Ideas for silent switches?

[brand0nized]

Hey guys! I love how the BOSS-style pedals are silent, also the Line 6 MultiFX.
I did some searching and found that these switches are "relays". I've also found somewhere that someone bought silent switches even though they were more expensive.

Does anyone have ideas for silent switching for pedals? My church's sanctuary isn't all that spacious so I think the latching switches ("CLICK") could be heard and be distracting to the congregation.

Is it possible to add a relay to existing pedals and switch out the 3PDT for a momentary switch?

[jkokura]

You could look into the clickless bypass kits from Jack Deville. He's around here sometimes, and I've spoken with him on the phone - cool guy. Anyway, you could look into designing your own, or you could try a system that's already available.

Jacob

[gtr2]

amz effects also

http://www.muzique.com/schem/bypass.htm

Josh

[madbean]

Most of the Boss style pedals use flip-flops and a contact switch. A good deal of those are not true-bypass, if you care about such a thing. Unfortunately, there are not really any "cheap" alternatives as you can see from the clickless true bypass and AMZ solutions. But, those are certainly alternatives if you don't mind investing the extra $$.

[DougCFL]

I spent some time and made a clickless true bypass system like the others discussed here. I use it in my pedals and don't expect to sell it commercially like Jack.  But if you want a few, let me know and we can work a deal.  Cheapest is to buy the pic, you make the board and circuit.  Next is to buy the pic and my board and you assemble with your parts. Most expensive is the assembled full kit.  It works very nicely in churches which is where I play most.  My system also mutes the effect while switching so any high-gain pedals don't "pop" anymore (and you don't hear "Pop, pop, pop" when you delay is on). Search you tube for DC Pedals to see/hear it.  Even my compressor switches silently while cranking riffs through it.

There is also a CMOS TTL chip version available in this forum (use the search).  You have that option too, but it is a little larger than the pic solution.

[jimmybjj]

I have one of Doug's setups and can say that it is high quality stuff, vEry much on par with the bigger names out there. Doug customer service and communication is top notch, one of the best I have seen. I'll try and get a build report of his system out soon.

[Om_Audio]

Doug I am interested, I am about to build a simple fx loop pedal and want it to be clickless and hadn't realized it might also pop as I will be using it will all sorts of effects on at the same time- delays and fuzz etc.
Thx,
C

[Geosh]

I have used Jack Deville's Clickless switches in quite a few builds and have swapped them into my Fulldrive as well. I absolutely love them, but they arent all that cheap. I play at church too so the clicking sound from 3PDT switches can be a little annoying, especially since stage volume is so low.



He is working on a new design that can be controlled remotely though so you can make a programmable true-bypass looper. I am looking forward to seeing that one released.

[crashguitar]

I just tried the switching scheme from The Tone God:http://tech.thetonegod.com/switches/switches.html

Under his downloads area, http://tech.thetonegod.com/downloads/downloads.html, there are layouts for the switches linked above. I just completed my first one using a momentary SPST switch and the 40106 IC. I am really pleased with the results, although I haven't boxed it yet. On my test rig it seems to work really well. Tayda is now selling the momentary switches for $2 and the IC's for $0.22.

I keep trying to improve on the layout, but I am still a noob with Eagle so I haven't gotten something better yet. I post on the forum if and when I ever get a better layout.

Chad

[Om_Audio]

Cool, thx man. He is sold out for ages now though. AMZ's offering looks good too and is cheaper. Will report back once I figure out a solution.
C

[Om_Audio]

amz effects also

http://www.muzique.com/schem/bypass.htm

Josh

Just ordered from here- in a rush to try and get the box built for a gig on Tues- will report back- Jack Orman was very responsive- thanks Josh!
Also, do you happen to know the drilling size for a DPDT?
C

[gtr2]

Same size as a 3pdt.

[Om_Audio]

Thanks!