Modulation pedal mod

[kristopher612]

i have a question for someone who might or might not have an answer. how hard would it be to set up a modulation device(for me specifically, a flanger) to have the speed and manual knobs on a treadle instead of the standard pots? would i have to move the pots in the pedal to a wah? or wire them together and just disconnect the pots in the pedal? how much am i looking at money-wise, besides the wah pedals, if i buy a couple busted wah pedals for super cheap? i'd really like to do this, or have it done for me. would it be possible to switch out the switch on the pedal from a Boss type switch to something more like a switch on the big muff or something and put it all into a bigger box that would contain the wah pedals?

wow that's more than i realized, but if i could do these things my flanger would be perfect. also...could you have it set up to do two pedals with the same wahs? kinda like an ABY type thing with the wah pedals being the Ys and say a phaser and flanger being A and B respectively? even more...sorry about all the confusion if you're confused...i am too.

[JASIII]

A good friend of mine has an old Small Stone that has a volume pedal housing hooked up to it that controls the speed. Not sure how it was done, I think the pot from the Small Stone was just removed and put into the housing of a volume pedal. It is a cool idea, but it's practicality and usefulness is questionable

[Scodiddly]

You'd need to figure out how to move the pots into the pedals. Definitely you want to match value (ohms) and taper (audio or linear), but you might have to get pots with long shafts to work in the pedals. Shielded wire, naturally, and short cable runs.

Aside from doing a solid job of soldering I doubt it could be especially tricky. Sounds like a fun project, at least.

[moosapotamus]

That's all probably doable. You would not necessarily have to move the pots out of your flanger to the wah in question.

Consider the Morley optical wah pedals. If you pick-up a used one of those, you can probably just run two leads from the LDR side of the optoisolator in the Morley to the two outside lugs of the pot in your flanger (i.e. speed pot) that you want to control. So, when you move the wah tread, it'll change the resistance across the pot, changing the speed without actually turning the pot.

If you use little 1/8" stereo mini-jacks and plugs to make the external connections, it might not be too tough to squeeze everything in, either.

~ Charlie

[kristopher612]

cool, thanks a million everyone. i'd really like to try this. im going to see if i can get some dead wah pedals now and go for it. one more question though before i do anything...i won't need to power the wah pedals will i? unless im using that morley wah thing that you were talking about moosapotamus, is this a correct assumption at all or will i just have to find out. i can't wait. thanks again!!!

[firgela]

kristopher612 let me know how it turns out, I had an urge to try this same project. Good Luck

[kristopher612]

once i get it done, i'll post some recording samples of my toying with my new baby.

[blunderfonics]

http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/xprnped.htm

Check out the link for a basic explanation on how to mod a stompbox for use with an expression pedal.

[Milkmansound]

I have done similar stuff with old wah pedals - I use them as expression/hold pedals for my synths - does anybody know where to get good empty expression pedal cases? I first started using the old Wahs to control a moogerfooger - man those MP-1 expression pedals are junk. Mine died at a very very bad time - in the middle of a show. I wish I knew where dean markley (or others) got those metal cases from...

One thing that might be cool is putting switched jacks into the circuit, kind of like the moog idea - that way you dont need to have the expression pedal attatched - but when you plug it in, it would diable the pot on the effect. - Tim

[kristopher612]

that is exactly what the link in the post above yours tells you what to do. i don't know if i'm going to do that. i think im just going to move the pots into the wah pedals, or put new ones in the wahs. i don't care about having the seperation of expression and pedal. they'll probably eventually end up in one box with a new switch. speaking of what kind of switch do i need for the bypass switch? can i use the one in the wah pedal? i don't like the switch in the flanger, so i want that changed too. so much to do...not enough money.

[andrew embassy]

I think the same principle would apply; just swap the flanger switch leads with the wah switch leads.

This is totally something I thought about doing for a long time. I was thinking of putting together a massive analog modular guitar processor with all the knobs in a rackmount and a bunch of stomp switches and expression pedals and stuff; it would have been sweet. But pretty much the most expensive thing in the world, also.

Best of luck with this!

[Mr. Dipity]

i have a question for someone who might or might not have an answer. how hard would it be to set up a modulation device(for me specifically, a flanger) to have the speed and manual knobs on a treadle instead of the standard pots? would i have to move the pots in the pedal to a wah? or wire them together and just disconnect the pots in the pedal? how much am i looking at money-wise, besides the wah pedals, if i buy a couple busted wah pedals for super cheap? i'd really like to do this, or have it done for me. would it be possible to switch out the switch on the pedal from a Boss type switch to something more like a switch on the big muff or something and put it all into a bigger box that would contain the wah pedals?

wow that's more than i realized, but if i could do these things my flanger would be perfect. also...could you have it set up to do two pedals with the same wahs? kinda like an ABY type thing with the wah pedals being the Ys and say a phaser and flanger being A and B respectively? even more...sorry about all the confusion if you're confused...i am too.

If you can find a digital rack mount device has the sound you want and a midi pedal, you can set this up in no time flat.

[Milkmansound]

You can use a DPDT switch to achieve true bypass. Here is a useful link:

http://www.green-fuz.freeserve.co.uk/wiring.html

Have fun tweaking! - Tim