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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
 Posted - 01/12/2010 : 19:04:15
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Hi all
i asked about this before but didn't get much feedback so i'm hoping for a better response this time around....
Claskowski re-jiged my interest with his thread looking for 1U rack boxes for a project...
As some of you know i recently built a wet/dry/wet rig but i'm still using my DD-3's and my CE-2 on my board so it's more of a semi wet/dry setup...i was wondering how hard it would to strip the internals out of a few boss pedals and put them inside a rack box my idea was to put the CE-2 and my BF-2 in one and have a stereo effect with the flanger on one side and the chorus on the other and maybe do it with my two DD-3's as well....mount the controls on the front and inputs/outputs on the back and also would it be possible to link the wires from the switch to so the unit could be turned on/off from a remote footswitch...?
i think i could do it... the metalwork side of things with drilling out the box etc.. would be easy for me as i have a background in construction and engineering i'm also ok with a bit of wiring as some of you know.. the bit that i need to figure out is would the outputs of another rack unit overload the inputs of the boss stuff as they are designed for guitars and other pedals and if so is there any way around it..??............
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Scarymonsta
Bronze Member
United Kingdom
90 Posts |
Posted - 01/12/2010 : 21:37:35
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This is quite possible to do (the metalworking would be the easy part !) but its not a job to be undertaken lightly. (Pete Cornish does this type of thing, I'm sure you've probably looked at his website.)
You would have to take care with inputs and outputs to avoid ground loops, radio frequency and electromagnetic interference, keep cable runs short(for inputs outputs and power, maybe add some addtional filtering to the power supply) used good quality screened cable.
The switching should be fine but again a long cable run may be prone to erroneous switching in a noisy environment(the debounce cap on the flip flop may help a little with this) so some carefully placed ferrites may help here and there.
I can't comment to much on how well things would match level wise to other parts of your rig, but if it works OK now and you are simply putting the effects in rack units, there shouldn't be a problem. If there is some simple stripboard constructed buffers with level pots would probably sort the problem.
I did the same thing a few years back for a guy with a chorus, compressor and distortion unit but unfortunately I don't have any photos (before digicams)
cheers
Chris |
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Scarymonsta
Bronze Member
United Kingdom
90 Posts |
Posted - 01/12/2010 : 22:01:47
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I found this and scanned it in - from around 1996 I think - the 1U unit (not the Marshall) was a graphic eq I rackmounted for a mate and added a pre-amp and level indicator. The the other bits (minus the guitar and marshall preamp) are all home brew too.
Download Attachment:  scan0001a.jpg
78.56 KB |
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Dr. Bob
Moderator
Australia
6593 Posts |
Posted - 01/13/2010 : 00:34:25
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Hi Franzoni & Guys
What about a simpler solution.
Get a sliding 2 unit rack shelf, mount the Boss pedals into it with industrial Velcro, or even use thin long tie raps,
mounted through a few carefully drilled holes in the bottom of rack shelf.
We occasionally use sliding rack shelves at work, to mount odd bits
of test gear, & other custom made electronics/electromechanics.
The sliding rack shelf, lets you get at the internal gear with ease.
Regards Dr. Bob 
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Edited by - Dr. Bob on 01/13/2010 00:36:11 |
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natthu
Gold Member
Australia
756 Posts |
Posted - 01/13/2010 : 08:05:02
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I have done this previously with some Electro-Harmonix/Sovtek Pedals. I am a metal worker so I made the housing myself. It's a pretty easy project, although I imagine that Boss pedals would be a little more fiddly as the PCBs are smaller to handle and are populated a little more compact. You should be able to fit the control plates from Boss pedals 6 abreat in a normal 1RU space (I did all the measurements a while back because I was intending to rack mount some of my Boss pedals too - it never happened though).
I have returned the EHX pedals to their original state as I no longer really use rack gear. I didn't even need to do any soldering so you can't tell they were ever tampered with.
I do use Dr. Bob's suggestion at the moment aswell. The rack drawer is quite handy and you don't need to tamper with your pedals. I sometimes use mine with a patchbay to allow for easy re-ordering of effects...
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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
Posted - 01/13/2010 : 11:13:06
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Hi guys and thanks for the suggestions so far....
Scarymonsta(chris) thanks for you thoughts on the potential pitfalls this is exactly the sort of feedback that what i wanted before going too far down that road as i'm not in the same league as guys like you,Laurie,Dr Bob etc...so running into those sort of problems would be a big headache for me to sort out..my biggest problem is downtime as we rehearse once a week and are out gigging usually twice at the weekends so to even try it out before puling it all apart means stripping the board to try it all out first..not a huge problem but i just wanted to see if the idea was feasible..at the moment the boss stuff is still all on the board before the amp so it's really a semi wet/dry as the leslie unit and the reverb/stereo delays run either side of the main amp from the rack and is working great with the rest of my gear.. the rack is also on it's way to sounding great but it took a bit more figuring out and fiddling than i normally have to do ..i just fancied a unit a bit like the old TC 1210 which lets you put a chorus on on channel and flanger on the other and then thought that it would be cool to do it with my DD-3's as well set at two different times coming out either side in the wet rig..
Cornish is where i originally got the idea alright... with the stuff he did with Dave Gilmours tech rackmounting his uni-vibe,electric mistress,his CE-2's and a delay unit....
Dr Bob and Natthu..yep the rack drawer is another option i also considered as my boss pedals are usually 'set and forget' with me so minimal ajustment on gigs is usualy not even needed..the ony problem i can see is i would need a switcher like the voodoo labs one or something similar and they are very expensive...
Natthu i woud be interested in what patchbay or switcher you use as i would need to be able to still switch the effects in and out as needed....
P.S... i should add the by switching the effects i'm talking about switching the chorus/flanger as one unit on and off together and the same as the delays not individually as i am now.....
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Edited by - FRANZONI on 01/13/2010 11:17:53 |
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natthu
Gold Member
Australia
756 Posts |
Posted - 01/13/2010 : 11:55:28
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quote:
Originally posted by FRANZONI
Natthu i woud be interested in what patchbay or switcher you use as i would need to be able to still switch the effects in and out as needed....
I use a cheapie Behringer PX3000 (?) patchbay. it's balanced so you can also plug expression pedals into it. If I need to switch I use some homemade A/B switches I've made (really easy to build even for a complete novice). That's not a perfect solution, but by building a floor box with several 3PDT switches all linked for simultaneous stomp you can effectively create stereo loops. I also sometimes use stereo volume pedals to bring in parallel effects.
The down side of doing all this is that you end up with long cables which may not necessarily be so good for your tone/noise levels. I'm not gigging at the moment so I don't really need a practical solution, if I were gigging I'd strip the whole thing down. Maybe I'd use my mini mixer to route the effects in parallel...
I think someone has talked about doing this before on the forum (maybe DeFrag?) in an effort to make use of all those lovely stereo outs that you end up with using Boss pedals... |
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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
Posted - 01/13/2010 : 14:07:00
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Thanks for that i'll check the behringer unit out...
Yep ..there was a discussion about all the stereo stuff a few times on the forum...i went ahead and built two 1x12 cabs and made up a small rack to use my rack gear in stereo alongside my main amp...all my current boss pedals on the board are mono ..i was looking at the TC 1210 expander but they are very scarce on the ground and the are also very expensive when they do come up...the idea with the CE-2/BF-2 in a rack unit was to make a DIY 1210..not as much a spatial expander(as i know there is a lot more science involved) but to get the idea of chorus in one side and flanger on the other..
Before that i was using two amps off the pedalboard with a CH-1 at the end for stereo...one you go stereo i find it's very hard to let go of the sound....... |
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natthu
Gold Member
Australia
756 Posts |
Posted - 01/13/2010 : 16:09:31
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quote:
Originally posted by FRANZONI
...one you go stereo i find it's very hard to let go of the sound.......
Ahhh... yes. I think it was the DC-2 that ruined mono for me! |
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Laurie
Double Platinum Member
Canada
4854 Posts |
Posted - 01/13/2010 : 16:21:02
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quote:
Originally posted by FRANZONI
to get the idea of chorus in one side and flanger on the other..
G'day Franzoni!
I've been thinking about this for a few days... (daze?) and it occurs to me that there might be a tweak to this that would be useful. Rather than have "all phase" and "all chorus" in each channel, add a small mixer (4 channel) so you can pan the effects to maybe 25-75. It would also allow you to put the clean signal into a channel and blend that too.
So you might end up with something like this for the "best" sound:
LEFT
20% of dry
25% chorus
75% phase
RIGHT
20% of dry
25% phase
75% chorus
Or some variation.... |
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rackmounting boss pedals....
scan0001a.jpg