Bench utilities

[Robert]

I'm working on a few utilities to make my day go smoother at the workbench, particularly while testing and troubleshooting prototypes.

These will mostly be geared towards the workbench rather than the pedalboard, although I'm sure some could be useful in both applications.

Some may be too special-purpose to be useful to anyone but myself, but some might be useful to others.


As I move forward I'll show what I'm working on here and you guys can let me know if it's something that would be of any value to you.

You're more than welcome to suggest any ideas for things I might not have thought of as well.

 

[Harry Klippton]

Interested.

 

[Giorfida]

I'm working on a few utilities to make my day go smoother at the workbench, particularly while testing and troubleshooting prototypes.

These will mostly be geared towards the workbench rather than the pedalboard, although I'm sure some could be useful in both applications.

Some may be too special-purpose to be useful to anyone but myself, but some might be useful to others.


As I move forward I'll show what I'm working on here and you guys can let me know if it's something that would be of any value to you.

You're more than welcome to suggest any ideas for things I might not have thought of as well.

I’m all in! I’ve used my prototype board more than a few times over the past few months. Everything from sorting FETs to setting up tone generator and probe for troubleshooting to basic prototyping. Utilities are good!

 

[jwin615]

Slingblade with French fried taters>Michael Jackson with popcorn


A breakout board that mounts IO jacks on the back of one of these would be awesome. I have something that works well, but not elegantly.

 

[Phil hodson]

Any thoughts on when the ABY will be available? I’m looking for an amp switcher. Two amps in and one out to my audio interface. Would save swapping cables for me.

 

[fig]

View attachment 65769
Slingblade with French fried taters>Michael Jackson with popcorn


A breakout board that mounts IO jacks on the back of one of these would be awesome. I have something that works well, but not elegantly.
View attachment 65770

Right on. One that fits the power side, and one for the I/O side.

 

[jwin615]

Right on. One that fits the power side, and one for the I/O side.

The 4 pole will fit on the power side but you have to grind it down. Someone with 3d printer and PCB layout skills could easily design one that fits between the pots without issue though. I'm not that guy.
Note, if you grind one down, wear PPE and run a shop vac. I mount them in my bench vice and clamp the shop vac next to it. Don't want to get fiberglass dust in the old windbags.

 

[fig]

The 4 pole will fit on the power side but you have to grind it down. Someone with 3d printer and PCB layout skills could easily design one that fits between the pots without issue though. I'm not that guy.
Note, if you grind one down, wear PPE and run a shop vac. I mount them in my bench vice and clamp the shop vac next to it. Don't want to get fiberglass dust in the old windbags.

I have a two-pin and four-pin...they work well enough but an update would be great!

 

[benny_profane]

@Robert what do you already have planned?

 

[jwin615]

Any thoughts on when the ABY will be available? I’m looking for an amp switcher. Two amps in and one out to my audio interface. Would save swapping cables for me.

Would the 3 way splitter board work for you? Just inject footswitches to make/break connection on two outputs for the amp, leave the third always on.
If you don't ever play both amps at once, a single 3pdt to toggle between A and B would work.
Don't forget a ground lift as a CYA.

 

[jwin615]

View attachment 65771
I have a two-pin and four-pin...they work well enough but an update would be great!

I've thought about just getting one of the I/O boards and making that work.
My setup is easy to use on the bench, but less than ideal to carry over to the amp. Need to get around to putting Dupont ends on a battery clip and a battery clamp on one of the board clamps. That + and I/O board would make it fully self contained.

 

[Nostradoomus]

I like where this is probably heading. Efficiency is sweet.

 

[chris.knudson]

I have a two-pin and four-pin.

Where can I find these?

 

[Phil hodson]

Would the 3 way splitter board work for you? Just inject footswitches to make/break connection on two outputs for the amp, leave the third always on.
If you don't ever play both amps at once, a single 3pdt to toggle between A and B would work.
Don't forget a ground lift as a CYA.

Possibly. I was hoping for an amp switcher but if the aby would do it and it’s already on the way I thought it would be the best way to go with out any modifications. Then I could just flip between each one.

 

[Robert]

Any thoughts on when the ABY will be available?

I'll try to verify the PCB today. They're sitting on my bench.

 

[Robert]

@Robert what do you already have planned?

The first and probably highest priority is something that not very many folks will likely need...

My bench amp is a Fender Princeton Reissue, it sits nicely under the bench out of the way. The problem is that I have to bend over and reach under the bench to switch it on and plug in, and more importantly, I can't see the pilot light while standing. Yep, that means the amp has pulled quite a few "all nighters" when I got distracted and forgot to switch it off at the end of the day.

So, I need a junction box that sits either on my bench, or right under the front edge. My plan is a pair of female IEC connectors on the back, a power switch and jewel lamp on the front, and at the very least an Input jack so I can plug in right there. No more bending over, no more forgetting to switch off the amp.



Next, and equally important, I need an A/B loop switch... but not just any A/B loop switch. I want one with a remote jack similar to the JHS Switchback so I can stomp a footswitch on the floor to toggle but have the box itself my bench, closer to the pedals. I also want a switch on the unit so I can toggle by hand when I'm not using the footswitch.

One major difference from the JHS unit though, is that I want two footswitches... One to toggle A/B and one for bypass.

I also want a built in DC splitter to power the two pedals being compared.



Depending on how I feel that day I might combine these two into a single box... we'll see...

 

[benny_profane]

So, I need a junction box that sits either on my bench, or right under the front edge. My plan is a pair of female IEC connectors on the back, a power switch and jewel lamp on the front, and at the very least an Input jack so I can plug in right there. No more bending over, no more forgetting to switch off the amp.

This would be useful for me. I have a True Tone PSU for my board that doesn’t have a power switch. So, it either needs to be unplugged or I need to use a power strip with a switch. This would be a useful medium since the power strip could then have other things on it.

 

[jhaneyzz]

The first and probably highest priority is something that not very many folks will likely need...

My bench amp is a Fender Princeton Reissue, it sits nicely under the bench out of the way. The problem is that I have to bend over and reach under the bench to switch it on and plug in, and more importantly, I can't see the pilot light while standing.

 

[Robert]

View attachment 65788

Eww.

 

[jwin615]

Eww.

Pretty sure you could fit a relay in this and throw some indicator LEDs in the eyes.