Several people have asked for a remote effects switching system simpler than the Programmable FX Switcher. All they want
is to just be able to bypass effects individually on a one-by-one basis. While the Programmable FX Switcher can do this, it's
needless complicated for the task. There ought to be a simpler way, and there is.
Let's just build this one up as we go. On the right, I've drawn the
schematic of a "true bypass box". All this thing does is to add true bypass
to anything you plug into the two FX jacks. As shown, you plug the
guitar into the "guitar in" jack, the amp into the "out to amp" jack, and
the effect into the FX input and FX output jacks.
The switch shown inside the dotted box is a double pole double throw
(DPDT) stomp switch wired up to connect the guitar jack to the amp jack
when thrown one direction, and guitar to FXinput, amp to FX output
when thrown the other direction. So far, this is pretty basic.
To do this, we exchange the stomp switch for a DPDT relay. The switch
arrangement that carries the signal is completely unchanged, but now the
switching action is done by an electrical current running through the
relay coil instead of a plunger moving the switch mechanically.
Whenever we close the switch to ground at the bottom, current from +V
flows through the coil and pulls the relay to the other position. If we
want, we can put that switch to ground a ....long... way away from the
relay. The signal can stay there, all protected from hum and interference,
and the switch that makes things happen can be far away.
Relays have two sets of ratings - the coil and the contacts. Contact ratings
make sure that the contacts are properly matched to the signals they'll be
carrying. For instance, you *don't* want a relay rated for 10A of 120Vac
in this application. The metallurgy and physical makeup of the contacts
for such a high power switch will lead it to be incompatible with the small signals we want to switch. Relays rated for "low
signal" or "telecom applications" should be good in this application.
The coil rating tells us how much voltage and current the relay needs to operate. Every relay's coil is literally a coil of
copper wire. As such it has some resistance and some inductance. The resistance is such that with the correct voltage applied
to the coil, an amount of current sufficient to operate the relay is passed by the coil. Too little current in the coil and the
contacts won't touch. Too much and the coil will burn up. For FX switching, we want as little power eaten by the coil as we
can get by with, and good contacts for what the relay industry calls "dry circuits" - not much voltage or current.
Although running wires to the coils of the relays to some remote set of switches does work, it would be nice to add some
"user friendliness" to this thing. It's always good to have an indicator of what's on and what's off, so we'd probably like to
have an indicator LED on both the local bypass box and on the remote switch box.
Also, we'd like to defeat one of the ugly habits of relays - induced clicking. Even though there is no physical connection
between the coil of the relay and the signal switching contacts, there is always a little bit of capacitance between any two
conductors. This is true inside the relay. There is a tiny capacitance, maybe a fraction of a pico-farad coupling the coil and
the signal lines.
This wouldn't normally be as much of a problem, except that changing voltages on inductors cause some very fast, sharp
edged transients, especially when the current in the inductor is turned off. These fast edges can couple through the tiny
parasitic capacitances and cause audible clicks in the signal path.
The neat way to defeat the clicks is to slow down the change in voltage across the inductor. The circuit at left does that. An
on/off signal is applied to a resistor/diode/capacitor network on the base of a common 2N3904 transistor. The capacitor to
ground slows the on/off transition down on the rising (turn on) edge of the input signal, and the diode lets it turn off fairly
quickly.
The capacitor between the collector and base of the transistor causes the transistor to turn off slowly. Taken together, the
speed with which the voltage across the coil inductance can change is slowed down. Tiny parasitic capacitors can't couple
slow signals very well, and any transients are vastly reduced. In addition, the driver circuit turns on a local indicator LED
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With this set up, any time Loop 1's +On/-Off signal is
high, the effect on Loop 1 is engaged and the Loop 1
LED is on. Likewise with Loop 2. Obviously, we
could keep stringing these things together, as many as
we like.
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The normal way to do this is with a metal box on the floor and foot switches. However, I've had a request for a guitar
mounted one, and so let's look at that first.
To mount this on a guitar, miniaturization is paramount. Fortunately, this is where the huge rush of miniaturization will do us
some good. The switches can be miniature tactile pushbuttons. Mouser has some that even have integral indicator LEDs.
These are expensive ($3.99 each) but would make for a really tidy setup. You can do much the same thing with miniature
tactile switches (about $0.25 each) and regular LEDs.
To get this really small, we can use surface mount CMOS chips and other parts to get the size down to something you could
velcro to a guitar.
Cable Design
Designing the cable to connect things turns out to be important for something that connects to your guitar. You have to have
a cable that's small enough to be attached along with your signal cable for this to be practical. A switching system like the
one we have proposed here requires one (or preferably more) ground wires, one (again, or more) power wires, and six signal
lines, total of eight wires.
It's clear that you want a thin, flexible cable with lots of conductors. What may not be so obvious is that you should want a
connecting cable that is easy to buy commercially so that you don't have to spend some quality time with a soldering iron or
crimping tool when you last cable bites the dust. It's really, really handy to get a cable that you can just drop into a store and
buy. Fortunately, multi-conductor cables and connectors are available cheaply and easily in today's computer world.
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Taking a quick look at the bible according to Mouser, we find a couple of alternatives. The smallest, simplest and lightest is
the RJ-11 family of data connectors. These things are the big brothers of the common telephone jack. They come in sizes of
two to eight conductors and better yet, you can buy "Category 5" data cables in a variety of lengths. If you like, you can also
make your own Cat 5 cables as long as you like.
Second choice is probably the Mini-DIN connector. These come in sizes up to nine contacts, but you'll have to make your
own cables. If you go this way, always make (and test!) two cables so you have a ready spare.
Third and higher choices are is of a number of multi-pin rectangular and circular connectors that are bigger, clumsier, and
that require delicate soldering or special crimping tools. Ugh!
Here's a first draft PCB for a guitar mounted pushbutton board for six indicating pushbuttons:
R-Net is a resistor network, Mouser 71-MDP1403-330k ($0.56), C4-C9 are 0.01uF, Mouser 80-C315C103M1U ($0.012
each). Sw1... Sw6 are Mouser 633-JB15FP ($1.40 each).
The board is about 1.8" by 3.2", and includes all the logic for converting switch-presses to on/off signals suitable for
controlling the remote bypass box. It might be possible to make it smaller with SMD components, but the switches and
LEDs will set the length anyway. Pin-in-hole construction will be easier to do. If I were making this board up for guitar
mounting, I'd get it all running and tested, then form paraffin wax all over the switches and LEDs to keep them from being
covered, then cover the rest in a nice block of black epoxy. Once the epoxy set, I'd peel off the wax. The resulting unit
should be workable. It would stick to the surface of a guitar with velcro nicely.
Another version with just the switches on the guitar might look like this:
All of the logic to debounce the switches and set relay control flipflops would then be back inside the remote switching box.
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Here's a possible layout for the relay switches. I could have done a single board with several pairs of input jacks, but it
occurred to me that it would be good to make it modular - you can add as many effects loop send/receive pairs as you like.
So I did this. The PCB is for one FX send/receive pair of jacks. It's the circuit I first showed as a "Remote Switched Relay
Bypass with LED"; the same circuit is shown as merely a rectangular block in the later schematics. You can make as many
of these as you have time, patience, and money for. Each one
gives you one send/receive FX loop that is bypassed by the
relay the board carries.
The jacks are Rean slim jack sockets, Mouser number 550-
10284 (mono) or 550-20311 (stereo as shown), about $1.00
each with matching nut.
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