From time to time I bump into something new in terms of gear and I want to share it on the site. TC Electronic has been producing some new interesting things recently, one of these is the Toneprint pedals. Everybody seems to want the classic stuff nowadays, trying to copy vintage boxes or reissuing yet another limited version of the Tube Screamer. Here TC Electronic goes in that direction, but adding a feature that I had only seen in much bigger units, definitely not is this size stompboxes, you can plug the pedal through a usb cable into your computer and download different patches made by famous artists.
I posted this diagram on a different blog page ages ago, but I had so many emails about it that I wanted to post an update and some new pictures of a smaller enclosure.
The original was posted on January 5, 2009 and I think I did this mod (if you can call it that) during Christmas 2008. This is the original video I posted on youtube back then.
and this is the materials I used:
POT: 16mm B10K
DPDT switch
1/4 in stereo jack open
Of course some wire, soldering iron and a small gold enclosure (a used box of candies!)
It’s basically a volume pot in a box where the switch inverts the external tags of the pot and allows you to double the amount of presets on your Line6 MM4 and DL4 ( and should also work on AM4 and DM4) using the ‘Expression pedal morphing’ feature that already exists on this series of pedals. For the switch to work together with the pot, the pot has to be set at ‘0’ or ’10’.
I did use an external enclosure as I did not want to ruin the original box, but I have seen on youtube some guys that did this mod by drilling the enclosure at the top and placing the footswitch directly onto the case. Other further mods include adding a Status LED (you need a battery and a 3PDT switch for that. If you drill the case you should be able to take the power from the unit itself).
This is the rough diagram I uploaded a while ago, still valid:
I am still using this box with my MM4 but as I need more space in my pedalboard I am now using a smaller enclosure:
Not the cleanest wiring job, but it has been working flawlessly for over one year, so I am going to leave it as it is…if it is not broken, don’t fix it!
Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Line 6, I did this for personal use and enjoyment. If you decide to do this, I will not be held responsible to any damage to your equipment or injuries.
After being frustated with my tone tools for quite some time, I moved onto trying to to build my own. It is not as difficult as you would think if you have basic soldering skills and a predisposition to problem-solve and troubleshoot. Of course a simple circuit like a Fuzz pedal or an overdrive is possible to achieve with basic tools and knowledge but semething more complex like a delay pedal migth call for a printed circuit or maybe a kit if your skills are not top notch.
There are quite a few great sites and forums for you to learn the craft (I will post quite a few here). I am sure you will start up with a small selection of tools, but this is highly addictive stuff, so you will see your arsenal of tools grow very rapidly. for the UK the goto place is still Maplin Electronics as for the US Radio Shack still rules the high street.
What you will need:
Soldering iron (nothing too strong 30w will do to start, then maybe a temperature controlled station)
solder (try to get some decent one, maybe with silver and rosin core)
a selection of resistors and electrolytic capacitors, small value capacitor (learn how to read them, it’s not that hard) and stranded wire in a few different colours (you will soon learn the common coding). I’d suggest at the beginning to first to pick a project and try to find all the components, but you will soon realise that most pedals use similar components as they all run at around 9v.
Hammond metal enclosures (you will find predrilled ones online if you are not keen to use a drill), dpdt, 3pdt (for true bypass) switches, jacks, led’s and a set of knobs of your choice.
http://www.tonepad.com – Lots of schematics for the most famous pedals and some good step by step picture tutorials.
http://www.runoffgroove.com – original schematics, this site has been around for quite a while and I have built some of the pedals. highly recommended the different variations of Ruby amp.
www.muzique.com – by Jack Orman, this site has been on since 1995, and it is a must for original designs (don’s quote me on this but it seems that Fulltone took a look to this site for his famous fet booster…)
http://www.beavisaudio.com/ – I LOVE this site, not the biggest but one of the best and clearest (the design is awesome) to understand how things work…great to understand how to connect switches and put together the pedal itself.
www.geofex.com – again one of the oldest sites, great stuff especially the ‘technology of’ pages, where famous pedal are dissected and explained (tubescreamer, fuzz face…). lots to learn here
http://olcircuits.com/olckits.html – licensed kits for some of runoffgroove’s beavis audio, and more sites cited above, if you are in trouble but you like some of the stuff you see on the sites above, here you might find a solution.
‘Income Booster’ – just a clean volume boost, similar to LPB-1 EH, just a clean and fat volume boost.
OCD clone – Great pedal, made a clone to see how the circuit worked (basically 2 Fets used to clip) and liked the sound after a few tweakes…now in my pedalboard.
Fuzz Face variation:
Swtich pedal for Line 6 MM4 (and all that serie of pedals): This has been on youtube for ages…and I am glad to see it has spakerd quite a conversation and more mods…
Disclaimer: I love making original circuits and cloning existing pedals: the latter should be an exercise and never used for commercial purposes. Companies and individuals spend a lot of time and money to develop those pedals: respect other people’s work. Pay attention to soldering and extra attention if you want to venture into etching and making your own PCB’s, I will not be held responsible for any damage!
The typical scenario at a pop/rock recording session is trying to come up with some interesting guitar parts that fit the song, but fulfill your creative side as well. The three parts you are usually asked to record are riffs/chords, solos and what I call ‘noises’. These are usually based on a sound or color, to make a track more interesting, or just fill gaps that seem to sound a bit empty. I am paid to record noise after all the time I have spent practicing those scales! Well…it is not always that simple to come up with a good idea for a great ‘noise’ sound so I will give you some tips to make it easier on yourself…
In general it’s all about being creative with the pedals/gear you have in your arsenal. I try to emulate a synth pad most of the times if you have to create a warm background (think: strings). A good way is to feed your guitar signal into a volume pedal, a chorus and a delay with a decently long delay time (800ms?), with not too much feedback and 50% mix. Play some clusters of notes while you work that volume pedal for a nice and slow volume swell. If you listen to Mike Landau or Allan Holdsworth I am sure you know what I am talking about…if not, go and check them out immediately if not sooner!!!
Another idea is going vintage: get out your Leslie simulator pedal of choice and go for it! Usually very distorted short arpeggios with quite a bit of feedback from the amp work well, I find cheap fuzz pedals great for this task…
Basically everything that takes the attack off your guitar will work well: think reverse delay, swell, natural feedback from the amp. Another way to approach it is to water it all down. A good example of this is to run your signal into a short delay (under 100ms, with a lot of feedback and mix up to 100%) then into a nice and large reverb. Move the Delay Time up and down while you play for a very wacky effect!
There is only one mega rule: don’t be afraid to break the rules…put distortion after reverb, delay or whatever you have never tried before…you might have some nice surprises!
If you are playing through an amp with a spring reverb and running short of ideas…just kick the amp! That’s what I call a noise!