strymon - The Ultimate Pedalboard Build Series - Episode III - Interfaces and Switches - Strymon
The discussion centers on creating a pedal board interface, which serves as a centralized connection point for audio signals from the pedal board to the playback system. This setup simplifies connections and ensures easy access to all necessary jacks, even when pedals are fixed in place. The video explains the importance of planning the interface design, including the number of jacks and their connections, to accommodate various setups like amps with or without effects loops. Practical advice includes using multi-pair cables for a cleaner setup and considering robust connectors like SpeakOn for durability and ease of use. The video also covers the use of switches to manage different configurations and the integration of fuzz circuits using pickup simulators to maintain sound quality. The presenter shares insights on building a custom interface, highlighting the use of TRS jacks and multi-pin connectors for efficient and flexible audio routing.
Key Points:
- Design a pedal board interface to centralize connections and simplify setup.
- Use multi-pair cables and robust connectors like SpeakOn for a clean, durable setup.
- Plan the interface to accommodate various amp configurations and effects loops.
- Integrate switches for flexible routing and configuration changes.
- Incorporate pickup simulators for maintaining sound quality with fuzz circuits.
Details:
1. 🎸 Introduction & Overview
- The session will cover detailed technical aspects of pedal board interface design, Audio Snake layout and design, and switch behavior, providing a comprehensive understanding of each.
- Hands-on activities such as soldering, drawing, and cutting are planned to apply theoretical knowledge practically.
- The approach is intended to equip participants with skills for building and optimizing pedal boards effectively.
2. 🔌 Understanding Pedal Board Interfaces
2.1. The Importance of Centralized Connections in Pedal Board Interfaces
2.2. Planning Your Pedal Board Interface
3. 📝 Planning Your Interface Design
- Design your interface to support all necessary connections, such as amps without channel switching or effects loops. This ensures versatility and functionality across various setups.
- Connect the amp's input, effects send, effects return, and channel switching jack systematically to achieve optimal performance and control.
- The amp input should be linked to the first ml10 X switcher output, while the effects send connects to the volume pedal input. The effects return should come from the second ml10 X switcher output, ensuring seamless signal flow.
- Control amp channel switching through the mc6 pro relay port for efficient and effective operation.
- A basic pedal board interface comprises external jacks for external connections and internal jacks for pedal board connections, providing a streamlined setup.
- An example setup includes jacks for amp send, effect send, effect return, and amp's foot switch, with the flexibility to bypass drive pedals for tone testing, showcasing practical application.
- Transitioning to a multi-pin snake design can significantly enhance interface efficiency by reducing clutter and simplifying connections.
4. 🔄 Crafting an Audio Snake
4.1. Cable Organization Strategies
4.2. Connector Selection and Implementation
5. 🛠️ Advanced Interface Enhancements
- The interface now allows adding a Looper to the end of the post chain, enhancing flexibility and functionality.
- Users can easily switch between four wire and one wire configurations, providing greater adaptability for different setups.
- Integration of DI and fuzz circuits, specifically Jack Orman's pickup simulators, offers improved audio simulation capabilities.
- The increased complexity from new switching options may lead to user confusion, indicating a need for clear user guidance.
- Careful implementation of switches is crucial to ensure user-friendliness and to prevent confusion.
6. 🔧 Navigating Fuzz Circuits & Simulators
- Basic switches have two positions and two contacts, allowing for either no connection or a closed circuit.
- Intermediate switches include three contacts, where the middle contact is always connected, providing two selectable paths for connection.
- Advanced switches feature multiple separate circuits within a single switch, each with rows of three contacts, and only the middle contact is constant, enabling complex routing.
- A multi-deck switch contains multiple separate switches (decks) within a single unit, each deck having multiple positions, providing one input with several outputs.
- Switches are critical in custom applications like effect loop switchers for audio equipment, showcasing their adaptability and importance in complex circuits.
- Understanding switch components allows for the design of tailored solutions, enhancing efficiency and functionality in various electronic applications.
7. 🔘 Mastering Switch Functions
- A switch, akin to an AB box, facilitates routing a guitar signal to either a dirty or a clean amp. The middle position ensures the signal is always connected, preventing it from being completely off.
- Grounds in the switch setup are unified, while the tip of the signal is directed between outputs based on the switch position, optimizing the signal flow.
- Enhancements include adding functionalities such as a Reverb send when selecting the clean amp, providing additional sound effects and versatility in performance.
8. 🎛️ Inside the Interface: Components Uncovered
- The interface features a 4-gang switch that allows for simultaneous dual actions from a single signal, facilitating one-wire to four-wire transitions, thus enhancing operational efficiency.
- Fuzz circuits, notably the Fuzzface variant, necessitate a direct guitar pickup connection due to their sensitivity to changes in resistance when adjusting the guitar volume knob, making them unsuitable for buffered loops.
- Jack Orman, a notable expert, provided methodologies for adapting fuzz faces to buffered loops, resulting in the development of a pickup simulator circuit that replicates guitar and fuzz face interactions.
- The pickup simulator circuit comprises a transformer, a switch between the transformer's primary and secondary, a 25k pot simulating a guitar's potentiometer, and a 330 picofarad capacitor, which collectively emulate the dynamics of guitar-fuzz face interaction.
- Schematics aid in understanding the circuit, using dots for soldered connections and arcs for non-connecting overlaps, simplifying the assembly process.
- Successful testing on a pedal board confirmed the circuit's functionality and reliability, demonstrating its practical application in real-world scenarios.
9. 🔗 Finalizing the Interface Assembly
- The pedal board interface includes switches for fuzz one and two, with primary and secondary options, and operations for Looper in and out, enhancing control options.
- The assembly uses 25k pots for controlling pickup simulator circuits, with TRS Jacks for both fuzz signals, simplifying connectivity by avoiding unnecessary Y cables, as the ml10x is already TRS.
- The interface includes various Jacks for pre and post ml10 in, volume pedal, relay input for amp switching, DI return/send, and Looper send/return, alongside an 8-channel speakon connector, ensuring comprehensive connectivity.
- Internally, two Transformers are securely epoxied to the case, with 25k pots directly above, and a single, streamlined ground bus wire runs through all Jacks, simplifying the construction.
- All audio Jacks are TRS, providing flexibility and repair ease, with solder-friendly speakon connectors enhancing durability.
- The final wiring includes all necessary connections for speakon and Jacks, fully wired switches, and complete pickup simulator circuits and Transformers, ensuring a robust and comprehensive interface assembly.
10. 🎶 Wrapping Up & What's Next
- The entire box is wired with TRS jacks to save space, except for two, allowing for stereo capabilities in post-loop setups.
- The pedal board interface and the SL Audio Snake with Morning Star ml10 x provide flexibility in audio routing, enabling reorder of loops in series, parallel, or a combination.
- This setup allows for versatile audio routing options, such as taking the pedal board to a single amp for a church gig or multi-amp wet-dry-wet setups, and even direct front of house connections.
- Documentation and links for building circuits or sourcing parts are available in the description.
- Episode four will focus on cables, indicating a move towards practical soldering work.