Shaggyvs
Active member
I'll try to keep this brief and interesting, but no guarantees. I wanted a looper pedal that would also clean up my pedal board a bit. I thought it would be nice to integrate an ABY out, gate, EQ, boost and octave up so that I could remove those pedals from my board and free up some space. I built the Muffler Gate, Amentum Boost, 6 Band EQ and Tentacle into the pedal. I used a Hammond 1550J enclosure, all Switchcraft jacks and Pro 3PDT switches from LoveMySwitches.com.
Here is a bit of an explanation on the signal path:
1. My signal first goes into a Boss Harmonist (I use for momentary octave up) --> Whammy Ricochet (I use for momentary octave down) and then the CTRL FREQ.
2. The CTRL FREQ first splits to a dedicated tuner out and to a momentary kill switch (the "HOLD" footswitch) so that I can create a stutter effect when needed.
3. Tentacle octave up (SHIFT). I wanted this before all of the fuzz/dirt.
4. Loop 1 (BIAS) - synth, octave, gated fuzz sounds. I also have the Cock Fight expression out to my Dunlop expression/volume pedal to use as a wah.
5. Loop 2 (PUSH) - light overdrive (Kliche Mini)
6. Loop 3 (PUSH) - heavy overdrive (Greengage OD). The PUSH footswitch toggles between my light overdrive and heavy overdrive
7. Loop 4 (DAMAGE) - my fuzz pedals. I set this up so that when this loop is on, it kills the PUSH loop. This way, I can switch between light or heavy overdrive and fuzz with one click.
8. Loop 5 (MASS) - more dirt, and a volume pedal. I also placed the built in EQ (TIMBRE) in this loop . I typically have the EQ set up to lower volume and cut some bottom end so that I can switch between loud, heavy sounds and then cut it back. I placed the Dunlop volume/expression pedal in this loop so that I can switch how I use it. I get the best of both worlds - activate the switch to use it as a volume pedal, turn the switch off to use it as expression.
9. Gate (CUT) - I didn't want the gate to affect the modulation (ARRAY) loop so I placed the gate before it. The VERGE knob controls the amount of gate.
10. Loop 6 (ARRAY) - modulation. Cataclysm Delay, Spirit Box, Circulator and Moonshot Tremolo.
11. Amentum Boost (LIFT) - I wanted this boost after all of the other pedals because I like how it helps clean up the dirty pedals. The RISE knob adjusts the volume.
12. MUTE - this cuts the signal so I can tune without any sound.
13. ABY out (EACH and BOTH) - I use a dual amp setup so I send Out A to one amp and Out B to the other. The EACH switch goes between the two and the BOTH switch combines them.
I honestly tried to keep the wiring as clean as possible and cut every strand to the length it needed to be, but its really hard to not have it look like a rats nest. If I were to build it again, I would use longer lengths of wire and channel around the edges to keep all the wires from traveling over each other. I've been using it for about a month now and it works great! I have around 100 hours into the thing between physical layout and design, wiring diagramming, soldering, drilling, populating, painting, cursing and crying.
It was all worth it.
Here is a bit of an explanation on the signal path:
1. My signal first goes into a Boss Harmonist (I use for momentary octave up) --> Whammy Ricochet (I use for momentary octave down) and then the CTRL FREQ.
2. The CTRL FREQ first splits to a dedicated tuner out and to a momentary kill switch (the "HOLD" footswitch) so that I can create a stutter effect when needed.
3. Tentacle octave up (SHIFT). I wanted this before all of the fuzz/dirt.
4. Loop 1 (BIAS) - synth, octave, gated fuzz sounds. I also have the Cock Fight expression out to my Dunlop expression/volume pedal to use as a wah.
5. Loop 2 (PUSH) - light overdrive (Kliche Mini)
6. Loop 3 (PUSH) - heavy overdrive (Greengage OD). The PUSH footswitch toggles between my light overdrive and heavy overdrive
7. Loop 4 (DAMAGE) - my fuzz pedals. I set this up so that when this loop is on, it kills the PUSH loop. This way, I can switch between light or heavy overdrive and fuzz with one click.
8. Loop 5 (MASS) - more dirt, and a volume pedal. I also placed the built in EQ (TIMBRE) in this loop . I typically have the EQ set up to lower volume and cut some bottom end so that I can switch between loud, heavy sounds and then cut it back. I placed the Dunlop volume/expression pedal in this loop so that I can switch how I use it. I get the best of both worlds - activate the switch to use it as a volume pedal, turn the switch off to use it as expression.
9. Gate (CUT) - I didn't want the gate to affect the modulation (ARRAY) loop so I placed the gate before it. The VERGE knob controls the amount of gate.
10. Loop 6 (ARRAY) - modulation. Cataclysm Delay, Spirit Box, Circulator and Moonshot Tremolo.
11. Amentum Boost (LIFT) - I wanted this boost after all of the other pedals because I like how it helps clean up the dirty pedals. The RISE knob adjusts the volume.
12. MUTE - this cuts the signal so I can tune without any sound.
13. ABY out (EACH and BOTH) - I use a dual amp setup so I send Out A to one amp and Out B to the other. The EACH switch goes between the two and the BOTH switch combines them.
I honestly tried to keep the wiring as clean as possible and cut every strand to the length it needed to be, but its really hard to not have it look like a rats nest. If I were to build it again, I would use longer lengths of wire and channel around the edges to keep all the wires from traveling over each other. I've been using it for about a month now and it works great! I have around 100 hours into the thing between physical layout and design, wiring diagramming, soldering, drilling, populating, painting, cursing and crying.
It was all worth it.
the pretty lights!
