Bypass for Art 425 DXR

[rabidgerry]

Hi guys,

back from the dead........................again

ok so my thread failed with the behringer ab200 foot switch that I wanted to try and operate without a battery!!! But I have another idea for a project born out of necessity!!

I have a rack delay unit that I use to delay one side of my stereo output from my MFX. This is to create the same effect you create when you double track in daw but move it anywhere between 10-20msec forward on one side. It creates the HAAS effect which I'm sure you are familiar with. Anyways, this unit is great and does what I want.

However.......................................................................I can't turn the effect off!!! Or bypass it at all, not even by footswitch. I can't even control the mix by foot switch either.

So there are a number of things I could add to the unit if it is possible to make it more functional than it already is.

These would be:
A bypass option
A remote operatable mix control (there is a mix control on the front panel)
A seperate dry out put.

Now I'm primarily only interested in the first idea. A bypass that I can operate via foot switch. So I have come to you guys to see what your thoughts are and whether this is achievable I think it could be. Now I've only a basic knowledge on tech stuff although I can perform quite a bit with my trusty soldering iron, but I'm certainly no tech genius and can deisgn mods!!! and scehmatic etc.

However I'll give it a bash in word form.

If I was to create a bypass, I think I would need to take the input signal some how, feed it to a switch, the switch could be in the form of an input jack that has a switch built in, which would allow to switch the signal back and forth from going straight to out put or else continue on the original destination through the effects device.

Now to do this I'd need a switchable 1/4" jack socket, I'd need to drill a new hole to relocate the new jack and I would also need some wire.

Now guys, feel free to chip in here. This is my basic idea but as I said I dont really have any expertise. Let me know your thoughts and suggestions.

I will post pics of the inside of the unit when I can (it's in my band rehearsal room currently so will not see it until saturday).

Hope yall can help

[newey]

It may be that I'm not visualizing your setup here, but my first thought was that no soldering or dismemberment of the unit should be necessary. Put an ABY switch in front of the unit, and a "Y" cable junction after the unit. The "A" side of the switch is then cabled to the unit, "B" bypasses it to the "Y" junction. Output from the unit then goes to the other leg of the "Y".

If I'm off base with this, tell me where I'm wrong, but it seems to me that all this can be done external to the unit- no muss, no fuss!

[ashcatlt]

Check out flateric's switch box thread. Number 5 is what you want. If you just snip out the top switch and the pot, it's a true bypass FX loop, but if you leave them in you get the added fun of feedback.

[rabidgerry]

Apr 28, 2015 7:41:48 GMT -5 ashcatlt said:

Check out flateric's switch box thread. Number 5 is what you want. If you just snip out the top switch and the pot, it's a true bypass FX loop, but if you leave them in you get the added fun of feedback.

It's funny cause I just saw a pedal design I could make just like the scheme in number 5!!

This is what I want. However......................call me completely nuts................but wouldn't it be cool to integrate it to the unit?

I dunno may be I am just being nuts. I kinda like the idea of it being tucked away inside the original unit.

I have to think as well in terms of which option would be quicker to set up. The option where I have another stand alone pedal (the loop option) or the option where I run a cabel to a foot switch I already will have on stage and can use to switch the FX unit on and off.

I only mention this as I've usually tight deadlines to get on and of stage (15mins) which can be hard enough with a stereo set up.

The looper is a great option

[rabidgerry]

Apr 28, 2015 7:41:48 GMT -5 ashcatlt said:

Check out flateric's switch box thread. Number 5 is what you want. If you just snip out the top switch and the pot, it's a true bypass FX loop, but if you leave them in you get the added fun of feedback.

I thought of this option as well but I think if I had a switch to switch between the input of the reverb unit and the input of the amp, I'd need another switch after the reverb unit to switch between the output of the reverb unit and the first AB switch output which would mean two switches and double the effort just to get the signal bypassed. A Y cabel wouldn't cut it I'm afraid.

[ashcatlt]

Honestly, I think the easiest solution is to find a cheap delay pedal.

The actual switch needs to be stompable, right? So you already need a box on the floor and at least one cable between it and the rack box. You could use the TB loop pedal but combine the send and return on a single TRS jack and then run an "insert" cable to the delay. Then you could also use the switch to bypass other things, heck you could have a whole chain of things all coming on and off together! Your (vintage ?) rack effects box remains stock, and can be swapped out for anything anytime.

Or you can hack some relays or transistor switching, end up running the same TRS cable to the switch. You will risk borking your unit completely (the risk is always there) and will probably decrease its resale value, and the switch only works for that one box. If it dies, and you replace it with another, or get some other toy you want to play with? Hack that one too?

Plus, FEEDBACK!!!!

[rabidgerry]

Apr 28, 2015 12:50:40 GMT -5 ashcatlt said:

Honestly, I think the easiest solution is to find a cheap delay pedal.

The actual switch needs to be stompable, right? So you already need a box on the floor and at least one cable between it and the rack box. You could use the TB loop pedal but combine the send and return on a single TRS jack and then run an "insert" cable to the delay. Then you could also use the switch to bypass other things, heck you could have a whole chain of things all coming on and off together! Your (vintage ?) rack effects box remains stock, and can be swapped out for anything anytime.

Or you can hack some relays or transistor switching, end up running the same TRS cable to the switch. You will risk borking your unit completely (the risk is always there) and will probably decrease its resale value, and the switch only works for that one box. If it dies, and you replace it with another, or get some other toy you want to play with? Hack that one too?

Plus, FEEDBACK!!!!

lol I can't use delay pedals, not one of them does what I want them to do. Some go close but not what I want. They usually have a mix signal coming out and you can't have just the delay or else they don't have a short enough delay, and sometimes it needs to be longer , other times it needs to be shorter depending on the room.

I might still have a go at this.

I don't mind having a box on the floor as I have a dual foot switch there anyways and it has one switch doing nothing that could be used to switch the delay on or on bypass.

not sure I follow your first idea, give that to me again?

[ashcatlt]

Build the TB looper. If you would rather only have one actual cable running to the rack, then use a TRS jack instead of the individual TS jacks for the send and return and then use one of those insert cables that is TRS>dual TS. You might be able to press your existing pedal into service somehow, but we'd need to know more about the actual switch in it.

[rabidgerry]

here is something shocking, or may be not.

I can buy a looper for cheaper than it would cost to get the parts and build it myself!!!

Gonna need to think about what I want to do. I don't mind ripping my delay unit apart. If I was to buy a 1/4" socket and use it as a switch controled via a pedal, what type of socket would this be?

[ashcatlt]

Apr 29, 2015 5:50:33 GMT -5 rabidgerry said:

here is something shocking, or may be not.

I can buy a looper for cheaper than it would cost to get the parts and build it myself!!!

Probably. I was able to scavenge jacks from other things, and I saved a bit by using a cheap Raco box from the hardware store, but I also built in a filtered power supply for my pedal board, so that added to the price.

Gonna need to think about what I want to do. I don't mind ripping my delay unit apart. If I was to buy a 1/4" socket and use it as a switch controled via a pedal, what type of socket would this be?

Kinda depends on how you're going to switch the thing, and that kinda depends on the switch itself.

You said you have a footswitch. What exactly is it? Latching or momentary? How many poles? Can it be swapped out easily for a stomp switch you might buy elsewhere?

You also have to decide if you want this to be "True Bypass" - which probably requires relays - or if transistor switching will be acceptable.

BTW - I just finally actually looked up a picture of the thing. Boy that's a blast from the past! I had an FXR in my rack for a very long time. It never really worked right and just got weirder and weirder as time went on, but now it's pretty much unusable even for noise. Before that, I had a ProVerb, which was fricking awesome. Last time I turned that on, it worked fine, but got to be almost too hot to touch, so it had to be retired. I stole the regulators out of it for my "summing mixer" project...

[rabidgerry]

hahaha yeah it's old!! No idea how old. Can't find any manuals. I think it sounds pretty good if I am honest. I don't use it for half of what it can do. I just use it for varying short delays, usually just stuck on somewhere between 4msec and 14msec. The stereo effect if really good. I need to switch it off at times though, like when I use an actual stereo chorus then on my MFX unit. It sounds like sh*t if I try to use both.

The switch I have can do latch or momentary it's the Behringer AB200 (I wanted to mod that too in another thread so it didn't need a battery and basically I couldn't without too much hassle and became pointless idea.)

I thought true bypass was just a mechanical bypass, so hard wired to the output no funny stuff inbetween. Ture Bypass would be best for me in this instance, it's only ever going to see an output from a line level (my MFX pedal output) and never an instrument level.