I could use another set of eyes and help with this idea (pickup simulator)

S

skeinpedal

Member
My goal is a midi controlled pickup simulator. I have oscillator devices trash pandas and garbage collectors, so really just need an externally controlled device (using expression and tap). I have no experience with vero/strip board design so off the shelf as much as possible is ideal.... now if someone wanted to design and sell me something with all this combined, I would not complain as I'm a few months from actually needing this.

However, working with your standard google AI this is what I've come up with, just want to make sure it will satisfy my needs. Thank You:

Here is the final 3-Board "MIDI Virtual Guitar" rundown:

Board 1: The Inductance Hub (MAS Effects Pickup Simulator Kit)
  • Role: Provides the essential transformer inductance for the Fuzz Face interaction.
  • Wiring: Leave the manual slider switch pads empty. These three pads connect to Pole 1 of the Relay board.
  • Enclosure Placement: Position this low in a 125B enclosure to leave room for jacks.

Board 2: The "Identity" Switcher (PedalPCB Intelligent DPDT Relay Module)
  • Role: Acts as the MIDI-controlled pickup selector.
  • Control Input: Connects to the 1/4" SW output of your Oscillator Devices Garbage Collector.
  • Pole 1 (Inductance): Swaps the signal between the transformer's Full Winding (Humbucker mode) and the Center Tap (Single Coil mode).
  • Pole 2 (Capacitance): Swaps between a 22nF capacitor and a 47nF capacitor. These capacitors will be mounted on Board 3.

Board 3: The "Controls" Hub (Generic Stripboard/Veroboard)
  • Role: Houses the Vactrols for Volume/Tone and the capacitors switched by Board 2.
  • Vactrols: Two Xvive VTL5C1 Vactrols.
    • Volume: LDR side acts as the Volume pot, controlled by the Garbage Collector's EXP 1 output.
    • Tone: LDR side acts as the Tone pot, controlled by the Garbage Collector's EXP 2 output.
  • Capacitors: The 22nF and 47nF capacitors are wired here and run to Pole 2 of the Relay Board.

Hardware Summary
  • Enclosure: 125B Aluminum Enclosure.
  • Jacks (x5): Lumberg KLBM 3 1/4" Jacks (In, Out, EXP 1, EXP 2, SW).
  • Power: Standard 9V DC jack.

How it Works Via MIDI
  1. You send a MIDI Program Change message.
  2. The Garbage Collector interprets it.
  3. It sends a control signal to the PedalPCB Relay board's SW input, which simultaneously flips both Poles.
  4. It sends new voltage values to the two Vactrols, moving their "knobs" to the preset positions.
This single setup provides complete, accurate, MIDI-controlled analog guitar simulation
 
Im reading this over and over again, but cannot understand what is a midi controlled pickup simulator, why you need one and what you think it’s gonna solve. :unsure:
 
JohnnyCreepy said:
Im reading this over and over again, but cannot understand what is a midi controlled pickup simulator, why you need one and what you think it’s gonna solve. :unsure:
Click to expand...
Have you played a fuzz face (particularly germanium one) after a buffered signal?

Let's say you placed one right after a guitar, have you experienced it reacting to different pickups? Tone pots? Volume pots and position?

GIve it a go.

We can find pedals that use a transformer to solve those issues but it doesn't react to the signal the same way it does when plugged into straight from a guitar.

So, a pickup simulator that also has a passive guitar volume/tone circuit would behave closer to the real thing, and heavens if you could control that behavior without bending down to the ground, even better.
 
It’s the reason I use Ge-FF as first pedal in board. Why it isn’t possible? What you’re doing seems complicated and I wonder wouldn’t it just be enough to include (AMZ) pickup simulator w/ transformer or real pickup coil into the fuzz box circuit or before it like others do it and call it a day? Should get vol/tone interaction going or is there something else I’m missing here?

Example Blackhawk Amps Valhalla FF https://dirtboxlayouts.blogspot.com/2021/08/blackhawk-amplifiers-valhalla-fuzz-v1.html?m=1

Edit. okay, you made the point on xformers. After all as my drummer says after pot fiddling/tone search I’ve gone through in rehersals: ”it all does sound same and did sound good before” :D
 
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This is the amz solution, with tone stack, but wanting to be able to remotely switch and control. I've not experimented with vactorals and expression pedals so just trying to make sure the concept is valid B4 digging in-or if someone thought another method of midi control would be better, yadda yadda.
 
Now it all starts to make sense as concept described at start was a bit hard to grasp. If it’s tone and vol only, why not go mechanical route first with sliding pots or rollers (like in keyboards) attached to regular pots?
 
My setup is a pedal rack for studio use using ml10x loop switchers. I want the option of automating volume swells from a daw...

I'm thinking the oscillator devices goblin might be the ticket.


(Edit) Oh, also already have pickup simulators with knobs... And I enjoy parallel distortion chains when building sounds.
 
The goblin is pretty useful. It also solves another problem- knowing the current status of the switch.

The indicator LED passes through the Goblin, and it detects voltage from the LED to determine if it needs to be on or bypassed when you send a toggle command.

Also, if you use digital pots for volume and tone, you can configure two of the goblin’s controls as CV/Expression.

Also, with all that said, it becomes possible to skip the garbage collector because the goblin has MIDI in and thru.
 
jcpst said:
The goblin is pretty useful. It also solves another problem- knowing the current status of the switch.

The indicator LED passes through the Goblin, and it detects voltage from the LED to determine if it needs to be on or bypassed when you send a toggle command.

Also, if you use digital pots for volume and tone, you can configure two of the goblin’s controls as CV/Expression.

Also, with all that said, it becomes possible to skip the garbage collector because the goblin has MIDI in and thru.
Click to expand...
Yeah, was gonna skip on the garbage collector. Still thinking vactrols to avoid stepping (using the 5c3 instead of 1 so swells are more human). I've even considered doing it all on vero boards so I can can use two separate transformer daughter boards to better truly simulate sc vs HB and physically orient the transformers. It's definitely a work in progress.
 
You're designing exactly what I've been looking for, and I've been thinking along the same lines (Oscillator Devices Goblin, etc). Thanks for posting this.

I have an Oscillator Devices Siren, but it's buffered. I heard they are coming out with a mini version, which will be tiny (the size of their Minerva), but still the buffer problem.

I believe the pickup simulator is based around Jack Orman's design. I have a similar one from Happy Valley Analog, but I don't know if he's still making them.

Have you seen this pickup simulator from Hello Sailor Effects? (no affiliation) He puts a Klon buffer before the circuit, "not to colour the sound, but to drive the transformer correctly. It provides stability and consistency, giving the transformer the conditions it needs to behave as intended." I have no experience with this but it sounds interesting. I need to see what my klone set clean before the fuzz sounds like.

He shares the design and goes over the build here:


Please keep us updated on your progress! I really want one with the MIDI functionality. I'm not sure if I have the resources / skills to make one but I would certainly buy one from someone (help fund your build?).
 
HackDreamer said:
You're designing exactly what I've been looking for, and I've been thinking along the same lines (Oscillator Devices Goblin, etc). Thanks for posting this.

I have an Oscillator Devices Siren, but it's buffered. I heard they are coming out with a mini version, which will be tiny (the size of their Minerva), but still the buffer problem.

I believe the pickup simulator is based around Jack Orman's design. I have a similar one from Happy Valley Analog, but I don't know if he's still making them.

Have you seen this pickup simulator from Hello Sailor Effects? (no affiliation) He puts a Klon buffer before the circuit, "not to colour the sound, but to drive the transformer correctly. It provides stability and consistency, giving the transformer the conditions it needs to behave as intended." I have no experience with this but it sounds interesting. I need to see what my klone set clean before the fuzz sounds like.

He shares the design and goes over the build here:


Please keep us updated on your progress! I really want one with the MIDI functionality. I'm not sure if I have the resources / skills to make one but I would certainly buy one from someone (help fund your build?).
Click to expand...
So far in my design, still modeling and custom building components in software for modeling purposes... Lots of spec sheets. But the game has been amp draw management, control lane management... But in a nutshell...

So far:cable simulator on relay 1 (so I can use a buffered drybell vibe machine and get classic tone still), an opamp buffer/gainstage for makeup of losses on CV pwm 2, an attiny controlled matrix for CV 3 (series resistor-traneformer primary combination -shunt resistor/cap for voicing as well as 2 traditional transformer only paths) that cv 3 will also be used to rout parallel limiting resistors on my tone path and the tone caps, cv4 is an h11f1m series shunt for volume, and cv 5 is a vactrol for tone....

The modelling has been checking out, keeping component count down has been tricky... But it's a complicated solution that I kinda have to put up with given my rack setup.
 
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