Would it be silly to drill a hole in a vintage MXR envelope filter pedal?

[WilburBufferson]

I looooove this pedal, but it doesn't have have a power connector, just battery power. I would like to hook up to a 9V lead from my pedal power but I don't know if it would be foolish to debauch the pedal as I understand these are getting quite rare and valuable. Is there any other way of jigging things so that I don't have to drill a hole? It's a PITA to keep having to disconnect the pedal every time to save the battery. What do folks do? The only other thing I can think of is buying a replacement bottom for the pedal and drilling into that and saving the original in case I sell it.... but I don't see myself selling this thing -- it sounds GREAT.

[Jefe]

Part of me wants to say "drill a hole, and use that sucker", and part of me wants to say "nooo, don't modify a collectors item"..

You could get one of these:

[jackal]

Keep the orig bottom, use scrap metal to make a new bottom with a hole for the pictured type of adapter. Any type of material could be used for a new bottom plate, plastic, metal, wood, etc. As it's on the bottom, it doesn't have to be pretty.

[WilburBufferson]

Yeah - that's the plug I have! Jackal, you've given me a good idea... make the bottom out of something thicker than the current one so that the lead can be run from the side and not the bottom of the pedal. Brilliant!!! I knew this forum rocked for a reason! Thanks.

[Eric W]

Or you could by a spare bottom plate, saving the original. The Hammond 1290 case should fit the vintage MXR case with no trouble.

HERE's a whole case for $6.00. You may be able to find just the plate for less.

[Thighbanez]

Originally Posted by jackal

Keep the orig bottom, use scrap metal to make a new bottom with a hole for the pictured type of adapter. Any type of material could be used for a new bottom plate, plastic, metal, wood, etc. As it's on the bottom, it doesn't have to be pretty.

THIS

[artdecade]

Would the Zvex Power plate work?

[czech-one-2]

Originally Posted by Eric W

Or you could by a spare bottom plate, saving the original. The Hammond 1290 case should fit the vintage MXR case with no trouble.

HERE's a whole case for $6.00. You may be able to find just the plate for less.

^ this......Do not drill a hole in that thing!

[WilburBufferson]

the tribe has spoken

[zombiwoof]

I second getting the ZVex power plate, besides providing the AC adapter connection it has reverse polarity protection in case you hook up the wrong polarity adapter or power source.

Al

[bradpdx]

All my old MXRs were purchased for between $5 and $20. If they need holes, they get holes.

I installed an LED into my 1979 DynaComp so I could see when it was on. Works well, a good $20 there

[blues dues]

It's a sonic tool, drill it & use it

[WilburBufferson]

I didn't know what a power plate was, so i googled it. sheesh -- 40 bucks for that? Short of drilling that hole, I think I'll stick to Jackal's idea of cutting a piece of wood or plastic.

[gitold]

I have an old Ross phaser that I use on my board. I just ran the wire from the adapter under the metal back and didnt screw the back on that hard. This was a few years ago and I've never had a problem.

[czech-one-2]

Originally Posted by blues dues

It's a sonic tool, drill it & use it

Agreed...to a point. Its kind of moronic to de-value an old pedal that MXR hasnt re-issued. I sold my MXR filter for $300.00 after I built my clone.
Unless your well-to-do and money is growing on trees why throw a good chunk of that away?
Plus, MXR made cool,handwired pedals in the good old USA,something thats getting harder and harder to find these days. Certain things you dont de-face, out of respect I guess.Dont re-paint your 70's strat either!

Build this, it sounds spot on! http://www.tonepad.com/project.asp?id=4

[effcee]

Silly to drill a hole? Hmmm, let's see...

Um, HELL YEA!!!

Don't do it, man! I have some cool old vintage fx that I drilled holes in and I sorely regret it!

[artdecade]

Its your call, mate. If you are going to use it, drill it. If you are going to sell it, keep it pristine. If you aren't sure, get a Zvex Power Plate.

[WilburBufferson]

Originally Posted by czech-one-2

Build this, it sounds spot on! http://www.tonepad.com/project.asp?id=4

Thanks to all for the suggestions. No, I won't drill, but get a piece of something and use that for a temporary bottom.

I was wondering how hard it is to build a replica -- I'm not bad with a soldering iron, but no expert either. How much would it cost to build? Is it really that hard?

The reason I got this MXR pedal is because of how great it sounds -- picked it up used for $130 which I thought was pretty good. I used to have a gig-fx mega wah and I really liked the trig wah setting, but could not bond with the optical on/off switch that produced an annoying lag in the signal. This is the closest I've found to that sound. I even had the maxon AF-9, but this one sounds better to my ears (for guitar, anyway).

[Honga Man]

I had that very same pedal. I paid $15 for it in the early '90s and drilled a small notch in either the top of the base plate or the bottom of the top case (it's been a while; I forgot which) so I could use an AC adaptor.

I also wrote my name on it with a Sharpie.

Dumb, huh? Well, it didn't seem dumb for a $15 pedal...until I got on the internet years later and found out these sell for big money.

I sold it a couple years ago for $50. I have no complaints...unless you guys tell me what they go for now, which I don't really want to know.

[czech-one-2]

Originally Posted by WilburBufferson

Thanks to all for the suggestions. No, I won't drill, but get a piece of something and use that for a temporary bottom.

I was wondering how hard it is to build a replica -- I'm not bad with a soldering iron, but no expert either. How much would it cost to build? Is it really that hard?

The reason I got this MXR pedal is because of how great it sounds -- picked it up used for $130 which I thought was pretty good. I used to have a gig-fx mega wah and I really liked the trig wah setting, but could not bond with the optical on/off switch that produced an annoying lag in the signal. This is the closest I've found to that sound. I even had the maxon AF-9, but this one sounds better to my ears (for guitar, anyway).

Wow, I just got a GIG FX Hiland Kilo wah. Its got a really good envelope filter,way better than any BOSS offering,but my tonepad MXR blows it away. The Tonepad MXR was a tough build for me,my first one was a FAIL. It gets its filtering from its dual 14pin 4069 ic's,and some dont work at all in this circuit.Read the build reports and you will see.http://www.tonepad.com/buildReports.asp?projectID=4
I bought some nos fairchild 4069's for my second one,same as used in the original[others used RCA's].It might actually sound better than the old MXR I had,as it adds an 'emphasis' control that really helps to dial it in. Last night I was using it into my Sweet Baby overdrive and it was probably the best envelope filter tone I've ever had!!!!
It cost me about $50.00 in all.