Pedal Switching Units ?

I saw the following advertised in a guitar mag and thought it would be the perfect solution to the noise/impedance/capacitance etc. issues in daisy chaining pedals on a board.
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Carl-Martin-Octaswitch-Guitar-Effects-Switching-System?sku=152013

Unfortunatley it's kinda pricey. Does anyone know of a unit that just switches 6-8 pedals w/o the dip switches for combining that would be a little less expensive? Just looking to take the effects pedals out of the signal chain when not in use. I'm researching making my own as another option too.
Thanks,
Gene

If you are interested in building your own, this is a good thread:

http://www.singlecoil.com/tb-strip/tbstrip.html

You can also have one built here:

http://www.loop-master.com/index.php?cPath=21&osCsid=9fe7c223d79117bf3c5bafa283254fc2

I've been using a switcher on my pedalboard and am happy with the performance. It also solves the "pedalboard two step" you have to do if you're using a number of pedals.

If you are interested in building your own, this is a good thread:

http://www.singlecoil.com/tb-strip/tbstrip.html

You can also have one built here:

http://www.loop-master.com/index.php?cPath=21&osCsid=9fe7c223d79117bf3c5bafa283254fc2

I've been using a switcher on my pedalboard and am happy with the performance. It also solves the "pedalboard two step" you have to do if you're using a number of pedals.

HGT,
One million thanks for that first link to the DIY version. The wiring diagrams alone were priceless. I've already located a piece of aluminum extrusion here at work that will be perfect for housing switches ,led's, jacks etc. I'm figuring I can probably build a 9 switch unit for around $50 US.

Yep - I've build a couple of loop switches before. Very easy. The difficult part will be creating a form factor that isn't too large and fits with your pedal board. I know wiring for some of the loop master switches must be reeeeeallly tight to fit in the enclosures.


What you won't get from building the looper in that way is the ability to pair sets of effects together. That's what the product you linked to will do.

Yeah Lance, I see the Carl Martin product has 8 position DIP switches which makes each 3PDT manually programable for combining any of the 8 effects on the board with one stomp of the foot.
This feature was not that important to me. In fact after pricing 3PDT switches I'm thinking of making a 4 or 5 switch unit and coupling like pedals for each send/return on bypass strip. I would put my Dist/OD on one, Chorus/Trem on another, Delay/Reverb on another etc.
This would mean I would still have to stomp on the desired pedals themselves and would not be able to leave them all on all the time. Am I loosing you with this explanation ?

No....I get it. However, let me make a suggestion that will keep you from play "Dance Dance Revolution" with the pedalboard (reference to video game).

If you're intent is to get these effects out of the circuit for noise and tone reasons, I'd suggest not looping the effects...but instead just getting true bypass effects. When switched, they're out of the circuit. Having a switch per loop is only going to add complexity without benefit. If you have a noisy effect...deal with the problematic effect or if it's a deal breaker to loose it, just loop that particular effect.

The real benefit of the Martin switcher is to combine effects into sets.

I would instead suggest a hybrid of the concepts. Mostly, you'll be playing with just OD or distortion into the amp (let's be real....it's true). Get high-quality, true bypass effects for those. Also get a true bypass Wah as it's in the front of the signal path.

So far, we have guitar --> wah --> distortions.

What I'd loop is the swirly stuff. Delays, modulations, etc. So, when you'd not using the pretty swirly stuff, they're out of the picture.

Example:
Guitar --> Wah --> Distortions -----Looper (A/B)
----> (A side)....Swirly box A1....Swirly box A2
----> (B side).........(nothing)........

The other way is to create a couple of distinct signal paths to switch between. For example:

Guitar --> Wah --> Distortions -----Looper (A/B)
----> (A side)....Swirly box A1....Swirly box A2
----> (B side)....Swirly box B1....Swirly box B2

Now, you're minimizing the signal paths going through the other effects.

There are a ton of ways to arrange, but I'd really try to keep it simple by making your primary path a set of true bypass pedals.....and then just switch out the stuff less used.

Yeah Lance, I see the Carl Martin product has 8 position DIP switches which makes each 3PDT manually programable for combining any of the 8 effects on the board with one stomp of the foot.
This feature was not that important to me. In fact after pricing 3PDT switches I'm thinking of making a 4 or 5 switch unit and coupling like pedals for each send/return on bypass strip. I would put my Dist/OD on one, Chorus/Trem on another, Delay/Reverb on another etc.
This would mean I would still have to stomp on the desired pedals themselves and would not be able to leave them all on all the time. Am I loosing you with this explanation ?

This is my understanding. That's why the appeal of products such as the Carl Martin deal are way more appealing then say the Loopmaster standard bypass switches.

This is because it's like an MIDI device in that you can program which pedals are brought into the loop (up to 8 loops/effects) with the touch of a button.

With true bypass strips and the like you have to still manually turn on/off which effects you want on in the loop (if multiple effects exist in the same loops) and have to potentially hit multiple loops at the same time to change say the Delay off, and chorus, distortion on.

You dig?

I have bought and used several loop-master loopers and like them very much.

Peace,

James

Also should mention I was looking at Voodoo Labs Pedal Switcher and Commander combo, but to buy the equivalent to the carl martin it seems it would cost $650...the Carl Martin Looks like quite a deal...am I right?

I have bought and used several loop-master loopers and like them very much.

Peace,

James

I'm not knocking loopmasters...you just don't have the same control as Pre-Programmed Midi-Type footswitch controllers.

I.E. you can't stomp on one channel and have your OD/Delay/Chorus, then step on another loop and have the same OD/Octave/Boost

With Midi, or to my understanding the Carl Martin/Voodoo labs pedal switcher/commander you can do this, which is what I like and is the ONE downfall or shortcoming of simply bypass loops.

OK, you guys are helping me sort this out and keeping perspective on what might be useful vs. overkill.

1.)First off I'm not a huge pedal user and only want to have about 8 pedals total including tuner.

2.)The only true-bypass pedal I have is the wah.

3.) I can't ever remember combining like effects ie: Dist/OD , Chorus/Vibratrem ,
Delay/Reverb.

4.) Would use this mostly for home studio and hardly ever for performing live so doing my own version of Riverdance isn't going to be a huge factor.

So in summary I would put the wah before the bypass strip , stack the like pairs of pedals directly below the appropriate bypass footswitch and only need a 4 up bypass strip. Since I'm building a whole board I can design and layout everything to line up and fit nice and hide the power supplies underneath while having easy access to all foot pedals/switches.

Thanks to lance and everyone else for posting helpful and insightful info.:grin:

http://www.loop-master.com/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=143

Would this suit your needs?

Has a bypass channel to go straight to amp and 4 loops plus one for tuner

http://www.loop-master.com/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=143

Would this suit your needs?

Has a bypass channel to go straight to amp and 4 loops plus one for tuner

Actually just what I was looking to make or buy. For $20 more they have a 5 lloop plus tuner model.
Thanks,
Gene

I see the Carl Martin product has 8 position DIP switches which makes each 3PDT manually programable for combining any of the 8 effects on the board with one stomp of the foot.No 3PDT switches....relays....controlled by a softswitch.
A smaller 4 loop one is getting made later on as well!
Niels