Acoustic multi effect

[stevie1556]

I'm thinking of trying to build a little multi effect unit for my acoustic guitar. Mainly because I think it would be fun to use but also because I'm thinking of doing some open mic nights in the future.

I can't decide which circuits to use though, despite doing some research and watching videos on YouTube. At the moment, I'm thinking of compressor-chorus-delay-reverb.

Compressor - I've read that optical compressors sound nicer for acoustic, so would you use the 4:1 or the Afterlife and why?

Chorus - thinking of using the Glam, good idea?

Delay - Mimik or Cave Dweller? I built several of the original Cave Dwellers and loved the darker, maybe even eerily sound, but worried it may not suit the acoustic well for a nice sounding, ambient delay.

Reverb - thinking of the Ping, unless there is a better option.

Essentially, I want the controls to be simple as it needs to be a simple pedal. The compressor is going to be wired as always on I think, although I'm not sure how beneficial it may or may not be.

I'm also thinking about powering it with a power bank, I use a brilliant one for when I go away with work that has 20,000mAh, 5VDC and 3.4A output. Obviously I'd need to get that ramped up to 9V but I'm failing to find anything good online that could do that, as having a power supply indie the pedal could be quite cool, although I'm not sure how handy or beneficial it could be.

[ahiddentableau]

Sounds like a fun project.

I like the 4:1 and it is probably a good choice if you want simple and transparent.  It also has a clean blend for parallel compression, which seems to me to be a great idea with an acoustic guitar.  But...in the guitar pedal world opto comps do tend to be more transparent than other kinds that is not because optos can't be made on the radical side, or that a VCA or other type can't be made quieter or more transparent.  Something like Merlin Blencowe's Engineer's Thumb is a good example.  It's more tweakable than a 4:1 or a normal/Dynacomp style comp, but is quiet and fairly simple and may just the kind of thing you're looking for in your application.  But it doesn't have a clean blend.  But it's worth checking it out before you commit.

My vote would probably go to the darker delay because I find acoustics sound brittle with anything too bright, and a delay is already quite busy for an acoustic rather than an electric guitar.  So I'd go cave dweller on that front.

Also: not trying to threadjack, but your post reminded me of something I saw at a music store last week.  It was a Yamaha acoustic-electric with a built in effects module.  Okay.  Nothing particularly special or exciting so far.  But the way it went about the effects were unlike anything I'd ever seen before.  The guitar didn't need a conventional amp.  Near as I could tell, it used a (fairly large) resonator disk attached to the back of the guitar from inside the body cavity of the instrument.  There was a 9V battery which powered both an effects unit and I assume the electromagnets to make the disk vibrate.  So you could get chorus and reverb to come out of the guitar while playing without an amp.  From a technological POV it was really cool.  From a practical/sonic perspective, it sounded like #@$!.  Just awful.  AWFUL.  The cheesiest worst stereotypical 80s sounds you've ever heard.  But from a technological perspective, it was kind of awesome.

[gordo]

+1 on the 4:1 it's one of the few pedals that never leaves my board.  I'd add a Sonic Maximizer of some flavor.  It's an extremely subtle effect but can rip sounds out of an acoustic you might not know are there.  Especially in the top end.  Only problem I had was the guitar was sometimes prone to "handling" noise, you could hear your shirt brushing against the back.

My buddy swiped my Mimic the first time he heard it and uses it mostly with acoustic.  I'm more of a fan of pristine digital delay and reverb so the new FV-1 projects here would be worth looking into.  There's no shortage at PedalPCB as well.  A chorus is a nice effect to fatten up a passage, especially if you're playing solo.  It gets old quickly but can punch up parts that benefit from a doubling sound.  The Glam has a noticeable delay which may, or may not, be to your liking.  The Pork Barrel might be a bit more lush sounding.

Lastly, a boost is nice to have for when you need a solo or single note lines to pop.  No shortage of those...

[ahiddentableau]

I'm more of a fan of pristine digital delay and reverb so the new FV-1 projects here would be worth looking into.  There's no shortage at PedalPCB as well.  A chorus is a nice effect to fatten up a passage, especially if you're playing solo.  It gets old quickly but can punch up parts that benefit from a doubling sound.  The Glam has a noticeable delay which may, or may not, be to your liking.  The Pork Barrel might be a bit more lush sounding.

+1 to the FV-1 - that is a great suggestion.  You should look at the FV-1 projects on PedalPCB.  You could make a custom EPROM with several kinds of delay (clean, analog, etc) as well as the basic modulation effects you want like chorus and reverb.  I have not heard the chorus, but the delays and reverbs are excellent.

[stevie1556]

Thanks for the reply guys.

With regards to the FV-1 boards, I've had a look at them but I now have many more questions then answers in my head about them, but that's going to be for a different thread.

I'm also after simple, and cheap effects. The main reasons being that it's more of a test pedal, it's going to be taken to open mic night gigs if I ever get brave enough, and my guitar teacher friend has a lot of students who are starting to do open mic nights and want to help boost the stage presence of their acoustic guitar. Plan is for them to use mine, but if they really want one for themselves then it wouldn't cost a fortune to build them one.

So I'm thinking the 4:1, Glam, Mimik, Ping and a boost of some kind. What boost to use, I don't know yet.

Ahiddentableau - that guitar sounds like a fantastic idea on paper, maybe not so much in practice though. Wondering if it could be done better and on a cheap budget, maybe if I get a cheap guitar I can try it! As for the delay, I've got an SMD 1590A version of the original Cave Dweller although I'm not sure if the boards will work or not, plus the board mounted pots of the G builds, and the pots all being lined up with the same spacing is a rather attractive option.

Gordo - I've looked at YouTube videos of a Sonic Maximiser, definitely interesting although I'm not so sure about using one. Also the fact I'm thinking of using a 1032L enclosure, I haven't seen one in quite a few years (I powder coated some for a friend who was doing a multi effect pedal), but I think the max foot switches to fit comfortably is 5 (Although I could be massively wrong, quite likely that I'm wrong).

[ahiddentableau]

Ahiddentableau - that guitar sounds like a fantastic idea on paper, maybe not so much in practice though. Wondering if it could be done better and on a cheap budget, maybe if I get a cheap guitar I can try it! As for the delay, I've got an SMD 1590A version of the original Cave Dweller although I'm not sure if the boards will work or not, plus the board mounted pots of the G builds, and the pots all being lined up with the same spacing is a rather attractive option.

Please don't misunderstand me: I am not endorsing that guitar or its technology in any way.  It was the most horrible sounding thing I've heard in ages.  The worst.  But the idea was clever as hell.  I know I never would have thought of applying chorus or delay acoustically.  Then again, why would you when pedals do it so easily and so well?  If you're going to use a PA, then building a pedal of the type you've got in mind makes a whole lot of sense to me.

[stevie1556]

I've pulled the trigger and ordered 4:1, Glam, Mimik and Ping. Decided to treat myself and order a few of the Dreamtime boards as well as I know at least one friend would love one (and I'd love to try it out!).

I've got a board for a booster already, just need to check to make sure that it works.

Now to spend a small fortune ordering the parts for everything. I'll update with the progress on this. Thinking of powder coating the enclosure, using a laser water slide decal then a clear powder coat on top, which works fine but need to make sure there isn't any water marks left over otherwise they will show up. No idea what colour would be cool for it though, maybe lime green with sparkles in it?

Would I be right in saying the signal chain needs to be compressor - boost - chorus- delay - reverb?

I'm crap at coming up with pedal names so any suggestions is greatly appreciated

[ahiddentableau]

Comp first, reverb last, yes.  But I think different people could give different answers about the order of delay and chorus (which is probably the best possible way to say that it doesn't matter much).  The old school way would be delay before chorus, but the modern consensus seems to be "modulation" effects before "time" effects, so the order you gave should be just fine.

Post some pics when you build it.  I'm sure I'm not the only person around here who'd be interested to see it.

[stevie1556]

That's my issue, everyone has their way of ordering pedals so it's just a case of finding what I think is best. But while I'm waiting for all the parts and PCBs to arrive I was going to start working on the enclosure, which I now can't do.

Don't worry though, I'll be posting progress updates. I'm hoping it goes quite smoothly as I'm already currently having issues with my Big Muff boards. Need to try and find some time to play around with it more.  Got a lot of other boards that I haven't had time to verify either unfortunately.

[stevie1556]

Little update, all the parts and enclosure have arrived! The parts arrived a couple of days ago and turned up much quicker then normal. Got a 1032L enclosure from Das Musikding, and now worried that it's not going to fit with enough room between the knobs and foot switches. This leaves me with three options:

Option one - board mount the pots and mount them as high up the top side of the enclosure as the PCB allows and hope there is enough room to use the foot switch without stamping on the pots/knobs.

Option two - board mount the pots and have them on the long side of the enclosure with the foot switches on top. Issue here is that it will then be harder to change the setting on the effects.

Option three - mount the pots as high up as possible on the top side of the enclosure (maybe even in single file) with the boards mounted seperately to the long side of the enclosure.

Option 3 I think Is the safest bet, but I can't find any mounts to hold the boards in place. I found some on GuitarPCB but they are sold out and he doesn't ship those mounts to the UK, so if anyone has any suggestions on where to get some that would be great. I've spent ages searching, used different search terms, etc, and still coming up blank. I've included a picture below of what I'm after.

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

[BryGuy]

Option 3 I think Is the safest bet, but I can't find any mounts to hold the boards in place. I found some on GuitarPCB but they are sold out and he doesn't ship those mounts to the UK, so if anyone has any suggestions on where to get some that would be great. I've spent ages searching, used different search terms, etc, and still coming up blank.

I got some of those from Barry a while back but never ended up using them. I should still have them somewhere. You said your in the UK right? Maybe if I find them we can do a trade or something?

Ironically I have thought about an acoustic multi build myself. If I ever find the time I might make it happen. Although my original plans seem a little overly ambitious looking back. I was hoping for a 4:1 or Afterlife, a Ping, a Bloviator, a Cave Dweller, some type of tuner out and balance line drive. Something like that anyway. Time will tell.

I have a stand alone 4:1 compressor and it woks well. I have used it on bass and guitar. A nice circuit.

[Willybomb]

I've made a number of multi effect builds and these are my thoughts:

Out of the number of choruses I've built, I keep coming back to the Pork Barrel.  Yes, it's more complex and pricier, but it does sound better than the Glam or Little Angel imo, although both are pretty good, and I probably prefer the LA to the Glam.

I've used the Mimik a number of times, and it's a nice meat and potatoes delay - nothing fancy.  I've had no luck with the Cavedweller on pcb or vero.  Maybe I have a couple of dud PT chips, but the PT worked fine in the Mimik.  My personal favourite PT based delay is the Sea Urchin/Deep Blue Delay, but again, it's a bigger build.

Definitely get a Bloviator.  Mine stays on at the end of my chain (pre cabsim though).

A nice simple reverb is the original one knob Rub-a-dub, and the Equinox II was a good, if larger build.

The Afterlife works well, and I'm looking a 4:1 for when I update my Random Stranger build.

The FV-1 stuff does sound pretty good, but I think a lot of the wackier programs (Glimmer, Hypernova, Kaleidoscope, et al) out there sound a bit tinny to my ear and are a bit gimmicky imo, but that's symptomatic of multieffects in general.  The basic effects are pretty good, if thin imo, although I don't think the chorus in mine holds up to the Pork Barrel.

The thing with a multi is that, unfortunately, PCB size is an issue and when you use a larger pcb, it can mean you need a smaller one elsewhere.  There are larger than DD enclosures though (but I'm not a fan of their proportions).

[stevie1556]

BryGuy - many thanks for that, can't tell you how grateful I am there! I've done some measuring and I'm 99.9% sure that I can't have the boards with board mounted pots because there won't be enough room between the foot switch and the knobs. That means I either have the boards mounted to the back of the enclosure using those mounts, or to buy a new enclosure. I've seen some on Das Musikding that will give me an extra 15mm on the width which would help, and with board mounted pots will be a lot neater wiring wise. Honestly can't decide on which would be best to do.

I think you should look into doing the multi effect though, and I can honestly say that I've never done so much planning for a pedal before!

Willybomb - thanks for your thoughts on the pedals. I did look at the Pork Barrel, but I ideally wanted simple and cheap circuits, and also if I did go for board mounted pots then if I use all 1590G boards all the pots will have the same spacing. If it wasn't for those two points then I would have definitely chosen the Pork Barrel.

As for the delay, the Deep Blue delay sounds amazing, definitely one of my favourites. I've just found a stash of the boards designed by AlanP that I got from another member before I had a break from building. However, the boards are for the 1590A so I can't use board mounted pots for it, and the reason why I went for the Mimik.

I've had a look on YouTube at the Bloviator, and although I like it I'm struggling to see anywhere I would or could use it.

For the reverb, the first one I built was a Rub-a-Dub, and I absolutely loved it until one of my friends decided he wanted it for his gigging board. Decided not to use it for this one though, not particular reason.

I've only just looked at the FV-1 builds and don't know enough about them yet to risk putting one into a multi effect. I've just ordered some of the Dreamtime delays though so I'll experiment with them.

If I do go the new enclosure route so I can have board mounted pots, I'm looking at one of these https://www.musikding.de/Looper-enclosure-30cm however, I'd prefer the 25cm one but it's out of stock, but the slightly bigger one will give a bit more room between the foot switches which would be nice. It's also 15mm wider to accommodate board mounted pots with a bit more room between the foot switches and knobs.

I was going to go the clickless route using the 1776 Finish Line, but I've worked out that it's going to add just over £50 to the cost of this build, and as it's already costing slightly more then what was ideal I'm going to stick to the 3PDT route.

[Willybomb]

I'll gladly buy one of those DBD 1590a boards off you!

[Feral Feline]

I, too, have the PCB holders from Barry and like BryGuy haven't had occasion to use them yet.

I'm pretty sure you could get them at a DIY computer type place (or Mouser/Digikey/etc) if Barry is out of stock.

Another option is Sugru, www.sugru.com‎, which is kind of like mouldable silly-putty-glue that hardens (not rock-hard, it's rubbery). Jam some of the sugu putty where you want to place the board and squish the board in place. My sister-in-law gave me some, highly useful stuff.

I've also experimented with pizza-box topper-stoppers... the plastic 3-legged (usually 3) little dollhouse tables pizzerias use to stop the box-top from caving in on the pizza. I snip off the legs and then use hot glue to mount the little legless disc to the enclosure. Short prevention barrier and mounting point all in one.

Another barrier with hot-glue is the plastic pull tabs from cartons of milk, essentially they're a smaller version of the pizza disc.