Delay Pedal Fun

[FWAxeIbanez]

Hey guys, I have an idea for a delay pedal and I don't know quite what is involved...

 

what I want is a delay pedal with a momentary switch... basically the only time I want the pedal to delay what I'm playing is when I am holding my foot down on the actual pedal switch. As soon as I let off, I want it to go into bypass, but I want those delays to repeat until they naturally fade out depending on how I dial it in...

 

How exactly would I do this, and is there a delay you can think of that would be easier, more cost effective, or would possibly have better results than other pedals out there? I guess I shouldn't ask how exactly because I don't have a schematic, but basically in theory how is this done? I have an Ibanez dl5 delay, or what they call a "soundtrack delay" I think, to experiment on. if the Ibanez will work, is there a way to convert it to true bypass? or is that biting off more than I can chew?

[Lanefair]

That's a very tricky delay idea. You could put a delay pedal in a loop with a momentary footswitch, but then you won't have the delay trails. Lots of pedals have delay trails, but no momentary switch.

 

There's probably a high end multifx like the GT-8 or the XT Live or the Magic Stomp that might have this capability.

 

If I had to do what you're suggesting, I'd make a momentary footswitch based AB box, put the delay into B, then run the clean output and the delay output into a mixer.

[FWAxeIbanez]

Oh man, you don't mean to tell me this isn't fixable with a soldering iron and a mind much brighter than my own?

[Lanefair]

 

Originally posted by FWAxeIbanez Oh man, you don't mean to tell me this isn't fixable with a soldering iron and a mind much brighter than my own?

 

 

Most delays use FET switching, which i don't know much about, but I do know that when you press the footswitch you're actually changing the state of the switch twice in order to turn the pedal on. Maybe there's a way of getting the pedal to turn on for the first state (when you hold the pedal down) and off for the second state (when you lift your foot off).

 

But if you want delay trails you'll need a fairly mid range delay pedal, in which case you may not want to go messing around with the footswitch inside.

[FWAxeIbanez]

 

Originally posted by Lanefair Most delays use FET switching, which i don't know much about, but I do know that when you press the footswitch you're actually changing the state of the switch twice in order to turn the pedal on. Maybe there's a way of getting the pedal to turn on for the first state (when you hold the pedal down) and off for the second state (when you lift your foot off). But if you want delay trails you'll need a fairly mid range delay pedal, in which case you may not want to go messing around with the footswitch inside.

 

 

Man, maybe I'll just e-mail Keeley and see what he quotes me... ooh, or that guy from BYOC

[zeronyne]

Actually, what you are trying to do is not hard at all, but you won't need to mod a delay pedal. You need an A/B box (but build it with a momentary switch), and a Y (used as 2 in, 1 out) box.

 

1. Connect the input of the delay to the B output of the A/B box.

 

2. Connect the A output of the A/B box and the output of the delay into the two inputs of the Y box.

 

3. Connect the Y output into your amp.

 

4. Turn on the delay.

 

Now, when you play, your signal goes stright to the amp.

 

When you step on the momentary switch of the A/B, your signal is fed to the delay.

 

When you release the pedal, your signal goes straight to the amp again, but the delay tail dies naturally (not cut off).

 

If this doesn't make sense, I'd be happy to draw a diagram. I love building A/B, Looper, and Y boxes. It's become a cottage industry for me.

[Lanefair]

zeronyne your suggestion makes perfect sense, but I thought it wasn't recommended to simply merge two signals into one (ie. the clean signal and the delay trail). Something to do with impedance?

 

Apart from that, that's the best solution. You might as well build it into one box so you just have an input, output, delay send, delay return, and a momentary footswitch.

[dot-dot-dot]

Best approach would be a variation on zeronyne's suggestion. You want a box that does the following.

 

1) Buffers the input signal.

2) Sends the output of the buffer to two places; through a mute switch to the delay pedal, and direct to...

3) A mixer circuit - a summing op-amp one would do fine. Mixes the output of the delay with the output of the buffer.

 

This is better than the AB and Y-cable method because it maintains a proper dry signal line and actively mixes the two outputs together.

[zeronyne]

Of course, you gentlemen are absolutely correct...I was simplifying to just explain the signal flow. I forget that I'm actually in a DIY forum.

[dot-dot-dot]

Originally posted by zeronyne Of course, you gentlemen are absolutely correct...I was simplifying to just explain the signal flow. I forget that I'm actually in a DIY forum.

 

Your way is a lot cheaper and simpler, and would probably work pretty well. I just like to over-engineer.

[thor653]

I think I would just buy a good delay and use a loop box with a feedback momentary switch.

But that's just me.

[dot-dot-dot]

 

Originally posted by thor653 I think I would just buy a good delay and use a loop box with a feedback momentary switch. But that's just me.

 

 

That would kill the delays.

[FWAxeIbanez]

thanks so much... I'm gonna look into it, I have a morely ab-y box that I can try to rig up... its broken at the moment anyway, so it'd be a good time to open her up and go exploring anyway