My Cosmic Stone Rackmount

maddrakkett · #1 12-17-2007, 08:21 PM

I managed to rackmount an E-H Nano Small Stone and a Maxon 900ms Analog Delay in a Middle Atlantic 1-space enclosure. I then added true bypass relay switching for both units and use a CFX4 MIDI Switcher from Axess Electronics to switch each effect in and out from my SWR Mo' Control pedalboard.

Here's some pics:

Kind of a spaghetti mess of wires, but it's secure and works!

The LEDs contain three mini bulbs (blue, green, and red), so for the Small Stone, I put a resistor on the blue and tied it to the green to make an aqua LED, and for the Delay, I put a resistor on the red and tied it to blue to make a purple LED. Pretty cool!

The CFX4 MIDI Switcher - very compact and velcros into the back side panel of the rack.

In my rack...

My Christmas lights...

**SoComSurfing** · #2 12-17-2007, 11:04 PM

Very cool. Any particular reason you left them in the pedals rather than mounting just the circuits in the rack enclosure? That Axess Switcher is a fantastic piece. I like the way you did the front-panel labeling, as well. Nice.

markjazzbassist · #3 12-18-2007, 12:56 AM

Way COol

maddrakkett · #4 12-18-2007, 05:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoComSurfing

Very cool. Any particular reason you left them in the pedals rather than mounting just the circuits in the rack enclosure? That Axess Switcher is a fantastic piece. I like the way you did the front-panel labeling, as well. Nice.

Thanks. It was easier for me to just drill beveled holes in the bottom of the enclosure and bolt the pedal casings to the rack than to try to find ways to mount the circuit boards. I guess I could have used industrial Velcro to mount the circuit boards, but the Maxon has two boards, one stacked on top of the other, so it would have been difficult to get those to lay side-by-side without doing a lot more wiring. I also thought of using standoffs, but I didn't want to risk drilling holes in the circuit boards for screwing them to the standoffs and I didn't want to mess with epoxy, so I decided that leaving the circuits in the pedal housings and enclosing it all in the rack enclosure was a solid way to go.

speak_onion · #5 12-18-2007, 07:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoComSurfing

Very cool. Any particular reason you left them in the pedals rather than mounting just the circuits in the rack enclosure? That Axess Switcher is a fantastic piece. I like the way you did the front-panel labeling, as well. Nice.

Yeah, that labeling does look cool as hell. How did you do it, madrakket? I'm almost finished with my own rack relay switcher, and I used the same rack enclosure. I was just going to leave it blank black, but it would be pretty nice to have some text on there.

**SoComSurfing** · #6 12-18-2007, 08:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maddrakkett

Thanks. It was easier for me to just drill beveled holes in the bottom of the enclosure and bolt the pedal casings to the rack than to try to find ways to mount the circuit boards. I guess I could have used industrial Velcro to mount the circuit boards, but the Maxon has two boards, one stacked on top of the other, so it would have been difficult to get those to lay side-by-side without doing a lot more wiring. I also thought of using standoffs, but I didn't want to risk drilling holes in the circuit boards for screwing them to the standoffs and I didn't want to mess with epoxy, so I decided that leaving the circuits in the pedal housings and enclosing it all in the rack enclosure was a solid way to go.

Makes sense to me. If it works just as well using the full pedals, why not?! Either way, looks great. Gives me some ideas for some old, beat-up pedals I have.

bongomania · #7 12-18-2007, 08:38 AM

Thumbs up from me! I've thought about doing something like that, but I'm so fickle in my pedal choices that I didn't want to invest all that into a pedal I'd change my mind about quickly. It's a great idea if you've got two or three pedals you love though!

maddrakkett · #8 12-18-2007, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by speak_onion

Yeah, that labeling does look cool as hell. How did you do it, madrakket? I'm almost finished with my own rack relay switcher, and I used the same rack enclosure. I was just going to leave it blank black, but it would be pretty nice to have some text on there.

I used a Brother P-Touch labeler and placed the labels at an angle before putting the knobs on. For the toggle switch, I just loosened it a little and slipped the end of the label under the washer and then tightened it back up.

The Cosmic Stone logo was printed from work I did in Photoshop onto clear decal paper. When I put it against the black background, it gave it a cool dark effect.

maddrakkett · #9 12-18-2007, 07:09 PM

@ SoComSurfing and bongomania:

Thanks and it is indeed a nice idea for some fun projects - especially for giving new life to old pedals!

I've also seen people putting the guts of E-H Nano effects into a Q-Tron enclosure and making 2 and 3-in-1 pedals. One guy even took a Danelectro FAB Echo and a FAB Flanger and put them in a new pedal housing and did mods to the FAB Echo to make it become a 300ms analog delay!

My situation stems from having just bought an SWR Mo' Bass, which has all my major analog effects already in it; I just needed to add a phaser and an analog delay, so the Cosmic Stone was the perfect solution!

BTW, I named it such because the analog delay really adds a great "spacey" effect to the Small Stone...

Sean S · #10 12-18-2007, 07:35 PM

I don't follow how you're using that MIDI switcher; do you have pics of the complete rack? (back, wiring, etc)

EDIT: Apart from the pedals themselves, how much $$ did this run you (if you don't mind me asking)

maddrakkett · #11 12-18-2007, 07:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sean S

I don't follow how you're using that MIDI switcher; do you have pics of the complete rack? (back, wiring, etc)

I'll get a picture tonight, but it's pretty simple:

My Mo' Control sends MIDI Program Changes to the Mo' Bass head when I select one of the 4 Program buttons. When I turn the Program button off, another Program Change number is sent. A MIDI out from the head connects to the CFX4 switcher. I can program the CFX4 to connect or disconnect the circuit between the tip and sleeve of it's 1/4" switch jacks when it receives the Program Change numbers from the Mo' Control.

I plug a simple 1/4" patch cord from two of the jacks on the CFX4 to the two switch jacks on the Cosmic Stone. When the CFX4 receives a Program Change number that I have programed to make it connect either or both of the two jacks, it is completing the -9V circuit and causing the relay(s) to engage. Each relay will connect the input and output of the effect that's wired to it, and when the voltage circuit is broken (Program Change number from Program switch on Mo' Control being turned off), both the effects input and output are hard-wire bypassed, for true bypass construction.

I can also replace the MIDI interface with a simple dual footswitch (I also made one for this - picture coming) and control each effects on/off, but I prefer to program the Cosmic Stone to interact with the on/off of the other effects on the Mo' Bass with one simple Mo' Controller.

Hope that helps explain it. Now I'm off to attach the CFX4 to the rack and take pictures...

Higgie · #12 12-18-2007, 08:16 PM

That is AWESOME!

GREAT idea leaving the pedals in their enclosures. It may look a little messy, but saves a whole lot of work in the long run. It's what I would've done!

The LED's look amazing too. Great all round job.

Nice one

maddrakkett · #13 12-18-2007, 08:44 PM

Thanks Higgie.

For Sean S.:
Here's a pic of the Cosmic Stone's rear:

From left to right: Power jack (-9VDC, 300ma), Delay IN/OUT jack, Phase IN/OUT jack, audio OUT and IN.

And here's the rear of my rack:

The CFX4 is Velcro'd to the side panel. Axcess Electronics states to use a Boss PSA power supply, but I'm planning to make a long Y cable and just use the One Spot to power both units. You might notice that two of the LEDs on the CFX4 are lit - that means I have selected a patch that engages both the Small Stone and the Delay.

The other cool thing is I have a 25' snake from the Mo' Control to the Mo' Bass that has just two cables: a DB9 data cable for the main commands and a 1/4" stereo cable for the Mo' Control's Filter pedal and the effects Bypass (which also sends a Program Change number to bypass the Cosmic Stone - cool).

maddrakkett · #14 12-18-2007, 08:50 PM

Here's a couple of those other crazy pedal blends I've seen:

The first is a link to Youtube of that dual FAB pedal mod called "Superillegal Fudgemaker":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95Lv76ubxeM

And the 3-in-one (FAB Chorus+Nano SmallStone+Micro Q-Tron) all in the Micro Q-Tron's housing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMRYK...eature=related