A small DIY alternative for big expression pedals
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- Опубліковано 15 жов 2024
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Regular expression pedals are really big and when you just use them to switch between two settings, this is a good alternative. It's also cheap and easy to build.
I know it's a volume/wah pedal in the thumbnail and video, it's just to compare the two sizes.
I made mine in a small square case, it's perfect, thanks a lot for the schematics ! For those who can't do it, Electro Harmonix just released the same idea, "Cntl Knob" with a polarity invert.
You're welcome! Yeah it's a beginners build. The polarity switch is an easy fix as well.
This is such a great idea for a pedal! Do you think it would be possible to use a SPST switch instead of a SPDT?
So do I understand this correctly essentially an expression pedal just switches between two resistors one located between TS and another between RS? In that case adding a coil + condensator type thing behind it to delay the signal abit could work.
Thanks for saving me 50 bucks my guy. Subscribed.
You're welcome! The outer lugs of the pots are connected to the jack's sleeve and ring, the tapers of the pots are connected to the tip of the jack, with a footswitch to toggle between them. The thing to delay the signal could be a cool way to add some glides.
Expression pedals are used to control variable parameters.
This is an ON/OFF switch that controls a voltage divider.
True, but an expression pedal is also a voltage divider, they use a potentiometer in the same way. This pedal is like 2 static expression pedals where you can switch between 2 presets, set by the knobs.
@@DIYguitarGuy I understand what you're doing, I'm just arguing that an expression pedal is to continuously vary a parameter using the foot.
And switching between 2 presets can't be called an expression pedal.
Call me pedantic, but names are given for a purpose, which is quickly fiigure what is what.
@@unperrier5998 In that sense, you're absolutely correct. For lack of finding a better word for it I called it an expression pedal as well.
@@unperrier5998 You are correct. But this is the internet and things want to be found by words you choose to look for them. This is how I found this content and I am glad I did.
Thanks for the input. I built my own, which is way cooler than just buying one. The switch is momentary - very nice for delay feedback!
You've build one? Nice! You've got some sound samples? It's way more rewarding to build one instead of buying finished products, some refer to it as the Ikea-effect
@@DIYguitarGuy Haha, yes. Have a lot of Ikea stuff. Here is a short clip. ua-cam.com/video/c4SGJO9VdS0/v-deo.html
More like a functional test than a sound demo. I'm into dub delays and this thing is perfect for this ;) Thanks again for your vid. It showed me how easy it is. I had no idea.
I want to connect this to an expression pedal and for knobs to control min/max. Would also still be cool to have the footswitch for quick switching. I don't think I can just wire an output, right?
I don't know if it's possible to make a limiter to control the expression minimal and maximal setting. Some expression pedals have a minimal trim knob, I think they put a pot in series with the expression pedal. That would be something cool to experiment with: putting pots in series and parallel to the expression pedal.
It's also possible to have a switched jack as an output, so when there's no expression pedal connected, the top pot still functions but when there is an expression pedal connected, the top pot doesn't work. In this way the bottom pot and footswitch still work for quick switching.
I'm planning to do a follow-up on this video with this, but I've also made a pedal with a digipot for virtual expression. That video is also on my channel.
Hey :) thank you so much for this. I never built a pedal before. Am i correct to assume that if i will just use one potentimeter and a trs jack i will get one expression knob? Without the switching? If so, which part of the jack is soldierd to which part of the pot? I mean tip goes middle, sleeve right and ring left? Thanks a lot 😊
Hi! Good to hear you want to build one yourself. When you have a pot with the shaft pointing at you and the three leads on the bottom, the tip goes to the middle, sleeve left and ring to the right. This way when you turn the pot to the left, it simulates heel-down and the pot to the right simulates toe-down on an expression pedal. Just to be sure, place a 100 ohm resistor between the ring of the jack and the pot. This is not in the video but it's a fail save to prevent shorting the circuit, in case your pedal doesn't have one. Good luck with the build and keep me updated!
@@DIYguitarGuy thank you so much!
Do you have a video on how to build this ?
Also… the momentary foot switch … can that be added to an existing pedal?
I don't have a building video (yet), but the drilling of the enclosure and soldering is pretty straight forward once you follow the circuit i this video. What do you mean with adding a momentary footswitch to an existing pedal? Do you want to replace the bypass footswitch with a momentary one?
Hi is there any way to make this work with a line 6 pedal? Any mod or different design?
Hi! Line6 uses TS jacks and basically what you have to alter from this design is connecting the pot's lugs together that would normally go to the Tip and Ring of the TRS jack. Other than that, it's the same. Good luck with it and let me know how it works out!
Very clever idea!
Any ideas on how to make one pot act as a rare/ramp knob? I built this and it was awesome, but I’m wondering if there’s a way of using POT a to determine the speed of rise and pot 2 to determine effect depth. Any ideas?
Hi! Have you used a on/on momentary spdt? I want to make one of these for my old Korg multiFX :)
Yes, an on/on momentary SPDT footswitch indeed. I'm looking forward to the result!
greast video i would like your help on building a pedal but i do not have Facebook or Instagram . do you have a website ? thank you once again for great video
Thanks! I don't have a website at the moment so if you have questions feel free to ask them here and I'll try to answer them.
Hi! I want to build myself a similar device, to control a SUPRO 1303 boost pedal which has an expression input and an internal trimmer that you can tweak to set the amount of volume sweep (basically, with the internal screw you set the pedal's minimum volume you want to achieve when connected to an expression pedal "heel down", and with the top knob of the pedal you set the maximum volume that you will reach with the expression pedal "toe down").
I was thinking about using a force-sensing resistor inside a small case with a push button on it that could handle the weight of a man pressing on it with his foot (using hard spings, since those resistors work at very low forces, around 2\3 kg).
I see your design much simpler, but i was wandering if it could get even simpler without those two knobs... Do you think i could use a momentary switch like yours, without the two potentiometers, for my purpose with the supro boost?
Thanks in advance for any reply!
Hi! I wanted to get back to you sooner. It's totally possible with a momentary 2PDT footswitch, a TRS jack and a 10k Ohm resistors. Make it so that when the pedal isn't pressed it makes a direct connection between the sleeve and the tip of the jack and the resistor between the ring and the tip of the jack. When the footswitch is pressed, there should be a direct connection between the ring and the tip and the resistor between the sleeve and the tip.
Let us know how it works out!
Thanks for sharing this, I just made one (my first pedal!) Any tips on how to add an LED or two within the schematic to show which knob is active?
Cool! Where can I see the result? I've tried that once but it didn't work only to find out later that I reversed the polarity of the TRS jack. I haven't tried since, but my best guess is that you can connect an LED between the ring and the sleeve. Measure the voltage between them to calculate the needed resistor, this varies per pedal.
Thanks for the video! Do you think it will work with logarithmic pots?
It will work as long as you use 10k pots. The taper will be a bit different: when the pot is halfway up it would have a resistance around 30%. But it'll work for sure, it's more of a feel that's different when you turn the pots.
To be even more electronically precise, it will work with pots of any taper, simply because there's no sweep in this pedal, it will switch between the two values, no matter where they are on each of the pot's scale :)
A great DIY project, but of course it needs to be mentioned that this is not an alternative to an expression pedal if you intend to use it as a continuous control device. Oh, and yes, you have definitely inspired EHX... twice now lol! :)))
Hello, im new to guitar pedal building and am interested in making this, could you tell me what parts you used to build this,
Thank You
Hi! Yes, you need 2 10k Ohm potentiometers, preferably with a linear taper, 2 knobs for those, a TRS socket, a SPDT (Single pole, double throw) switch, some wire and a nice enclosure. Something that's not in the video but could be handy: solder a 100 Ohm resistor between the Ring of the TRS and the pots, this could prevent a short circuit in case the pedal you connect it to doesn't have one. Good luck with the build, let me know how it turns out!
@@DIYguitarGuy Thank you!
@@DIYguitarGuy Im having trouble finding a footswitch, where is a good site to get these parts from?
@@Trent_Sutphin I usually get them from musikding.de. I hope they ship orders to the place you live at.
Hello, thank you very much for your video, I want to build one, and I wanted to ask you, to change the polarity I just have to exchange the ring cable for the tip?
grateful
I guess so yes, I haven't heard of pedals that use the sleeve as anything other than ground, so as you mentioned you should exchange the tip and ring cables.
Hi there, thank you for the video! I was curious to what kind of foot switch you used? SPST, DPST, etc.
SPDT, but I used a DPDT because the other one wasn't available at that moment.
Hey man! really cool vid! I see that the footswitch here acts to alternate between two positions, but do you know if it would be possible to add a FW to control when the pedal is on or off?
Thanks! I'm not sure what you mean with an FW. Do you mean a way to turn the pedal completely off? That's possible if you disconnect the lead coming from the ring (in most cases the positive lead), but it depends on the controlled pedal if it actually works. Some pedals detect if an expression pedal is attached when the jack is plugged in, others when there's current flowing between ring and sleeve. It'll only work on the latter.
@@DIYguitarGuy My bad, wanted to write FS as in footswitch, but your answer is really helpful. Many thanks!
Hi can you explain the pin of potensio which have 3 pin?
Nice video I've a question can use a latch switch instead of a momentary sw
Thanks! Of course you can, that'll work just fine. Than you'll have a little Electro Harmonix Cntl Knob clone.
I had someone build one for me based on your schematic, but it’s very much on/off between the two settings whereas yours seems to have a more gradual transition between the two. How did you achieve this?
It is an on/off switch, how gradual it is depends on the pedal it is plugged into. The Holy Stain reacts slowly to EXP-changes, the Expanse a bit quicker. I don't think you can achieve this with just passive parts. I'm currently testing a digipot, as can be seen in my OctWahFuzz video, maybe I will build one with an editable transition length.
@@DIYguitarGuy Cool, thanks for the reply!!
It's not an alternative for expression pedals. How you can play solo from Audioslave - Like a Stone with this?
Does this also work with Boss pedals like DD-8?
Yes, it will
How do you purchase one of yours? Is there a link I’m missing?
Buy the parts and build it yourself! :) Google for guitar pedal parts and the shops are right there. I got my stuff from Musikding.de (not affiliated). All you need is 2 linear 10k potentiometers with some nice knobs, a momentary footswitch, stereo or TRS jack socket, an enclosure, some wire and basic soldering skills.
Can it use as volume/wah pedal ?i want use it for my zoom g3
You can use it as a passive volume pedal, just use a TRS split cable for that. It will probably work with the G3 as well, but I've read somewhere that Zoom uses a different pinout. I guess you have to switch the Tip and Ring on my design, that should work.
@@DIYguitarGuy i use it as a exp wah but it not work ,maybe a slide pot will work ?
@@upside-down6211 Hey, it will be hard to pin point over the internet if there's a mistake, but we'll try. Did you connect the exp pedal before you turn the G3 on? Are you sure the TRS pins are connected correctly to the pot pins? And what resistance is your pot?
this pedal could work as footswitch as well? i dont know anything about electronics but i wanna make one like yours
Cool, you wanna make one as well? In what sense do you want to use it as a footswitch for? Like in amp channel switching or with what kind of gear? It might work, but I wouldn't recommend it (yet). Most footswitches for remote switching amps or other gear are mostly on/off, in other words there's current flowing through or nothing at all. With an expression pedal circuit with the potentiometers there's always current flowing, you just limit it with the knobs. But tell me on what gear you wanna use it, we might figure it out if it works.
@@DIYguitarGuy ooohh okay it means the pots set the "range" where the switch is going to "travel"? ive got a boss katana and i was looking for some kind of on/off for the booster effect but i guess ur design could work as a range pedal. is there a way than a on/off switch could be added to that desing? in the way it makes it work like a range and on/off pedal
For what I've read the Boss Katana accepts expression pedals (so this pedal design would work, just plug it in the EXP PEDAL input), but you can only control the Wah or Volume effect with it. You could assign it to the Volume effect and instead of using it as a booster, use it as a attenuator. So dial in a nice crunchy tone that you use as your "boosted" sound, than use this pedal to lower the volume so it cleans up. But bear in mind that this pedal uses a momentary footswitch, so it only switches when your foot is on the pedal. I think instead of a momentary you need a latching footswitch, in that way you can step on it for your boosted sounds, play your awesome solo, step on it again and it returns to your unboosted sound.
@@DIYguitarGuy THanks for answer im gonna try make one like yours for the wah and pitch shifter effect. lets see how it goes
@@phoenix81293 Have fun building one! Keep us updated
Cool bud !!!
Awesome!
Ik wil deze héél graag gebruiken voor m'n L6 podHD500 maar je zei al dat die het hiervoor niet gaat doen...
Dat klopt. Line6 gebruikt een andere pinout vanwege hun pedalen met TS jack in plaats van TRS. Je kunt het ontwerp wel aanpassen zodat het wel werkt voor Line6.
@@DIYguitarGuy is het dan niet gewoon een kwestie van een polarity switch toevoegen net zoals die van EHX?
@@boimesa8190 Dat zou moeten werken als je het voor zowel Line 6 als pedalen met een "gewone" expression in wil kunnen zetten. Voor Line 6 zou je dan wel een TS kabel moeten gebruiken.
@@DIYguitarGuy Hi! Wat was je contact info ookalweer??
@@boimesa8190 Contact kan via Facebook: facebook.com/DIYguitarGuy
very goei projectje kiep it up
Hahaha tenk joe
Is it push only switch?
Do you mean a momentary switch? Yes, it only switches when you hold your foot down. But that is just the switch that I choose, you can also use a latching switch so it acts more like the EHX Crtl Knob.
Is it only use 2 resistors??
What about tonepad diy pedal, i still don't understand the layout
I need this pcb layout and ingredients 😭
@@ekasatriabahari2264 I can draw the circuit for you, but I can't share pictures in the comments on UA-cam. Hit me up on Facebook, I'll share it with you over there.
@@DIYguitarGuy what's your facebook account??
my rebote delay 2.5 has no delay feedback
i'm frustated, my pcb has no short, i already check continuity tes and all ic voltage are normal
i don't how to check audio response from pin 14 ic pt2399
can you help me?