Magnetic/piezo blend pedal!

[mr.b]

D,

that pedal is exactly what i could do with as well. although i think i like the idea of my rig switching it immediately myself.

... i'm working on it ... watch this space.

however, great pedal man. so, share your secret shall you? hmmm ???

[mr.b]

a while back, there was a pedal called a 'powerblend', made by Furman. it did exactly the same as your pedal, IIRC.?

[darren]

As far as i know, the Fishman PowerBlend pedal passed the magnetic signal straight through, and merely "blended" the piezo signal in. It didn't actually blend from one to the other.

[the24thfret]

Once you outsource manufacturing to Korea, give me a holler!

[darren]

Great news!

I did a few more mods on this yesterday:

- disconnected the external loop in the piezo signal chain
- changed the blend pot wiring from "reversed" back to "normal"
- added a partial ground lift with RFI filter to the ground connection
- added an auto-switched stereo/dual-mono option to the output

The result? IT WORKS!

Now, it's already been totally workable on Parker, EBMM and other piezo systems that use manual stereo/mono switching. It's only been an issue with the GraphTech AcoustiPhonic preamp that has automatic mono/stereo sensing. (BTW, GraphTech now has published some alternate wiring schemes for setting up the AcoustiPhonic in dedicated mono or stereo modes, or using a standard barrel jack instead of their switching panel-mounted jack.)

So my design goals have been achieved... it's a 100% passive blend pedal!

Now comes the fun part... deciding if/how i want to market this thing. There are a few interesting options available, including mono/stereo input/output options, loop or no loop, 250k pot or 25k pot, etc.

For those who have asked, my estimate is that this would sell in the $150 to $200 range, because i have to source parts from multiple places, may of which are in the States, so there's a lot of logistics and shipping costs involved just to get the raw parts up here to Canuckistan.

Of course, i could also make a wiring schematic and parts list available for those who might want to DIY it.

[mojomkr]

I'm just listing my current setup....Sounds familar though eh? Fender 65 RI Twin Reverb, Fender RI Tweed Deluxe w/ Morley A/B Switch, 2 Volume pedal's one for A/B switch for each amp. Electro Harmonix Stereo Clone Theory Chorus/Vibrato running through the Twin and Vox Big Ben overdrive and Electro Harmonix Memory Toy running through the Deluxe. I can control the clean and the disortion via the volume pedal's and everything is in Stereo.
All this w/ My Musicman Axis Super Sport. Fat stereo sounds, Clean and or distorted depending on what day it is....

[walleye]

thats awesome
hope you patented that
i'd buy one if you started production of them

[guitfiddle]

Great stuff Darren. I've wanted to do this myself, for my Silo (which doesn't have the Piezo on/off switch like the JP - making it even more necessary for my playing).

I'll likely buy one if you decide to make them available. I've had a hard time finding the time to build one myself lately. PM me if you go for it. Thanks!

[the24thfret]

Darren, can you do a YouTube video or something? I think it may help possible sales... Anyway, I'm still interested in purchasing one depending on the price I guess. Nice work.

[darren]

I'm not sure what a YouTube video would exactly demonstrate... "Here's the magnetic sound. Here's the piezo sound. Here's me blending between the two."

If people don't "get it" from the description, chances are they aren't looking for it and don't need it.

[DR5Guy]

This looks great! I am curious where did you find the pedal enclosure from?

[darren]

Small Bear Electronics

Ideally, I would LOVE to do this as a mod to an Ernie Ball VP Jr., but I haven't found blend pots with a sufficiently long shaft on them to take the cord spool.

[mr.b]

Good work Darren. If you do manage to get it working in a VP JNR then I'm all over it. Even if not, I'm still needing one.

I do like to DIY stuff so a schematic would be sweet.

[colinboy]

I'm not sure what a YouTube video would exactly demonstrate... "Here's the magnetic sound. Here's the piezo sound. Here's me blending between the two."

If people don't "get it" from the description, chances are they aren't looking for it and don't need it.

The video demo would be good for sales my friend.it would be interesting to see the difference between the video spud did for the stereo EB volume/pan pedal and your new design.

[darren]

Hey, guys. I've decided that as much as i'd love to start making and selling these pedals, i really don't like soldering all that much, and i've got other things on the go that i'd rather devote my time and energy to.

The good news is that i've published the schematic for the basic version of the pedal, which should work for just about everybody. If anybody has any improvements or refinements they'd like to make, that would be awesome... i would just ask that you share them with the whole community, so people can DIY them or have them made.

Here's the link:

The Magnetic/Piezo blend pedal | Decibel Guitars