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Two Chunk-Chunks in one with an a/b switch?

Started by PaxWorks, July 04, 2010, 12:59:03 PM

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PaxWorks

So here it is guys I want to build a pedal that has two seperate Chunk-Chunks in one pedal. (so you can use one as rythm and the other as lead) How do I go about wiring it like a footswitch to change between two channels like on a mesa boogie?

madbean

Not to discourage your endeavor, but I think two in the same box would be way overkill. You are talking 12 knobs, which is going to require a pretty big enclosure. Personally, I would take a different route. Indulge me for a minute here:

First, I would identify what you want your rhythm and lead tones to sound like. Is your lead tone the same, just louder? Or, is it going to be voiced differently. IOW, you might be able to accomplish your goals here with as little as one or two extra controls, rather than six.

I would imagine that your lead tone would have some volume gain, and for tone shaping you might want to push the mids up to cut through. Or, you might want more of a treble boost. So, this presents a good opportunity to think about how to do this in the most elegant way possible.

One approach would be to use a switch to bypass the tone stack entirely. At once, this will provide you more gain, volume and a different tone. Additionally, you could use those extra lugs on the 3PDT to a a high or low cut pot in case you want to shape it further.

Another approach would be to add some kind of booster as a second channel. The added benefit is you could have the booster on its own, as well. Something like an SHO, mini-booster, etc could go a long ways towards getting that extra volume you want. Plus, these circuits can be modified for some tone shaping. The downside here is possible oscillation occurring if there's too much boost applied.

Anyway, like I said, this is just the approach I would take. It also could be a good learning opportunity :)

PaxWorks

I actually like all your ideas myself. I want to build this pedal for my brothers in law. He really likes Mesa Boogie Amps, and can't really afford them. He sings lead and plays rythm/lead guitar. So I was hoping to give him a pedal that could give him that rectifier sound. Thats why I was wanting to build two in one, like a two channel rectifier.

For my own taste, if I were to use the chunk-chunk in my rig, I would just have one and use the Glitterrattii to boost for leads.

If I used a 1790ns or a 1590 DD enclosure could I fit two chunk-chunks together? I got the inspiration from Ruz Guitar Gear. He did a Dr. boogey pedal ina similar fashion, I don't know what enclosure he used. I wanted to make it easy to switch between the two, so my brother in law would'nt have to gaze at his shoes while he sings.

Maybe I should put a Glitterrattii in the enclosure instead of another chunk-chunk. What d'ya think?

stecykmi

This reminds me of the Tri-Rat that Dano from Beavis audio built. It's simply three rat clones in one box. That man sure loves his rats.

One thing that I do to most of my distortion pedals is add a (footswitchable) slambox (super hard-on) in series with the main circuit. I don't normally add a pot, instead just replacing it with a 1k resistor. It's a great little boost for solos. It takes up about as much room as a 9v battery would and since I never use batteries anyway, it's no loss for me.

Another option might be to try the Double D at ROG. It was kind of planned as a two-amps-in-a-box project, and one channel was loosely modeled on a Boogie-style sound. It's simpler, sounds great (I've built one for myself), and can fairly easily fit in a 1590D enclosure.

Two Dr Boogey's would fit in a DD, but make sure you plan your pot placement. The switching would likely be very similar to the Double D project. I suggest checking that project out and basing your design off that. I'm not sure if this is an issue or not, but you may have some "popping" noise issues when switching between the two channels; perhaps someone can comment on this?