yet.  However, I have heard they suck tone also.  I believe they have an spdt switch which would make sense for the tone sucking part.  I am thinking of just making a bypass box for it.  But a schematic or layout would still help.
Thanks

hold the phone, youre asking to true-bypass a pedal you havent heard/seen in person yet?

[theblueark]

Hmm maybe he's thinking of acquiring the pedal only if he knows he'll be able to true bypass it if the bypass tone is bad?

[Belt]

Yes, I am inquiring about bypassing an effect I don't own.  If all of my questions would be for pedals I already own, that would be a waste of money.  If I owned the pedal, then checked into it, I would have to buy, research, and then possibly sell the pedal based on the possibility of modification.  Some pedals are not worth modifying.  I think we can all agree on that.  And simply due to the many owners of this pedal speaking about tone sucking, I wanted to save some money and time and inquire first.

[theblueark]

Here you go, I'm still working on the new enclosures so I haven't dismantled this yet.
Here's what you see from the outside:

Here's the inside, with everything intact:

Here's with the top pcb, the one with the jacks, pushed aside so you can see the spdt and how it's so close to the bottom pcb.

Here's a closer view of that:

And here is where i snipped off the wires running to the spdt from the pcb side. Just to show again that that is all you have to do to get it 'always on':

[Ben N]

Well, neat--great rehouse candidates! Now I'm sorry I sold a few of them a while ago. Oh well.

[aksman]

if rehousing, how do you stamp the rectangle into the new box?  i wanted to rehouse my Compressor/Sustainer (VERY underrated), but the "direct switch" was causing problems.

[MartyMart]

if rehousing, how do you stamp the rectangle into the new box?  i wanted to rehouse my Compressor/Sustainer (VERY underrated), but the "direct switch" was causing problems.

Measure out the rectangle on the box top, use a small drill bit ( smaller than the width of the rectangle )
and punch a couple of holes right next to each other, this removes most of the aluminium.
File out the rest "square" with some small "rat tail" files to the rectangle shape
Fiddly - but possible ....

[theblueark]

Heh that's more or less what I did.

HOWEVER.

The original guyatone enclosure is so much thinner than the hammond i'm using. In the original enclosure, the switch sticks just slightly out of the rectangle. When i put it in the hammond, the switch is halfway in the metal. Imagine this: -----_------ where the "_" is the switch.

I'm going to have to find some way to extend the length of the switch shaft. Right now i'm thinking somewhere along the lines of something like a fader, to be attached to the shaft:

[MartyMart]

I see, Arion pedals do this, longer top switch stuck onto the much smaller switch that protrudes from
the case, yup that will work, you can superglue or "bondo" something onto the small switch top.
Fader could look cool too !

[aksman]

could always flip the box upside down and use the back cover as a lid... and replace the back cover with a thinner stamped metal (the radio shack cheap-o plastic cases have thin metal backs)