anyone ever tried using one of these hammond 1456 series boxes? (update: news )

[B_of_H]

I'm thinking about building another ridiculous rig from the ground up and want to consolidate all my stuff into one big box if possible.  The 17x11" boxes seem perfect but i'm a little concerned about whether the boxes will be thick enough to not be flimsy when I stomp on switches.  I don't want much 'give' obviously.  it says they are .081 thick aluminum but I have no clue on the strength of that material when it's that thin.   the 15 degree boxes even have a shelf area for knobs!

http://www.hammondmfg.com/dwg16.htm

I think either 10 degree or 15 degree will work.  Do you think i'd need to shield the vent holes as well?  (i'll be using this live)

[jkokura]

I doubt those will be strong enough. I've seen the series in a shop and I passed on it.

Jacob

[stecykmi]

dano at beavis audio makes use similar enclosures to this for some of his projects. try digging around on his site to see what he used maybe.

http://www.beavisaudio.com/

[gtr2]

I'd love to find enclosures like this...

http://www.jampedals.com/index.php?page=custom-multi-pedals&hl=en_GB

I emailed them, but they never responded with their source...   

www.customaluminumboxes.com might make something nice and sturdy to use?

josh

[B_of_H]

thanks for the responses.

I forgot about 'jam pedals' but those enclosures might not work.  I'm going to use relay switches in it and I want all the switches in a certain layout.  I'm sitting down in this new band and I need a different setup because of it.  I can't reach switches on the far side of the board very easy with my left foot while using expression pedals with my right foot so hence the need to build a new rig.

was thinking about something like this:

Guitar>whammy>(box)>comp>OC2 clone w/ synth mod>Loop (POG)>EF>Dig Dug>send (wah) return>dirt (od/dst a/b switch)>mod loop (phase 45, byoc chorus)>Send (volume pedal) Return>Boost>Delay>delay a/b switch (A:aqua boy, B: either BYOC ping pong or Echo Base)>GGG reverb>tap tremolo

tap switch connected to both the Echo Base and Tap Tremolo circuits, tuner loop in there somewhere as well.  I might throw in a switch that adds a Aqua boy with modulation and double delay time as a dedicated oscilation circuit with one of those dunlop big rubber foot control knobs or even a kick disc (see below) 

[B_of_H]

I just looked at the boxes beavis audio uses and they are thinner than the hammond boxes.  So maybe it'll work after all.

I was also thinking about if the aluminum is too thin then I could just screw in some wood supports probably. 

[B_of_H]

I just ordered the 10x8.3 model with wood sides.  Should be here by friday, i'll report back with some pics. 

[B_of_H]

I emailed hammond and they responded by saying that they are probably too flimsy BUT they are working on a specific series of boxes for this application and they are going to send me some photos of the early prototypes. 

so stay tuned...apparently hammond is starting to work on some multi-stompbox specific designs to be released soon. 

[B_of_H]

got it in today.  It's a little too flimsy as is but I think I might able to reinforce the top somehow and make it work.  I'm glad I didn't order the 14 or 17 inch models, those would be worse I think.  The wood sides are kinda classy IMO. 

[stecykmi]

the wood sides are baller

[madbean]

Yeah, that's really cool. I think a single 2" support bar under the stomp side will work for reinforcement.

[gtr2]

Really retro!  I like it 

That's encouraging that they are possibly working on some other box designs!

Keep us updated on this project, it's really cool.

josh

[B_of_H]

yeah, I reinforced the top by screwing in a few little piece of wood along the sides.  it's going to be fine now, sturdy as hell.  

SHOULD I PAINT THIS BLACK (top only not the wood)?  would spray paint work?  it's painted with what seems like really durable paint already but I hate the beige color. 

I haven't decided what exactly to do yet.  I ordered a 39.5"x15.5" pedalboard case.

I also found a mini q-tron finally and i'm going to rehouse it with the analog clean octave down as well as the dig dug when that's ready and get rid of the FM4.  The cool thing about the mini vs the micro is that the mini is going to be far easier to rehouse as it doesn't have pcb mounted jacks etc..  I thought about building a diy envelope filter but decided it was easier to pay $80 and get a mini.  

I'm also going to mod my whammy for true bypass and a momentary switch per some instructions I found online...hopefully I don't ruin the thing.  (fingers crossed)

I'm not sure if i'm going to be able to fit all the knobs on the top yet.
- I really like the byoc comp but that is a lot of knobs and I need to do some testing, I built out a few different ross clones and I dont' like them at all.  (did a variety of mods as well)
- I'm going to build out the sunking again with just tone and volume knobs (trims for the gain) to use as a cleanish boost
- I haven't decided if I want the spackler with the boost or the egodriver (distortion), further testing needed for this particular application.  I like to turn both the ego and sunking on for really dirty stuff and ride the volume pedal but occasionally I also like to run the ego as a dirty rhythm sound and let it kind of blend into the mix more...so still up in the air
- the aqua boy (double delay time with modulation)/echo base has a dual function feedback switch (a 3pdt wired to feeback loop on the EB and defeat the repeat knob on the AB at the same time) and the echo base is going to use the taptation for tap tempo
- the little remote tap and tap tempo tremolo on/off box is going to use a multi pin cable of sorts, haven't figured that one out yet.  might need a different tap switch for the trem and echo base but it might work fine to use a single one for both etc...

[stecykmi]

the enclosure should be paint-able as long as you scuff the paint with 320-400 grit paper first. a few light coats a couple minutes apart should give you good results.

[B_of_H]

the enclosure should be paint-able as long as you scuff the paint with 320-400 grit paper first. a few light coats a couple minutes apart should give you good results.

cool, I think i'm going to do that today.

thanks.