DIY Expression/Distortion Pedal

[Daan114]

So for my uni major audio project,  im attempting to build an expression pedal that would control the distortion/gain level on a distortion pedal OR be a distortion pedal itself (i.e. An expression/volume pedal build, but a distortion that can gradually increase and decrease with the pedal leaver).

Whichever is easier and more possible to build.

And it would help so you dont have to walk over to your amp or bend down to your pedal to adjust your gain. I'm very new to this so i was really hoping I could get some assistance. Another thought was possibly modding together an old broken volume pedal and a Boss DS-1...but maybe that wouldn't work at all, im not sure!

And ideas on how I'd start or and schematics you could help me design?

Hope to hear from you guys soon, this would mean a lot

Best Regards,
Daan.

[nzCdog]

Well a volume pedal uses a foot controlled pot, so there are plenty of options... you could build any distortion pedal into an old wah enclosure and such, but wire the 'gain' to the foot controlled pot.

A place to start is to find out the value of the pot in the enclosure you will be using (if it's a re-purposed volume pedal etc) and find a circuit that will work with that value pot ok.  From memory volume pedals are either 250k or 25k depending on the type, and wah pots are generally 100k-500k(IIRC?).  Those values will give you plenty of options, so time to start looking at schematics!

A point to consider is how you will operate the bypass of the pedal, as in some wah enclosures for example, the bypass switch is under the toe, which means to turn the pedal off you would need to operate the 'gain' control to it's full or minimum extent before it will bypass... that could be annoying

[Daan114]

Well a volume pedal uses a foot controlled pot, so there are plenty of options... you could build any distortion pedal into an old wah enclosure and such, but wire the 'gain' to the foot controlled pot.

A place to start is to find out the value of the pot in the enclosure you will be using (if it's a re-purposed volume pedal etc) and find a circuit that will work with that value pot ok.  From memory volume pedals are either 250k or 25k depending on the type, and wah pots are generally 100k-500k(IIRC?).  Those values will give you plenty of options, so time to start looking at schematics!

A point to consider is how you will operate the bypass of the pedal, as in some wah enclosures for example, the bypass switch is under the toe, which means to turn the pedal off you would need to operate the 'gain' control to it's full or minimum extent before it will bypass... that could be annoying

Ah thanks so much man. Okay I am starting to figure things out a bit more but im currently just still in the stage of figuring the basic design. I figured a solution to the bypass issue would be to get one of the expression/wah pedals which have the button to the side? That way i can still then build the distortion pedal into their casing no?

What would you suggest be the first thing i research now? THe kind of fuzz/distortion i want to build or ?

Thanks so so so much man, really means a million.