Schematic Switch Check?

[yazooligan]

Hey folks. I'm messing around with schematic design in KiCad and I want to see if I'm doing this right. I'm building a basic distortion circuit with some LED's for clipping, but I want to use a SPDT On-On toggle switch to include the LED's in the signal or remove them entirely.

Have I got that drawn correctly here? Thanks!

 

[jwin615]

Looks good but I would switch on the other side of the LEDs so they are grounded, somewhat, when not in use and otherwise disconnected from the circuit.
You could also add a resistor or trimmer wired as a variable resistor to ground on the other pole to volume match the clipping/no clipping setting.

 

[yazooligan]

Looks good but I would switch on the other side of the LEDs so they are grounded, somewhat, when not in use and otherwise disconnected from the circuit.
You could also add a resistor or trimmer wired as a variable resistor to ground on the other pole to volume match the clipping/no clipping setting.

Great idea! I went ahead and moved the switch to the other side, but I'm not sure what value of resistor or trim-pot I would need to even out the volume...

 

[Brett]

I'm not sure what value of resistor or trim-pot I would need

To be honest, you probably don't need a high value if you're using LEDs as hard clippers because the volume discrepancy between the two signals shouldn't be drastic, at least not like it would be with silicon diodes. Just be sure that your trimmer is inline with the signal only when the hard clippers are not. Here's something you can try breadboarding to see if it works okay for you (don't mind the ref des, I drew this inside another project):

 

[jimilee]

That’s some pretty cool voodoo. Very interested in the results.

 

[yazooligan]

To be honest, you probably don't need a high value if you're using LEDs as hard clippers because the volume discrepancy between the two signals shouldn't be drastic, at least not like it would be with silicon diodes. Just be sure that your trimmer is inline with the signal only when the hard clippers are not. Here's something you can try breadboarding to see if it works okay for you (don't mind the ref des, I drew this inside another project):
View attachment 95212

I love this!

 

[Brett]

I love this!

I'd still recommend breadboarding it beforehand to make sure it does what you need it to. R48 and TR3 (per the ref des in the diagram I shared) may need to be adjusted.

 

[yazooligan]

I'd still recommend breadboarding it beforehand to make sure it does what you need it to. R48 and TR3 (per the ref des in the diagram I shared) may need to be adjusted.

Copy that. Gonna try it as soon as I get off work.

 

[BuddytheReow]

Did someone say breadboard?

 

[yazooligan]

I don't have any trim pots in stock, so while I wait for those I'm going to try a regular pot.