DOD FX15 SWELL PEDAL

[Dragonfly]

Any of you guys have info / schemo's for this one ?  Seems like DOD's version of the Slow Gear.

[Pushtone]

Did not know this one, an alternative to the Slow Gear. Cool

I'm interested that your interested in it.

This web site is selling one for 89.00, not to bad.
http://www.chrisguitars.com/effects.html

[Dragonfly]

Did not know this one, an alternative to the Slow Gear. Cool

I'm interested that your interested in it.

This web site is selling one for 89.00, not to bad.
http://www.chrisguitars.com/effects.html

hmm... i might see if i can set aside an extra bit of cash...seems like an interesting pedal.

[snufkin]

its not a slow gear

its described as a "programmable" swell pedal

what this realy means is when you hold the pedal down it swells your signal form its normal leval to a set new volume at the speed you set

like having a volume pedal without a rocker

[Dragonfly]

its not a slow gear

its described as a "programmable" swell pedal

what this realy means is when you hold the pedal down it swells your signal form its normal leval to a set new volume at the speed you set

like having a volume pedal without a rocker

hmmm...interesting.

Chris' Guitars describes it as "kind of a poor man's SG-2 Slow Gear" , but the way you describe it could be even cooler.

[snufkin]

from harmony central review

"With no manual, this thing took a few minutes to figure out that it wasn't broken. Not a very intuitive effect. What it does is automatic volume swells, but very much NOT like a slow gear or other attack delay device. It works sort of like a volume pedal, in that you have to constantly work your foot. It's got Attack, Decay and Cut/Boost controls and a momentary switch. How you work it is that you step on the pedal and hold it, then pick your note, letting go of the pedal and the sound swells up.(in "boost" mode, the effect starts from normal volume and swells even louder. Sort of useless in that respect. Once you get the hang of it, I'm sure it's easier, but nowhere near a Slow Gear."

[Dragonfly]

from harmony central review

"With no manual, this thing took a few minutes to figure out that it wasn't broken. Not a very intuitive effect. What it does is automatic volume swells, but very much NOT like a slow gear or other attack delay device. It works sort of like a volume pedal, in that you have to constantly work your foot. It's got Attack, Decay and Cut/Boost controls and a momentary switch. How you work it is that you step on the pedal and hold it, then pick your note, letting go of the pedal and the sound swells up.(in "boost" mode, the effect starts from normal volume and swells even louder. Sort of useless in that respect. Once you get the hang of it, I'm sure it's easier, but nowhere near a Slow Gear."

It seems like it would be better than the Slow Gear for pedal steel type effects.

[DWBH]

YES YES! Buy it and reverse engineer-it!!!

EDIT: Unless it's digital, and it won't be worth the effort...

[Mark Hammer]

One of the perennial problems of Slow Gear type effects is that you have to rely on them to identify when the start of a musical event has occurred.  Too often, they're wrong.  Use of a momentary switch might seem cumbersome, but on the other hand it puts more control into the hands....er....feet of the player.

[DWBH]

Do you think that with a momentary switch we can do that thingie on a Slow Gear? Is it do-able?

[Mark Hammer]

There's a circuit/project that RG sent me from Electronics & Music-Maker (E&MM) some time agao that was intended to ramp up and down from one volume level to another.  His LERA circuit, originally intended to do that for phasers and such, in order to mimic the motor acceleration/decelleration on a Leslie, does that too.  Seems to me all you need to do is to adapt those types of circuits to ramp up only to do the same thing as the FX15 Swell.

Actually, now that I think of it, that's pretty much what ANY FET-switched pedal does, right?  You step on the momentary switch, and the FET gets turned on at a rate fast enough to seem like a smooth instantaneous transition, but slow enough to avoid audible clicking/popping.  Slow that sucker down a bit, and maybe you're in business.  The secret would be to have it revert back to high-resistance when you take your foot off the momentary switch.

[Dragonfly]

There's a circuit/project that RG sent me from Electronics & Music-Maker (E&MM) some time agao that was intended to ramp up and down from one volume level to another.  His LERA circuit, originally intended to do that for phasers and such, in order to mimic the motor acceleration/decelleration on a Leslie, does that too.  Seems to me all you need to do is to adapt those types of circuits to ramp up only to do the same thing as the FX15 Swell.

Actually, now that I think of it, that's pretty much what ANY FET-switched pedal does, right?  You step on the momentary switch, and the FET gets turned on at a rate fast enough to seem like a smooth instantaneous transition, but slow enough to avoid audible clicking/popping.  Slow that sucker down a bit, and maybe you're in business.  The secret would be to have it revert back to high-resistance when you take your foot off the momentary switch.

maybe adapt a Hall Sensor ? 

[Rodgre]

from harmony central review

"With no manual, this thing took a few minutes to figure out that it wasn't broken. Not a very intuitive effect. What it does is automatic volume swells, but very much NOT like a slow gear or other attack delay device. It works sort of like a volume pedal, in that you have to constantly work your foot. It's got Attack, Decay and Cut/Boost controls and a momentary switch. How you work it is that you step on the pedal and hold it, then pick your note, letting go of the pedal and the sound swells up.(in "boost" mode, the effect starts from normal volume and swells even louder. Sort of useless in that respect. Once you get the hang of it, I'm sure it's easier, but nowhere near a Slow Gear."

Hey, that's my review!

I bought it thinking it was like a Slow Gear, but it really is nothing like it, other than it adjusts your volume. It's sort of like a volume pedal with a momentary switch instead of a treadle.

I couldn't find a use for it and it is one of maybe only five pedals that I've ever sold in my life. It wasn't anything I couldn't do with a volume pedal and a booster, if I wanted the boost. It seemed too complicated for such a simple task.

I'm still looking for a good deal on an old E-H Attack Decay and even a Snarling Dogs Erogenous Moan.

Roger

[O]

I have one... I didn't know they were _that_ expensive. I can take pics of it tonight if someone wants to rev. engineer it, but there is a part that is obsolete (I think).

[Dragonfly]

I have one... I didn't know they were _that_ expensive. I can take pics of it tonight if someone wants to rev. engineer it, but there is a part that is obsolete (I think).

That would be great.

I think it might be an interesting circuit...and there may be sections of it that we could apply to other circuits

[O]

I remembered what the part (obsolete?) name is: Clairex CLM50 optocoupler

I'll take some pics tonight. I still can't believe the prices for these pedals! I got it in a box with broken guitar parts (I guess they didn't know how to use it)

[Processaurus]

JC Maillet had this thing on his page, I assumed it was similar to the DOD, since both are optical.

http://www.lynx.bc.ca/~jc/pedalsTriggeredSwell.html

Mark, that's interesting you mention the E&MM article, there is something on Geofex called the multi-vol that glides from different volume presets, my bright idea was to make something like that (though with a linear VCA like the Boss NS-2 and tremolo use), but include this triggered swell idea too.

If you guys do clone it, take a look at the "soft touch" momentary stompswitch at small bear, just the ticket so your foot doesn't get tired tapping on the thing.