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Post by ChrisK on May 5, 2009 19:16:53 GMT -5
The VG Strat, what to do, what to do.....? Wiring for the Am Std HSS (pre 2008) with S-1 switch. www.fender.com/support/diagrams/pdf_temp1/stratocaster/0117000_02A/SD0117000_02APg2.pdfwww.fender.com/support/diagrams/pdf_temp1/stratocaster/0117100_02A/SD0117100_02APg4.pdfWiring for the Am Dlx SSS with S-1 switch. www.fender.com/support/diagrams/pdf_temp1/stratocaster/0101302A/SD0101302APg4.pdfwww.fender.com/support/diagrams/pdf_temp1/stratocaster/0101302A/SD0101302APg4.pdfNote that one pole of the 4P5T Super Switch in both schematics is consumed with the bridge/middle tone pot selection. Since the VG has only a master passive tone control, this frees up one pole. The "normal" Strat pickup selection on a 4P5T switch in the VG consumes two poles. The digital selection on the VG takes one pole. Therefore, there are three poles available for passive selections on the VG. If the blue laser is removed from its mounting hole in the pickguard, a 4PDT toggle can be used in place of an S-1 switch. An 8P3T rotary will also fit here (with a lever handle). As a result, the passive side of a VG could easily become an S-1-like SSS or HSS guitar. The dual 250KA/10KB volume and tone pots can be replaced with a concentric 250KA/500KA pot (passive volume and tone) and a concentric 10KB/10KB (modeled volume and tone). I've lined up a source for the concentric 10KB/10KB pot. The concentric 250KA/500KA pot is commonplace. www.guitarpartsresource.com/electrical_ctspots.htmUsing a 500KA pot for tone is not an issue since a 500KA pot will be down to 250K at about "7-8" (and now yer tone goes to "12") and will help if the HSS structure is implemented (for either the volume or tone). So, one could have a flexible passive guitar (with all the Nutsy switching possible) with its own volume and tone controls, and the modeled guitar with its own volume and tone controls. If I can figure out where to put the blue laser, I think that I'll call it the GN2 VeGeMatic Blue Light Special (from the ChrisK Mart). |
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Post by newey on May 5, 2009 20:12:27 GMT -5
I thought that was from Ron Popeil.  Or, use both an S-1 and a 4PDT, or rotary. The blue laser could be mounted in the end of the bout, so as to blind the audience instead. |
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Post by sumgai on May 6, 2009 2:35:32 GMT -5
The blue laser could be mounted in the end of the bout, so as to blind the audience instead. Or hey, just an idea..... howzabout removing it entirely, and not bothering to replace it at all?  It's not like it's necessary to the circuit at all, eh? When all is said and done, it truly is nothing more than an indicator to tell you what you already know (that the thing is on). A red led also works, or when all else fails, you can use a higher value current-limiting resistor. BTW, I've never seen any mention made anywhere about any kind of battery life. Seems like this would have an "idle state detector", and turn itself off if it wasn't played for more than 5 minutes or so. sumgai |
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Post by ChrisK on May 6, 2009 11:42:18 GMT -5
Remember, a S-1 won't fit since both pots are duals.
The 8P3T rotary is an S-1^2 (?S-2).
I think that about 4-5 hours is the battery life. Most reasonable advice indicates the use of two sets of four NiMH cells in rotation.
Unless the blue laser is ultra high-efficiency, or the operating current that passes thru is in series with the DSP (this is one of my old product development tricks - run the operating current thru the LED, share the juice), there could be a fair amount of current to save.
It does have the proverbial active guitar on-off switch (the stereo output jack).
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Post by sumgai on May 6, 2009 15:57:06 GMT -5
Chris,
Some folks, myself included, usually like to leave their axes plugged in and ready to go at all times. I get an idea, or I get bored (whichever occurs first), and I flip two switches, grab the neck, and molest all the molecules of air I can find! That bit about a stereo plug being used for a power switch is cool, but does me no good, except when hittin' the road.
You and I both know that it would take about 80¢ worth of parts and perhaps $200 worth of sweat equity for an engineer to plop a 'current draw sensing' circuit into the power control segment of the unit. 5 minutes may be too long for some, too short for others, but I'm morally certain that everyone would agree that it's a good idea whose time has come.
sumgai
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Post by ChrisK on May 6, 2009 17:04:54 GMT -5
A current draw sensing circuit may be problematic in that the operating current of the DSP is fairly constant since the program is constantly running.
At what point does the software decide that the signal is muted enough long enough for the operator to be presumed to be in a quiescent state.
At what minimal level of input signal does the software decide that the operator has awakened?
Trust me, this is a lot harder to correctly specify than it might seem.
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Post by newey on May 6, 2009 18:45:07 GMT -5
I can recall some 20 minute jams, with about 4-5 minutes of bass solo followed by a 6 minute drum solo. And when the guitar does finally come back in, it's a powerchord KERRANG! that better be on the beat, and not a half beat late while the VG refires up.
Of course, no one plays those long self-indulgent pieces anymore. Except for all those "jam bands" . . .
Seems to me that this would be "tech for tech's sake" since a simple standby switch would accomplish much the same, allowing power off with cable connected. This could be a micro toggle placed unobtrusively near the output. Or perhaps a pushbutton accessible through a hole in the backplate.
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Post by sumgai on May 6, 2009 18:59:02 GMT -5
Chris,
Yes, it can be more difficult than merely determining an increase or decrease in DC current (is that redundant?), but not overly so.
Instead of sensing just the input current that drives the whole ball of wax, I'd sense the output voltage levels, possibly both active and passive, perhaps only the active. Presuming that a string has been strummed, and that the volume control(s) is/are up above 1, then there should be an AC voltage present, at some frequency, on the output line. It's also safe to assume that this 'event' would be measurably larger than the quiescient output state, enough so that a decent sensor would be able to detect it, and reset the timer. If not, then move the sensor to the "hot" side of the volume pot, and call it a day.
The biggest difficulty would probably be the action of a ratio-metric sensor. I'd handle that with yet another part, with appropriate design integration, the ever-useful Zener diode. Raises the cost, maybe double my prior bid, but still, after development costs, manufacturing costs, testing, UL submittal, the planned distribution (IOW, the anticipated number of sales), etc, etc., yadda yadda, blah blah, woof woof, the final cost per unit out the door should be negligible, comparatively speaking.
Not to mention, it'll give the Marketing types something actually new to brag about for awhile. ;D
sumgai
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Post by sumgai on May 6, 2009 19:10:09 GMT -5
newey,
Yes, but as a feature, there's no reason why it couldn't be a user-adjustable time lag, eh? Shorter time to power-down equals longer-lived batteries, and the opposite holds true.
Oops, that adds yet another part, not to mention making it accessible to the user without undue exposure to damage, but still and all, the overall cost won't be so much as to make the feature untenable. Again, many are like me in that they want to put the guitar down and walk way.... maybe they gotta answer the phone or the door, and they're easily distracted. But, when The Muse strikes, and it's time to pick the guitar up, there's no allowance for waiting any longer than necessary - it's "showtime", and I mean like right now! That's how ideas are captured, refined, and eventually published.
Sure, a small delay here seems incredible to be "discussing" (we are not arguing!), but then again, the feature as I envision it would be useful at all times (given the user's desire to have/use it in the first place), and not just during special occasions.
sumgai
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Post by newey on May 6, 2009 20:03:07 GMT -5
SG-
No, we're not arguing, and there would be a certain coolness factor: "Whoa, dude! Your axe goes into "Hibernate Mode"?
My hollow body Univox (if, indeed, that's what it is; you will recall you helped ID it awhile back- and Steve at VintAxe basically agrees) has a toggle for "standby", and I use it quite a bit when I pick that guitar up, since it has a bit of hum to it, and tends to feedback when left on the stand for a few minutes if I leave the amp on.
It's not useful as a kill switch as it's not near the strings. But a handy thing nonetheless. And extending battery life is certainly a worthwhile goal.
I suspect your amp is either off, or on standby if it's of a tube-ish nature, while you're answering the phone, or awaiting that burst of inspiration, no? So what's one more switch to flip to get going?
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Post by ashcatlt on May 6, 2009 22:38:45 GMT -5
Or you could power the thing from a wallwart. If it's plugged in anyway...
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Post by sumgai on May 7, 2009 0:35:47 GMT -5
Or you could power the thing from a wallwart. If it's plugged in anyway... As usual, ash strikes from behind the woodshed, and wins the race. Curses, I hate it when he does that!  ;D |
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Post by gumbo on May 7, 2009 9:30:53 GMT -5
...and then before long we'll be down the 13-pin plug deal, huh? ...or was that what they were trying to avoid in the first place ;D Seriously though, some good ideas here, particularly for someone (like me) doing a bit of hot-rodding to the passive side of a RolandReady...  |
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Post by ChrisK on May 7, 2009 12:31:04 GMT -5
Yeah, a wall-wart constant power source would be good too. But remember, one of the marketing points about the VG was that it didn't require any "extra boxes or things" like the Variax (aside from the fact that the Variax could also just be powered from batteries as well...marketing, it's not commercial fraud). Well, there ain't any special sensors or monitoring the output of the active output, or programmable delays, or what-nots. There are only the analog to digital converter inputs on the processor, the generated analog output from the processor, and software. The filters are software. The guitar models are software. In modern embedded systems, the firmware (which is only firmer software) is loaded from a serial boot device. This is why a cell phone takes so long to turn on (well, boot up). It executes its program from RAM and has to load from the serial (one bit at a time) storage. For the models and filters to run properly, they have to have been running properly. Results are based on current input level samples as well as many scaled prior input level samples. In order for the device to turn on quickly, it has to have been on for a little while such that the models and filters (which are just other models) were running to ascertain that something changed enough to be recognized as an event (both coming and going). In order to have been running, it has to have had power to preserve the contents of RAM (ie the firmware that makes it what it is) which is its program. Otherwise, it has to boot up. This requires a trigger event such as an interrupt push button or a, uh, power on switch. We're here because we're here...... |
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Post by JohnH on May 7, 2009 16:03:08 GMT -5
This is a nice project to contemplate. Things that Id want to consider:
Phantom power supplied down the guitar cord, possibly using a second jack on the guitar. This could be via two-core mic cable, or could you make the output signal float above the dc power?
One jack dedicated to passive mag pickups, so you can go stereo, magnetic and choice of modelled, to two amps
Blend control to mix mag and modelled
Rewire the mag pup switching to get all your favorites
John
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Post by ChrisK on May 7, 2009 17:50:11 GMT -5
Yes, but not without active buffering of both signals. This sounds like an effort (a.k.a. work).
Sure, maybe a stereo speaker jack is in order. We need two leads plus a way to switch power. I have seen tip, ring, sleeve, AND another conductor cabling somewhere. We just need the jack. I think that it might have been Fishman or something like them.
Yep. I wonder what the group phase delay is for the active model output.
Gee, if it's somewhat significant, we'd have a varying in-phase/out-of-phase issue/effect (a "good" product bug is a feature!). This could be interesting (in an aneurytic kind of way).
Ya, you betcha! 'Cuz we can!
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Post by ashcatlt on May 7, 2009 23:02:14 GMT -5
As I understand it, you can connect +9VDC to the ring of a TRS cable plugged into the existing TRS jack on the guitar. The only modification to the guitar itself is a jumper across the battery terminals. In many cases, this can be a slightly modified battery clip, making it completely (and quickly) reversible if you ever need to go back to batteries.
I'd be willing to bet there's a delay through the ADC/software/DAC chain. That'll cause some comb filtering to begin with. Then there's most certainly some shifting happening in the filters. I wonder just how much correlation you'd get between the two signals. The latency could be compensated by delaying the passive signal. Not really passive anymore, I guess...
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Post by JohnH on May 8, 2009 1:54:30 GMT -5
Ash, I reckon yo are right, in that there will be an element of latency of some millisec, rather than just a phase change of some degrees. That would be ideal in sending the signals to two channels for stereo. There wont be an across the board canceling of the fundamental, just a doubling of the apparent number of guitars - this could be good!
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Post by gumbo on May 8, 2009 7:36:03 GMT -5
...ah, so we now have a VVG Strat ...for me, and the current exercise I'm going through, I'm seriously contemplating limiting how far I take the passive hot-rodding in the Roland-Ready that I use for stage (given my capacity for keeping my brain in touch with just what switch is where at any particular point in time ...could be an age thing...but I'm also moving between instruments in the current lilne-up) ...options being considered at the moment are either: (a) give careful (!) thought to REALLY what combinations I want to have available for stage use and attempt to arrange them on one "side" of (say) an S-1 switch or similar...leaving the rest to the other "side" for playing with when recording or whatever.. (b) drag the Chinese Strat copy out of hibernation and build the (more) non-stage stuff into that, even if that gets me back to squeezing the guts of a GK2A under the pickguard again..(sigh) I keep coming back to the KISS principal about the stage instrument, as I fear that sometimes I over-estimate my ability to (1) hang it all together in mid-performance, or (2) establish whether the audience really is able to discern the difference when I'm competing with button accordions, banjos, rubboards and a whole lot more...... I think that in recording, and for my own pleasure and satisfaction it is a whole different ball-game and I am in no way denigrating anyone's desire(s) to produce 496 sounds out of the same guitar ('coz I kinda like that idea too!!)...it's just that some days I wake up and think.. "Will I actually get paid more for doing all this in front of a live audience, or are they more interested in the price of the beer and the transparency of the barmaid's top?" I guess I have taken this a little off-topic (sorry S-G, Nwy, CK) since I seem to be wedded to a 13-pin cable a lot of the time anyway...but I have thought at times long-and-hard about the VG Strat...most times coming to the conclusion that the audience (hopefully!) enjoys seeing and hearing me play, not whether I have a rack of guitars at the side of the stage....I can take that (or it's Virtual Equivalent) to the recording studio instead, and take pleasure in creating something that appeals to me and sounds interesting enough through someone's CD player that they will buy it  As far as remote-powering of a VG, probably I would just build a custom cable (or maybe two-or-three, if that was what I was doing on stage!!) using something like a screened 4-core which split at each end ...one 'half' would take the signals, the other would carry the wart power....amp end would be fairly simple, guitar end a little more difficult, but hey, even if it resulted in two jacks and plugs (heaven forbid!)...it would get me through the night so I could start worrying about other things instead ;D (price of beer, barmaid's clothes, etc) Cheers from Down Here..where late-night ramblings rule  |
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Post by ashcatlt on May 8, 2009 10:08:57 GMT -5
As far as remote-powering of a VG, probably I would just build a custom cable (or maybe two-or-three, if that was what I was doing on stage!!) using something like a screened 4-core which split at each end ...one 'half' would take the signals, the other would carry the wart power....amp end would be fairly simple, guitar end a little more difficult, but hey, even if it resulted in two jacks and plugs (heaven forbid!)...it would get me through the night so I could start worrying about other things instead ;D (price of beer, barmaid's clothes, etc) I would build a small box with 3 jacks. 1 DC jack for the wallwart, 1 TS jack out to the amp, and 1 TRS jack to the guitar. We might want to use a current limited power supply, either find a wallwart that's already got it (good luck...) or built into the little box. There could be a brief moment when both the ring and sleeve are in contact with the jack's sleeve. This actually works for just about any active guitar, including acoustic/electrics, active basses, EMG monsters... Pretty much anything that uses a stereo jack as a power switch. |
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Post by sumgai on May 8, 2009 14:39:30 GMT -5
To address a couple of items..... Chris, this is firmware, or as you and I called it under the old naming regime, microcode. There are no user-modifiable parameters to be stored, therefore nothing to be saved with minute amounts of battery power. Q.E.D. - simply pull the 4 AA cells out for 5 minutes or so. Restore them, and boot the guitar. (Ohh, that sounds kinky!) And all will be well, eh?  Or have you found a micro-button cell on the circuit board that Roland has conveniently forgotten to mention? And for all that, one could employ both power sources, giving one the freedom of fewer on-stage hassles when needful, yet allowing a wall wart to be supply power via the Ring terminal, when desired. Two words - steering diodes. John, I believe it was Fishman that tried your trick of floating 9 vDC on a standard cord/jack/plug arrangement. Trouble was, there was a beer-droppingly loud pop from the speaker(s) every time the player disconnected the cord without first turning off the power supply. Short on positive responses from the player community, thus short-lived. ash is correct about your second-conductor idea, but even there, we don't need a jumper, if we use steering diodes. Best of all, they could be left installed, with an explanation to the buyer, should one decide to sell the instrument. Bonus! This sounds like an effort (a.k.a. work). What, you thought Nuttiness came for free, sans effort? Did you take note of those nice men in white coats over there? They have a nice addition to your outfit, you really should try it on...... sumgai |
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Post by ashcatlt on May 9, 2009 16:06:39 GMT -5
I had to google "steering diode", but that looks like a pretty good option. It does require a bit more modification to the guitar than I had in mind.
My brain's a bit foggy today (thanks to early comittments to the corporate masters) but I wonder how this would be implemented. The ring of the jack is in series with the batteries, while the layout I saw for steering diodes shows the two supplies in parallel. Will it be possible to implement this and continue to use the stereo jack as a power switch?
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Post by ChrisK on May 9, 2009 22:28:11 GMT -5
Well, this is a good idea. The jumper essentially makes the battery connector a thru connection. Usually the stereo jack is switching the battery negative to system ground, but the thru connection is indeed the positive rail now.
Unfortunately, the VG is powered by 4 AA cells (6.0 VDC). One would have to adjust the fed voltage accordingly. I would not say that one could just feed in +9 VDC as we don't know the design parameters of the processor power supply as well as any analog circuit paths.
The battery holder slides into the battery holder case quite nicely. It's polarized, but I don't see a real easy to jumper things (other than a shorting jumper on the battery holder.)
There will be multiple passes thru the filter algorithms, but the algorithms will be nearly real-time in that if they weren't, significant signal sampling buffering would have to be done. If this was CD quality, one might surmise that at least 44 KBytes would be needed for a second. Of course, buffering for a second would be pointless, but some delay will occur. What will be problematic (or interesting, depending on one's perspective) will be the delay that is a percentage of a note's frequency. The higher the note, the greater the percentage of a note's cycle the delay becomes.
An electronic filter will introduce group delay that is possibly interesting as an effect....hmmm.
Nooo, it's firmware (the executed program). Microcode (other than code that happens to be in a micro) was the coding (usually done manually) that defined the instruction set operation and steered the register operations that executed the program. Most fortunately, I haven't worked on microcode since some of my early bit-slice days in the '70s.
Yes, I lament....
This appears to be aneurytically tinged.....
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Post by ashcatlt on May 9, 2009 23:48:38 GMT -5
Unfortunately, the VG is powered by 4 AA cells (6.0 VDC). One would have to adjust the fed voltage accordingly. I would not say that one could just feed in +9 VDC as we don't know the design parameters of the processor power supply as well as any analog circuit paths. I didn't notice if the actual operating voltage had been mentioned. The 3 volt difference doesn't really change the implementation. 9 V might be a good place to start if one wanted to regulate and filter and end up with 6 V at the end. Yeah, I don't know who it was decided I should talk to their customers at 0900. I've had a nap, some tequila, and some loud rock and roll and it makes a lot more sense now. |
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Post by sumgai on May 10, 2009 0:33:55 GMT -5
ash, Presumably, yes. We'll assume that the VG Strat is using all four AA cells as a single ended supply, and not split as a bi-polar supply, (Although knowing Roland, that might be a rash assumption.) Since battery voltage decays with use over time, then we also need to assume that the guitar's circuitry will operate with well under the nominal 6 volts. It's either that, or else the VG requires the use of alkaline (or similar lengthy voltage-over-time technology) cells. We already know how things work in the normal sense of plugging a mono cable into a stereo jack, one that uses the Ring terminal for a power switch. Now let's look at the scenario where we supply 6vDC from an external source. Obviously, for compatability purposes, we'll need to put the positive side of that voltage on the Ring terminal. But that's where the on-board battery (comprised of the four AA cells) has its negative terminal, because it's expecting to have a connection to ground, isn't it? Oh yes indeedy, but look at it a bit more closely: why, it's a series connection, comprised of the on-board battery and the external supply. That presents 12vDC to the guitar's circuitry, and that's not a good thing. Now, one could use a Zener diode to clamp the voltage down to 6vDC, but that's wasteful of energy. Not a good first solution, but let's keep it in reserve, and investigate further. Let's install a regular diode across the battery. The cathode (the banded end) goes to the positive terminal, which makes sure that the battery current itself can't turn on the diode, which in turn means that the battery can't self-destruct. So far, so good. Now, let's introduce our 6vDC from the Ring terminal, via the external supply. That 6vDc is going to take the path of least resistance and go through the diode, because it's oriented correctly to pass current in this direction. The diode is now turned on, and the resulting voltage drop.... Wait! Hold it right there, Red Ryder! You just said that the diode is now turned on, right?Yes. So, weren't we trying to avoid that with the battery, so as to not short it out?Well, yes, that was the idea. So what happens to the battery now that the diode is turned on?Ahhh, errr.... We get to observe first hand that classic condition known as "Epic Fail"?      Damn, back to the CAD machine. (Drawing boards being so 20th century.  So, how to avoid this condition? Enter the second steering diode. Install that little jewel in series with the battery's positive terminal such that the anode is on the battery, and the cathode meets with the other diode's cathode. Now let's analyze the circuitry. Actually, this is easy - we don't need to look at voltages any more, not at all. Simply recall that a diode passes current in only one direction - uh, there are now two diodes placed between the battery terminals, right? And they're back to back, right? So, if one is turned-on, passing current, can the other one turn on too? Nope. Not under reasonably expected conditions. Perhaps under conditions that would be cataclysmic anyways, but not in the main. And thus it comes to pass that we can indeed use a pair of simple diodes to steer current where we want it, and still be able to use the jack as a power switch for the internal supply. And they lived happily ever after. ;D HTH sumgai |
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Post by gumbo on May 10, 2009 6:42:13 GMT -5
Ye G*#s! ...now you've given me yet another idea... ...Thanks S-G (I think....) ..just going to turn the light on over my CAD machine and drag a stool up to it.. |
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Post by ChrisK on May 10, 2009 23:02:25 GMT -5
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Post by sumgai on May 11, 2009 2:29:42 GMT -5
Chris, Yes, but those items involve at least one thing.... additional cash outlay. I posted my drivel on the thought that if one already has a stereo jack installed for the purpose of controlling the internal battery...... OTOH, a pair of 1N4001 diodes (actually, it's not easy to find just two, and only two of 'em for sale) will set back our intrepid experimenter by one measly portrait of our first President. And that's at the most expensive retail outlet on the planet (Maplin included!)..... if one shops around, they can be found at less than a dime apiece (in small quantities). And at that, I wonder just how many electric guitars will have the room to mount one of those end-pin jacks, seeing as how they are meant for an acoustic guitar. Makes life more simple vis-a-vis the wiring activity, but there are downsides that need to be considered. sumgai |
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Post by ChrisK on May 14, 2009 21:59:38 GMT -5
I wouldn't consider applying any voltage over 6 VDC since the internal design of the DSP circuit is unknown (well, not really, but it's well beyond the scope and familiarity of this forum). Suffice it to say that the days of the comfortable 5 VDC designs are long gone. Remember, the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors operate at 0.85 to 1.3 VDC max. They DO draw over 35 watts at said biases, but minimal the voltage is.
The processor used in the VG (NEC D70F3261, the V850ES series) is fairly long of tooth and is a 3.3 VDC unit. There is a Roland "WSP" ASIC used as well, but this is a proprietary part. The output signal is generated by a stereo 24 bit DAC (AK4396VF) that can work on 5 VDC analog and up to 5 VDC digital.
One issue is that the newer DC/DC step down switchers (this module has 5 inductor cores on it for such) have input limitations as low as 8 VDC. While I don't know exactly what the limitations are here, I would be careful about applying even 9 VDC.
I picked up a set of 8 AA + 2 AAA Enerloop NiMH batteries (as well as "C" and "D" adapter tubes) as Costco this weekend for $19.99. This was in Brooklyn, NY, I don't know if this $10 off sale is at every Costco. I've seen a battery case for the VG at $16.50, so I'll get a spare one.
If I were doing diode steering for the supply, I'd use Schottky diodes to keep the voltage drop under 0.5 VDC. Also, the 1N400X series diodes are slower than drying paint, so I tend to have little use for them, even at $0.02 in volume.
If I were to look at setting this up for dual supplies, after forking out $949 for the VG, any additional cash outlay seems somewhat insignificant to me. If I wanted any extra switching/conductor functions, I'd likely use the stereo speaker jack as it's around the same size as the existing jack.
As mentioned, the placing an anti-parallel diode across the existing battery pack is a questionable idea. When a mono plug is inserted, the battery minimum on the ring is connected to power ground on the sleeve and things are ok. When a three-conductor cable is used with about 6 VDC regulated on the ring, the input power just won't just go thru the diode and power the unit, but will be in series with the battery which will add its voltage (until discharged) to the incoming voltage (and the anti-parallel diode will remain off). Adding a series diode with the battery plus won't help.
The only way to do this is to have the battery permanently grounded by the insertion of the cable as before, but also to have a conductor carrying the external power as well (or steering is immaterial).
To further add in JohnH's suggestion of passive as well as modeled outputs will now take a three conductor plus shield cable.
It would seem that two conductor plus shield is the limit for cable-born signals.
With the two sets of Enerloop batteries, I'm more than willing to use the Fishman two conductor plus shield plus power switching jack. It looks like it will fit well in the VG since the back is covered by an extra aluminum cover plate.
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Post by newey on May 14, 2009 22:46:58 GMT -5
Ok, to recap for those just joining us- And for me, as I seem to have lost the thread of this thread- What Chris the K is proposing is: 1) Using concentric pots, one set for V&T on the passive pups, and another set for the modeled pup. 2) Having freed up some space on a superswitch, using the extra poles for passive switching schemes, as yet undefined. 3) Removing a blinding blue LED and substituting a 4PDT toggle or an 8P3T rotary, for other as yet undetermined schemes, 4) No outboard power, but a battery upgrade. Is that about the gist of this (re)build so far? The rotary switch would tempt me. I don't know if I'll do another Strat anytime soon (still knee-deep in the 4Caster!), but I've become interested in the various combos of all 3 pickups, like (N+M)*B, N*(B+M). etc. I imagine that with such extensive switching capabilities, most/all of these could be realized, along with the std Strat selections. EDIT:And Chris is on his third avatar of the day. I believe that may be a new record. |
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It's not like it's necessary to the circuit at all, eh? When all is said and done, it truly is nothing more than an indicator to tell you what you already know (that the thing is on). 
Or have you found a micro-button cell on the circuit board that Roland has conveniently forgotten to mention?
