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First Draft of my Stompbox design: Adjustable Volume Cut.

TonyFlyingSquirrel

TonyFlyingSquirrel

Master Member
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4,519
Like a volume pedal, but without the treadle.
You "preset" the volume you want to drop to.  It allows hands free operation so you can keep playing without having to adjust your guitar's volume knob to find the sweet spot.  Set the sweet spot on the floor, hit it consistently every time.

Features:
True Bypass
Treble Bleed Circuit for treble clarity at lowered volume.
Completely Passive, Battery is only used to power led light, independent from sonic path.
Small footprint on the pedal board.
Rim-Light indicator.  Bottom plate is made of Acrylic, Led is internal and creates a rim of light around the bottom of the unit indicating active or inactive.  No "Dot" shining from the top right into your eyes.

 
I like the "rim light indicator" feature.

I have a Fractal Audio switchboard (MFC-101) that has LEDs on it that I swear are military-grade lasers designed specifically to blind you as well as vaporize any pesky nearby insects. In low light, they hit the ceiling like a follow spot. I think they designed them to be easily visible in the event the sun super-novas. Guys have been known to color them over with Sharpies in an attempt to attenuate them. I bought a set of heavily shaded dots to stick to them which do the same thing, but haven't seen them yet.
 
Cagey said:
I like the "rim light indicator" feature.

I have a Fractal Audio switchboard (MFC-101) that has LEDs on it that I swear are military-grade lasers designed specifically to blind you as well as vaporize any pesky nearby insects. In low light, they hit the ceiling like a follow spot. I think they designed them to be easily visible in the event the sun super-novas. Guys have been known to color them over with Sharpies in an attempt to attenuate them. I bought a set of heavily shaded dots to stick to them which do the same thing, but haven't seen them yet.
Click to expand...

I can relate, I got the idea from here: http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=66840.0

They have the bottom plates available to purchase here: http://diystompboxes.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3&products_id=86
 
I don't know why some pedal designers fall off the edge of the world when it comes to indicators. All you have to do is put an appropriately-sized  resistor in series with the LED to make it behave itself. Resistors are nearly the cheapest components in the electronics world, ranking just above wire in cost.
 
Cagey said:
I don't know why some pedal designers fall off the edge of the world when it comes to indicators. All you have to do is put an appropriately-sized  resistor in series with the LED to make it behave itself. Resistors are nearly the cheapest components in the electronics world, ranking just above wire in cost.
Click to expand...

Yup.

I think what else is cool about the floor rim idea is that you can see from across the stage with distinction in a way that the top mounted ones don't afford, most of them at least.
 
Cagey said:
I like the "rim light indicator" feature.

I have a Fractal Audio switchboard (MFC-101) that has LEDs on it that I swear are military-grade lasers designed specifically to blind you as well as vaporize any pesky nearby insects. In low light, they hit the ceiling like a follow spot. I think they designed them to be easily visible in the event the sun super-novas. Guys have been known to color them over with Sharpies in an attempt to attenuate them. I bought a set of heavily shaded dots to stick to them which do the same thing, but haven't seen them yet.
Click to expand...

Huh - that's funny.  Mine appears to be just fine. 

Now that you mention it if they did it right they should be able to add a brightness control.  If they did it right.
 
Mayfly said:
Cagey said:
I like the "rim light indicator" feature.

I have a Fractal Audio switchboard (MFC-101) that has LEDs on it that I swear are military-grade lasers designed specifically to blind you as well as vaporize any pesky nearby insects. In low light, they hit the ceiling like a follow spot. I think they designed them to be easily visible in the event the sun super-novas. Guys have been known to color them over with Sharpies in an attempt to attenuate them. I bought a set of heavily shaded dots to stick to them which do the same thing, but haven't seen them yet.
Click to expand...

Huh - that's funny.  Mine appears to be just fine. 

Now that you mention it if they did it right they should be able to add a brightness control.  If they did it right.
Click to expand...

Well, if ya got real picky, you could add that control to the top panel, but I think if I were to do it, I'd add a trim pot internally 'cause it's not like you're gonna be adjusting it often, in my opinion.  The thought has come to mind about adding an internal switch to change the color of the LED to work best with your lighting environment, but to me that's also a worst case scenario as many gigging players are in different environments all the time. 

I think just finding a color/brightness that works for the common average simplifies build and production.
 
Mayfly said:
Cagey said:
I like the "rim light indicator" feature.

I have a Fractal Audio switchboard (MFC-101) that has LEDs on it that I swear are military-grade lasers designed specifically to blind you as well as vaporize any pesky nearby insects. In low light, they hit the ceiling like a follow spot. I think they designed them to be easily visible in the event the sun super-novas. Guys have been known to color them over with Sharpies in an attempt to attenuate them. I bought a set of heavily shaded dots to stick to them which do the same thing, but haven't seen them yet.
Click to expand...

Huh - that's funny.  Mine appears to be just fine. 

Now that you mention it if they did it right they should be able to add a brightness control.  If they did it right.
Click to expand...

You may have lucked out somehow. It's a common compliant on the Fractal forum. Everybody and their brother wants a variable that would set indicator intensity. That, and the (audibly) noisy switches, as well as the flimsy RJ-45 connector. They addressed the connector issue in the Mark II model last year, and now there's a Mark III with silent switches and a FASLink connector that lets you get MIDI I/O and power both over a standard low impedance mic cable. As usual, you can't buy one for the love of money, but the engineering is done.
 
Cagey said:
Mayfly said:
Cagey said:
I like the "rim light indicator" feature.

I have a Fractal Audio switchboard (MFC-101) that has LEDs on it that I swear are military-grade lasers designed specifically to blind you as well as vaporize any pesky nearby insects. In low light, they hit the ceiling like a follow spot. I think they designed them to be easily visible in the event the sun super-novas. Guys have been known to color them over with Sharpies in an attempt to attenuate them. I bought a set of heavily shaded dots to stick to them which do the same thing, but haven't seen them yet.
Click to expand...

Huh - that's funny.  Mine appears to be just fine. 

Now that you mention it if they did it right they should be able to add a brightness control.  If they did it right.
Click to expand...

You may have lucked out somehow. It's a common compliant on the Fractal forum. Everybody and their brother wants a variable that would set indicator intensity. That, and the (audibly) noisy switches, as well as the flimsy RJ-45 connector. They addressed the connector issue in the Mark II model last year, and now there's a Mark III with silent switches and a FASLink connector that lets you get MIDI I/O and power both over a standard low impedance mic cable. As usual, you can't buy one for the love of money, but the engineering is done.
Click to expand...

Mine's an early one without the RJ45.  I just use the MIDI connector and it works fine.  Not as good as an XLR, but it's done the job on a pile of different shows.

Never thought the switches were that loud - sure they have a serious clunk, but it's not going to be heard over the guitar is it?  :)
 
Mayfly said:
Never thought the switches were that loud - sure they have a serious clunk, but it's not going to be heard over the guitar is it?  :)
Click to expand...

Well, it depends on the user. For your typical basement/bedroom dweller, they're pretty noticeable. Also, those who do small club/bar acts where they're pretty much background noise and play at low levels, you'd hear them there, too. It's not a huge issue, but it's there. Actually, it's unlikely the audience ever hears them, but you know how self-conscious players can be. The slightest flaw deserves capitol punishment. 
 
I'm trying out a few different types of switches, sourcing from Stewmac, BYOC & another place I found.
Hoping to get quiet, yet rugged ones.
 
Building the same thing, what schematic did you use? I'm not having luck getting the led to light up.
 
I'm waiting on the switch to arrive, but I was gonna try Stewmac's wiring scheme for the LED indicator.

There's this one: http://www.stewmac.com/tsarchive/ts0134.html

Or

http://www.stewmac.com/tsarchive/ts0134/Electronics,_pickups/Components:_Switches_and_knobs/3PDT_Stomp_Switch.html

As for the volume itself, gonna keep it simple & go with this one: http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/19549-state-of-the-stomp-build-a-preset-volume-box
Although, I may experirment with a 1 Mb pot along with the treble bleed to preserve clarity.  I may even make the treble bleed switchable, but I haven't decided on that yet.  Ideally, I just want a nice one trick pony, no bells & whistles, it does what it does kind of pedal.
 
pjs said:
Awesome Tony, you rock.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the kind words.  This is new territory for me, and it's not like it's new to the world so I'm not on to something original, just want to try it out & put my own spin on it visually is all.
 
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