mudbunny decrease volume, then boost volume...

[greysun]

Alright, so one of my goals is to build a bunch of mudbunnies. I love the muff sound. I also wanted to use one or 2 for a light distortion - but if my little big muff tells me anything, a muff is always loud regardless of the settings.

I was listening to the song blood pressure by mutemath, and the opening riff under the lyrics is close to the sound I want. I played around with my muff (hehe) and was able to get that sound by either A) turning down my guitar, then turning up my amp, or B) turning down the muff and turning up the amp. Not ideal if I'm in the middle of a song, soooo...

So I'm trying to see if there's a way to do this in the mudbunny pedal - or even build a small outer pedal with this functionality.

Someone on another board explained that I could add a volume pot going into the pedal, and then use some kind of SuperFET boost or something - but I don't the specifics behind it, per se... and thinking about it, it might be better to have this outside the mudbunny due to the chance of blowing out an amp, hehe.

Anyone have any thoughts or tips? Thanks in advance!

[jkokura]

That opening from "blood pressure" seems to me to be a combo of a fuzzed up signal and a clean one with a slap reverb on it, which are both blended together tastefully. I'm fairly certain they used a tonne of studio trickery to get their sound.

Perhaps a good way to get that sound would be to experiment with parallel fuzz sounds, or a clean blend in with a Fuzz.

Jacob

[greysun]

well, i know it's not the same effect - like you said, that band probably uses more studio trickery than other bands (or maybe not - seems to be the norm these days, not that I'm complaining).

I just know that I got somewhere similar to that sound (and right where I wanted it to be) using my little big muff and playing with the volumes on the amp, pedal, and guitar - I'd like to keep it real from studio to live playing, so it was just a thought that I could maybe cut the volume and then boost it with another small pedal or even simple additional wiring inside the pedal itself.

You don't think so? I'm willing to give it a shot, even if I have to perf something to see...

[jkokura]

I don't think I said no, I just made a suggestion on how to try and get that sound. Try utilizing a clean blend.

Jacob

[greysun]

Well, you are right, and it's a good suggestion. I get my mind set on something, and sometimes i dont hear the other suggestions coming my way, so I apologize for that.

I could do it too given my current guitar setup (2 outputs to 2 amps). But would I have to split the signal on a normal guitar then to get that sound live?

I have some thinking to do about it still... I'm in the beginning stages of pedal builds, so I want to get all options possible... Keep the ideas coming. 

[jkokura]

I think perhaps you're not quite getting what a clean blend does. A clean blend essentially splits your mono signal into a stereo signal internally in a pedal. Then, one half gets effected (by a fuzz circuit for example) and the other half remains unaffected (clean). Lastly, the two signals get mixed together into a mono signal that is then comprised of a both a clean and effected signal. You can use a pit to determine exactly what the ratio is (ie: %75 fuzz and %25 clean, or %90 clean and %10 fuzz).

Do you think that might work to get that sound?

Jacob

[greysun]

ooooohhhh... okay, i think i'm picking up what you're laying down... then probably dropping it all over the place, shattering across the floor and ruining everyone's life. ;-) But I like where you're heading...

So, in practice, how would this work? Would I put a dual ganged pot before the board - one going to the board, the other going direct to output? It can't be that simple, can it?

[jkokura]

You can check the link in my signature for a DIY project, but if you want a fabbed board and can wait I'll have a project for you in the future. If you can wait a couple days, I'll be home from a conference and can give you more help.

Jacob

[greysun]

I'm seeing it clearly now (i think).

With your DIY Blend schematic - and let's say I'm using the mudbunny board for this - I would go from the 3PDT switch to the IN on the blend, then go from SEND to the IN on the mudbunny, then go from OUT on the mudbunny to RETURN on the blend, then going from OUT on the blend to the 3PDT switch.

Effectively, I would put this between the switch and the mudbunny board, and I would only need a single pot to control what goes through or not, which controls how much signal gets put through the mudbunny board, and sends the remaining dry signal back to the switch to go out.

Interesting... and it sounds like it could work, and looks easier to build! I'm a fan...

Now, would sending only a little signal through the mudbunny mess with anything in there (like, would anything burn out or crap out from not having enough juice being sent through it)? I'm also assuming that both boards could share a 9v connection...

[greysun]

Hey guys - took a bit for me to get to it, but I ordered a bunch of parts and included the clean blend parts in there. I would just order the board from you JMK (always try to support when I can), but I'm building the mudbunnies this coming weekend, so not enough time to wait for the next batch of blends. :-(

I was playing with a perf board schematic to try and fit this into the mudbunny enclosure straight up - I've never done a perf diagram before, so I'm hoping this is somewhat right.

I'm trying to keep it as SLIM as possible, as it's already gonna be tight in the 1590b box, so I'm thinking I can pull this off. I was going to try to just stick it right behind the bunny board and just in front of the footswitch.

The lines that are different colors just overlap, so I needed to differentiate them. I may need to use jumpers above the fold for those.

Here's the JMK original schematic: http://www.jmkpedals.com/JMK_Pedals/DIY_Projects_files/Blend%20Pedal.pdf

Here's what I came up with:



let me know if you get a minute. Thanks again for the help - this looks very promising!

[jkokura]

It goes in > C1 > ground. You need to fix that.

Jacob

[greysun]

OH - you're right - it took me a second to see that (again, my first).

I think I fixed it - here it is again:



Let me know!

[greysun]

Bump. Any ideas if this is the right direction to start work based on the schematic? :-)

Thanks again!