In praise of order-flipping

[Mark Hammer]

It seems that every year, there are at least a few queries here and on other forums, about "Should I put X before Y, or Y before X?".  And the answer is very often "It depends".  That is, the order will matter, but there is no single "correct" order.  That's all well and good, but people still want a definitive answer because at the end of the day, they want to organize their pedalboard and have everything connected where it is supposed to go. 

What if you could instantly rewire your pedalboard without having to move things around?  Units like the Fractal Axe-FX, and other digital multi-FX permit that sort of thing, but for those of us who like what the analog world has to offer (especially the lower-cost DIY aspects), it poses a challenge.

Enter order-flipping.  That is, the switch-selectable capacity to change the order of things, such that a precedes B, or B precedes A.  I will sheepishly admit that, for as long as I've been an advocate of this, I had never actually made myself an order flipper.  Well, I finally made one, and here it is.



At it's heart, it is simply a two-loop selector.  Send and receive for Loop A and Loop B.  After I put it together (in a 125 chassis), I realized that I had room inside, and had a nice 4PDT toggle that was suitable for hardware order-switching.  I consulted Commander Keen's 13 year-old "Juggler" document over on GEOFEX, and followed the diagram.  The goal of that document is to lead to more complex CMOS switching via more easily attainable switches, but I wanted something that would work in the total absence of power.  So, I followed the initial wiring plan and, after a few failed attempts that stemmed from everything having to be backwards (if I wanted the bat handle position to indicate what loop was "first"), I finally got it running.  And I have to say, it is a pleasure to be able to instantly compare things that can provide some interesting nuance differences.  Given that the toggle had an extra set of contacts available, I could have included indicator LEDs to show who was on first, but quite frankly that's a pretty big bat handle that prcluded the need for more visual indication.

I tested it out with an EA tremolo and Joyo OCD clone.  Tremolo going into an overdrive will approach and recede from the clipping threshold.  It still produces the same audible pulse, but alters the degree of clipping as well.  Overdrive into tremolo produces a more consistent tone and attack, which simply varies in volume.  Hitting a chord, and flicking a switch to reverse the two permits rapid comparison.  Similar sorts of nuanced change occur with wah into fuzz vs fuzz into wah, and phaser into fuzz vs fuzz into phaser.  Equally interesting and useful, an order-flipping loop selector like this permits one to stick just about ANY cluster of effects before or after any other cluster, all without having to move a single thing on the pedalboard.

I recommend devices like this.  You don't need to order-flip everything, but if you have some sort of multiple loop selector, making two of those loops flippable can open up a world of possibilities and convenience.  While I suppose a person could make order-flipping via a stompswitch, a 3PDT gives no visual indication of what comes first like the toggle does, so you'd need a 4PDT stomp to provide LED indication of order.  That can get pricey, and pretty cumbersome, since you need space in the chassis for your foot (a 125 like this simply wouldn't cut it for 3 stompswitches and all those jacks).  Quite frankly, I find it hard to imagine circumstances where you'd instantly want to flip (though I suppose they exist), so toggles should meet most people's needs.

Having said all of that, a dual-loop selector like this can solve a lot of problems, and adding the order flipping just ups the utility by a whole lot.

[drolo]

Hi Mark,

Another nice use for this is beeing able to place a lopper before or after your effects chain. Place it after the effects and the looper repeats exactly what you fed into it. But place it before your effects and you will be able to change the sound of your running loop (and probably feel a lot like a DJ...)

On another note, i find myself lately lifting my pedals (fixed with Velcro) SLOoOWLY, one hook at the time, trying not to awake the 6 months old little one sleeping next door.

I was wondering why the jacks on stompboxes are usually placed on the side, where they can't easily be reached for quick jack swapping. Strange that so few companies (Lovetone are the only ones i can think of) make pedals with jacks mounted on the front, along with the pots and switches, a bit like a modular Synth. Would make sense, especially considering that guitarists are such obsessive tinkerers. I have always placed mine on the side as well, following the consensus, but i'm starting to believe that it does not have to be like that ...

[Ronan]

A good one for the toolbox, too, very useful. How did you do the lettering?

[alparent]

How did you do the lettering?

Mark uses those scratch and sniff letters.
You scratch them on off a plastic sheet.
What they smell after depends on a lot of things!

[Processaurus]

An order switcher could end up being really handy for someone performing with a digital looping pedal, because sometime you would want to record a phrase with effects on, and other times, like a dj would, run the loop through effects after it had been recorded.

[Mark Hammer]

I was hoping to buy myself a looper pedal (as opposed to this thing, which is a loop selector), and hadn't considered the role of serial position for those things just yet, but Ben and Drolo make a good point.

And yes, Alain is right.  The lettering is simply rub-on transfer lettering.  The white stuff is hard to find.  I found this in an old-school electronics place in Berkley, California, 4 years ago.  I also have most of a shjeet of yellow lettering in the same font, that I bought in a hobby shop.  I gather the stuff is used for lettering on the side of model boats and airplanes.

[AudioEcstasy]

A handy stomp to say the least! Would come in really handy with a single channel amp

[Mark Hammer]

You also reminded me of just how many times we've heard people ask about EQ-before-distortion vs distortion-before-EQ.  Why not enjoy both?

[Psychedelic_Max]

Can we find the wiring diagram somewhere???

[R.G.]

You also reminded me of just how many times we've heard people ask about EQ-before-distortion vs distortion-before-EQ.  Why not enjoy both?

Wrong. The right answer is EQ before AND after distortion.   

Can we find the wiring diagram somewhere???

You can find the wiring here: http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/juggler/juggler.htm

The first diagram is the wiring for a 4PDT, which includes an indictor LED. Ignoring that SPDT section gives you a 3PDT juggler.

[space_ryerson]

I've had an order flip switch for a while on my board, to put the distortion/OD's before or after everything else. I mounted a 4PDT on the front of the pedal in a way that I could flip up and down with my toe. It's kludgy, but has worked for a long time. When it comes time to finally update my live pedalboard, I'm going to do it similar to The Juggler with CMOS switching and relays with a momentary stomp switch.

[Mark Hammer]

Myself, I don't understand why this is not a standard feature on commercial loop-selector units.  It doesn't have to be ALL of them, but , say, a 4-loop selector could have an order-flipper for loops 1 and 2, with loops 3 and 4 being the traditional serial order thing.  All it takes is a small toggle.

And as I've mentioned here in past, I don't know why pedal manufacturers aren't including a loop and order-flipper switch in their pedals.  There are a zillion overdrive/distortin/fuzz pedals out there, with little to distinguish between them apart from ad copy and graphics.  Why NOT stick a distortion (that might otherwise fit in a 1590A) in a 1590BB, with a send-receive loop and an order-flipper toggle, so that the pedal is distinguished by what it LETS YOU DO?