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Switching one pedal between 2 fx chains???

S

SteveMcB

Feb 7, 2006
686
14
Auckland, New Zealand
#1
I play bass most of the time in church, but some of the time need to play guitar rather than bass for a song or 2 during the set :hiding:. I have come to the conclusion that I need seperate effects chains for guitar and bass, but on the same pedalboard. So I'm thinking of building one myself. Then today, I get an Akai Headrush E2 in the mail. I try it on bass - it kills. I try it on guitar - it kills. I try to think about how I'd put it into a permanently wired up pedalboard - it kills me!!!

Is there a way of wiring up a simple switch so that you can switch a pedal between 2 signal chains? I've sat down and tried to figure it out - I think it might be possible with a QPDT switch (which I happen to have a couple of), though this is not a stompable solution and would require bending over to flick a switch (not the greatest hardship I know).

Has anyone tried something like this???

Steve
 
#3
Actually, I want it at the end unfortunately, so I can use the ol' looping feature (which is mostly why I got it but I loooove the delay) and use different effects for the various layers.

Ideally my bass chain would be:
Digitech BSW->Peavey BAC-2 chorus->Headrush->Sansamp BDDI->amp (although ideal setup changes often!!!).

Steve
 
#4
hmm... a reversed a/b? then another a/b after that to send it to the different amps lol

so basically do a loop-master ish pedal. with the pedal looped in. with two ins and two outs.
 
#5
SteveMcB said:
Is there a way of wiring up a simple switch so that you can switch a pedal between 2 signal chains? I've sat down and tried to figure it out - I think it might be possible with a QPDT switch (which I happen to have a couple of), though this is not a stompable solution and would require bending over to flick a switch (not the greatest hardship I know).
Click to expand...

Putting 2 DPDT stompswitches next to each other is a possible replacement for a QPDT switch. Just use your original wiring (and i think there are quite a few ways to do this) and use the DPDT switches to replace the QPDT.
 
#13
The major reason for wanting 2 seperate chains is (as people have guessed) wanting to go through different amps.

For a while now I've been biamping, using the guitar rig for highs and the bass rig for lows - the Peavey BAC-2 chorus pedal also acts as an instrument level crossover. This sounds great (particularly thunderous with my 12 string bass). My pedalboard was permanently set up with this scheme in mind. Bass plugged into chorus pedal, low frequency out went to bass amp. High frequency out went to A/B box A with guitar plugged into B, and the out plugged into the guitar signal chain. That way I can run either the highs from bass or the guitar through the guitar chain.

However...
- I have to lug the guitar rig everywhere or constantly rewire if I'm only playing bass (which happens a lot) and want to use effects.
- I got a bunch of new pedals (BSW, BDDI, Headrush) which I want to incorporate but I'm running out of room (actually, I ran out of room a long time ago but I've been procrastinating and rearranging. Fact is I have and like a lot of pedals and need to get on with making a new board
- I don't want to run signal through a bunch of pedals that it doesn't need to go through. I'm not a total bypass snob, but I don't really want to run either signal through things that it doesn't have to run through...
- I'd like to be able to (for instance) loop a bass line or droning note (through the bass amp) and then play guitar over the top (bearing in mind that bass sounds very bad through my 1x10" guitar combo)

I hadn't thought of the 2 DPDT or double TB box (I have a home-made one already, don't need the Eyore). But I think the QPDT may be the way forward.
Steve
 
#16
SteveMcB said:
- I don't want to run signal through a bunch of pedals that it doesn't need to go through. I'm not a total bypass snob, but I don't really want to run either signal through things that it doesn't have to run through...
Click to expand...
You should test your hearing perception on this. Figure out a way to do a blind test and see if you can tell the difference when running through unnecessary pedals. You might be surprised, and save a lot of money.

- I'd like to be able to (for instance) loop a bass line or droning note (through the bass amp) and then play guitar over the top (bearing in mind that bass sounds very bad through my 1x10" guitar combo)
Click to expand...

So you want the looper to affect the bass amp but not the guitar amp? That's doable but if you also want to be able to do vice versa that sounds like trouble.
 
#17
You should test your hearing perception on this. Figure out a way to do a blind test and see if you can tell the difference when running through unnecessary pedals. You might be surprised, and save a lot of money.
Click to expand...

You're right, I should.

Seeings I'm going to build the pedalboard myself though, and I need to build one to accomodate all my pedals anyway, I don't think it'll save me much if anything.

The other thing about seperate chains though, is I think I'm less likely to get ground loop trouble, which I do when I run the biamp rig DI'ed into the PA most of the time.

So you want the looper to affect the bass amp but not the guitar amp? That's doable but if you also want to be able to do vice versa that sounds like trouble.
Click to expand...

Yep, I'm wanting to be able to use the amazing headrush on bass or guitar. It's a lot of fun and sounds great both as a looper and a delay with both. I actually think I can do it with a QPDT or 2 DPDT's now that I look at it again...
 
#20
Having spent much of yesterday playing with the headrush, the idea of getting a second one is appealing!

But it's a huge real-estate hog (14x20cm minimum including minimally space-consuming cables), costs a significant amount (about US$300 here, thankfully I got it from a kindly TGP forumite for half that including shipping), and 2 seems wasteful if I'm able to switch it between chains.

The plan for the bass chain is:
Bass>BSW>PeaveyBAC2 biamp chorus>Bad Monkey(highs only)>minimixer or LS2>Headrush>BDDI>Nemesis NC115
The minimixer is to mix the clean lows from the low out of the BAC2 with the distorted speaker sim'ed highs from the high out of the BAC2 via the bad monkey. I love distorted highs only...

The guitar chain is:
Guitar>OD3>MT2>Vox wah>Rat>TS5>Chorus(TBA)>IbanezAD99 delay>Headrush>Mesa subway blues

If switching the headrush works using a QPDT, I may also think about being able to switch the AD99 into the bass chain after the bad monkey on highs only...
All chains subject to change depending on acquisitions...
Steve
 

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