Effects Loop (In Your Loop?)

[ijustwannastrat]

I've been playing with some guys, and while nothing is official yet, they are thinking about letting me play a gig or two with them, just to test the waters. One of the songs on the set list is "Tom Sawyer"

During the solo, I've really been digging setting my Dunlop Wah to the point where it sounds twisted, and looking at the strings makes the harmonics leap out. I don't use a wah for ANY other song, so I was wondering what I would need to make a loop pedal.

I'm thinking just line in, loop out, loop in, line out. That way I can bypass the loop when I'm not soloing, without having to quickly find the magic zone on the wah. I'm not asking for a diagram, but since I want to get better at wiring, could somebody point me towards a pedal toggle that would allow this? I don't think I'll add an LED, but who knows?

[ashcatlt]

flateric strikes again. #5 is more than you need, but if you're looking for true madness, I think you'll get it from the feedback loop. Without the feedback, you can eliminate the switch and pot. Without the LEDs, you can eliminate a whole pole on the other switch, but the 3 pole stomp switches are supposed to be better quality anyway...

[ashcatlt]

BTW, while you are talking abou wiring, this thread probably fits better over in the Effects board.

[ijustwannastrat]

I might not understand. What's the "feedback"? It sounds bad....

[newey]

General Guitar Gadgets makes a kit for $30:

www.generalguitargadgets.com/component/page,shop.product_details/flypage,shop.flypage/product_id,145/category_id,7/option,com_virtuemart/Itemid,45/

I have one of these, but it's one of those projects that got half-completed. But the components are high-quality and their service is good, I can tell you that much.

And I'm not sure you could source the components a whole lot cheaper anyway, the aluminum enclosure and the footswitch alone would probable cost you $20+.

EDIT: ANd yes, this does belong on the effects board, so I moved it.

[ijustwannastrat]

Yea, I was going to put this down here in Effects, but the wiring factor threw me off the trail...

Also newey, I dig the kit. I've looked at building a Big muff pi via that website before, but I decided against it.

[ashcatlt]

Feb 14, 2010 12:01:08 GMT -5 ijustwannastrat said:

I might not understand. What's the "feedback"? It sounds bad....

No! Feedback is good.

the box we're talking about allows you to send a variable amount of the return signal back to its own input. This can be cool for some effects. In the case of your wah pedal, though, I think it's likely to self-oscillate pretty quickly. That might be cool if you want to emulate a theremin, but probably not what you're looking for.

[flateric]

Even in expensive rip-off UK, Alu enclosure = £3.50, 3pdt footswitch = £3.50, thats about $11 - $12.
These loopers give some tremendous thick effects using the feedback loop with chorus pedal, for example, or just a subtle overdrive/fuzz effect if paired with a big muff, when you lack a blend knob on the fx box. They are also really useful for activating chains of pedals together when you want a more subtle effect.

[sumgai]

I'm sorry, but we're hung up on terminology..... The words "loop" and "feedback" should never have entered this conversation.

stratty says he wants to be able to keep his wah pedal in one position, and be able to switch it into the signal chain, or out of the signal chain. But of course, nearly all wah pedals ever made require you to move the treadle all the way to one end or the other in order to engage the on/off switch - exactly what he wants to avoid.

Enter the True Bypass. Since there's no real estate on the wah pedal for another switch, we'll have to go external. Seems a shame to be taking up floor space, but it's one or the other, eh?

In situations like this, the switch itself will be a DPDT. (A third pole is needed only if we're going to control an LED.) There will be four jacks, labeled like so:

In (from the guitar, or from other effects);
Send (to the wah);
Return (from the wah);
Out (to the amp, or other effects)

The switch will decide merely to route the signal straight from In to Out, or from In to Send, and from Return to Out. It should be obvious, but just in case: all jack ground terminals are shared as a common connection, usually through the metal box itself, but you can hard-wire them if needed (such as re-using a plastic box from a former effect).

There ya go stratthy, now you can leave the wah pedal in one position for the whole night! ;D


HTH





sumgai

[newey]

Stratty's post here inspired me to finish mine this afternoon while watching the Daytona 500.



Works like a charm. I had a problem where it would work without the rear cover installed, but not when I installed the cover. Turns out, of course, that the cover was contacting the hot lead of the input jack. Turning the jack a bit, and insulating the inside of the cover with some electrical tape (just to be sure) solved the problem.

Now, however, I need to rethink my entire pedal board, re-route all the wires, and decide the appropriate pedal order . . .

[ijustwannastrat]

Daytona sort of peeved me. 2 red flags? yellow in the last 6 laps?

Back to topic, gai nailed it. I'm not the greatest at wordology, so I might have slipped up...

[ashcatlt]

I never said you needed the feedback, but it is technically an effect loop. I think the feedback portion adds functionality and could make for some fun experimentation, but...

Take flateric's scheme, snip off the top switch and the pot and LED attached to it, and you've got exactly what SG is talking about, and what newey built.

Here's an even Nuttier idea:
Get a used Crybaby cheap. Find an enclosure. Take the guts out of the new crybaby and install them in the enclosure. You can use the original switch, but these are usually SPST, and don't allow true bypass, so you might replace that. Now you've got a "stuck wah" box to use as described in the OP, plus you've got a normal wah that you can treadle all over the place (for other songs, you know) and not have to worry about losing your sweet spot.

[ijustwannastrat]

There are too many good ideas... I'm actually digging ash's idea of hacking into a cheap used crybaby.... I'm gonna have to check that out.