Tutorial - wiring a footswitch for a guitar effect do it yourself foot switch

[iamsdeathgod]

is there any videos on how to make your vox v845 true bypass?

[ChopSuey83497612]

Can you please help me to convert a true bypass in a simple foot switch? thanks

[dragonslayerdom]

@JustSomeRandomNewb

you can do that and it's perfectly fine. but the way in the video makes it true bypass which improves your clean sound and your tone and all that jazz

[HeyStupidFlanders]

What does this actually do?.. whats its function?

[JustSomeRandomNewb]

Why are these so complicated, can't you just use a toggle switch with 2 outputs and one input, and conec the imput to the imput side of the pedal (duh) and the other side one to the effect, then to the output, and the 2nd switch output directly to the output? I gues for some reason not, as i've never seen it done like this, but why not?

[thecactustube]

Great video.

There are a few people who dont get what is going on with the switch wiring.

[JoshStraitiff]

Why do you need to do the jumper? If your input is going to the far left pole and the output to the middle then the bottom row is completely inactive because the rows are not a part of the same circuit. So if you added that jumper to the bottom row but the input wasnt connected to it at all, it wouldnt be doing anything am i right? Could you go into further detail about wiring the bypass please?

[Samprayer2]

really nice video! but where are the grounded wire? dont need it?



[wnorcott]

@Samprayer2 That is correct, there is a ground wire but it is not part of the switch wiring. The ground does not connect to the switch at all. Thanks for listening

Bill

[courageouszombie]

what is a jumper?



[wnorcott]

@courageouszombie A jumper is just a piece of stiff bare metal piece of wire that you use to connect two points of a circuit with solder. In this video you can see the jumper in the bottom left corner of the switch. When you build pedals you will snip off a lot of leads from resistors after you solder them to the circuit board ... those snipped off leads make great jumpers.

Bill



[The1970sInfatuate]

Did you use mono jacks or stereo jacks?

[wnorcott]

@The1970sInfatuate I use a stereo jack on the INPUT and a mono jack for the OUTPUT. The stereo jack is wired so that when you plug a guitar cord into the INPUT it turns on electrical power to the circuit board.

Good question.

Bill

[RecoHead]

thank you !!! nice video !!!!



[TheKossutin]

How about toggleswitches? Do i wire them just like footswitches? im kinda new to all this DIY-pedal stuff...

[wnorcott]

@TheKossutin Yes toggle switches are wired up like foot switches the principle is the same and they both look the same from the bottom, which is where you do the soldering of wires. Thanks for watching it.

Bill

[TheKossutin]

@wnorcott Okay thanks a lot!

[danielhl22]

you can make a tutorial on how to put a DC port in the pedals how to connect it?

[Covers4Christ]

Are you just using mono jacks? if so, how are you wiring on the second or "effect" input, if not, does this mean all Ture Bypass jobs require stereo jacks?

[wnorcott]

@Covers4Christ There is one input jack and one output jack. Yes it is true bypass. True bypass means that when the effect is off there is no signal going into the circuit board and none coming out of it. You do not need stereo jacks for that, mono jacks work fine. I use a stereo jack on the input side to power up the effect when you plug a guitar chord into it, but that is a different concept from true bypass. Thanks for listening.

Bill

[Covers4Christ]

@wnorcott

Alright, That's what I figured. Thanks! So wiring 2 inputs from the same contacts on the mono jack works then?

[wnorcott]

@Covers4Christ You only need 1 wire to the mono jacks, the signal wire. This is how the wiring works. 1) one wire from the input jack goes to the footswitch 2) one wire from the output jack goes to the footwitch just like it looks at 1:15 the jumper on the bottom of footswitch connects them together when switch is OFF. 3) the input and ouput wires of the board get soldered to the footswitch like it looks at 1:31. The other contacts of the mono jacks is ground, no wire there.

Bill

[JohnFritzler]

@ 2:04 where is the red wire underneath the red wire hooked up to the positive end of the LED going? Also, how would you wire a DC power input (you can't have a useful effect with just 9V batteries after all)? Your videos have been very helpful and are greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[wnorcott]

@JohnFritzler John, it is going to the positive lug of the DC power input. Some effects sound better on a 9V battery and the batteries last a very long time with some effects, but yes there is also a DC power input. Maybe I will have a future tutorial on wiring the DC input jack.

[UncleRico5104]

Thanks bill, that's a huge help. I'm gonna make one!! I noticed you are using a stereo input jack. Is that necessary and, if it is, do you wire both inputs to the switch? Also, what gauge wire do you use and is stranded wire Ok to use? And I noticed a tutorial by Stewart McDonald which showed a totally different way to wire the switch. I'm curious if their 3p2t switch is the same as the "Cliff" you used. your response is much appreciated!!! 

[wnorcott]

@UncleRico5104 Hi I wish I could be more helpful in the details but I am real busy building pedals for people and don't have time to watch the other guy's tutorial and point out all the difference. I know that my way works I built hundreds that way. Only the 'tip' of the output jack is wired to the switch. That is the white, input wire in my pedals. Stranded or solid wire work fine I prefer solid 26 ga. Just my preference.

Bill

[UncleRico5104]

Hey bill, awesome video. I was curious how you would add more switches to make it a ture bypass strip with, lets say four switches? Would you simply add a jumper from the input of one switch to the next and the output of one swithc to the next? great video!!

[wnorcott]

@UncleRico5104 You would make the output of each switch become the input of the next one, so when all four switches were in the Bypass position all you hear is guitar. Then you can step on any of the four foot swtiches to turn on that effect. It would work like that if you chain 4 effects circuits together inside 1 box for example.

Bill

[BadBluesman887]

@wnorcott do you need to add a resistor to the led or does the effect have enough resistance to keep the led from burning out? Great video! Thank you.

[wnorcott]

@BadBluesman887 I wire a resistor in series with the LED 1K is a safe starting point it will be visible but not too bright. 470 to 1K range works fine. Thanks for watching.

Bill

[guitarkitbuilder]

Nice video. We've featured it in Guitar Kit Builder online magazine, in our kit -building 101 section. Please let us know if you have any objections.

[wnorcott]

@guitarkitbuilder Sure, no problem. Glad to help out.

Bill

[sfdog1369]

Hey Brother Bill How Ya Doin Nice Ta See Yer Still Around I Dont Know If I Just Been Missin You Or What Sure Do Miss New Music From Ya Bro Have A Happy Holiday Season Peace My Friend

[bobmango54]

how would you connect the actual effect piece(s)?

[The1970sInfatuate]

Good tutorial. Seems simple enough. I was building my own true bypass looper pedal, but this was still helpful. I just looked at different wiring diagrams, but I wanted to know how the continuity worked between the poles etc. Thank you.