Solid state with pedal effects wired inside?

[Davey Rock]

Get ready to laugh folks. Probably my biggest newb question. Is it at all possible to disassemble guitar pedal/s and wire them inside of a solid state head? In my mind, it IS possible, but I'd have to sacrifice one of the inputs and wire it to another. Problem in my mind, is how I would power all of them? Would I just have to constantly replace batteries? Possibly a better solution would be to mount a power supply inside and lead it somewhere on the amp to transfer power? IDK. It seems worth doing, but at the same time, I love my house and prefer not to rebuild it anytime soon. Any feedback?

 

[northernguitarguy]

Time and effort for little advantage.

 

[Davey Rock]

Time and effort for little advantage.

Just looking to expand my capabilities. It would help me with nitpicky stuff like not luggin around a bunch of pedals, batteries/adapters, getting them in order, everyday damage, heavier amp makes me feel like I'm holding something serious, as I don't like light guitars/gear. Etc. The only thing I'd see as a downside is that I wouldn't be able to on/off the ones I'm not using or adjust them close to me. I'd have to walk to the amp.

 

[northernguitarguy]

Easier to get a pedalboard.

 

[cooljuk]

You'll regret it.

 

[redking]

Pete Cornish did this for his rock star clients by taking the guts out of all the stomp boxes and integrating them into one single larger unit complete with power supplies (in the days way before you could buy a voodoo labs pedal power). He did this at great expense for rock stars mind you. Is it a good idea for the average Joe - no.

 

[Davey Rock]

Pete Cornish did this for his rock star clients by taking the guts out of all the stomp boxes and integrating them into one single larger unit complete with power supplies (in the days way before you could buy a voodoo labs pedal power). He did this at great expense for rock stars mind you. Is it a good idea for the average Joe - no.

Doesn't seem all that bad. In my mentality, if it's possible, then it's not hard. Just gotta have actual motivation and patience.

 

[redking]

Ok, go ahead.

 

[Davey Rock]

You'll regret it.

Seen the combo amp on the used market all day for under 200$ it's a 90s fender pa. Takes pedals really well. If I regret it, I'll either reverse the modification, or just buy another one. This is one thing ive very much contemplated. Truthfully I guess I just don't think like others do. Gift or curse you name it. Personally in my mind, the only reason I'm even doing this is for the sake of doing it for doings sake. I love screwing with stuff. I've done things as simple as a brush on metal flake finish to reversing the place of volume/tone controls. I'm nothing special in the since of luthiery. I'm just a guy experimenting. It's thereputic to me. I don't really care about "taking extra special care" of something I use. Personally if it isn't something I can use without worrying about breaking it, I usually don't fiddle with it. It improve things to my liking, and if it DOESN'T improve, I simply break it's way of working just so it can be fixed for real. I'll come up with some ideas, but truthfully I've never really regretted nothing. I've screwed up a few times on certain projects that I completely hated myself on. More along the lines of, "dang man that sucks. Oh well, I ain't doin it again". I love things I do in a different way after it's done. I find new ways to love things. This shouldn't be hard at least in a tinkerers point of view. One of my "commandments" is that whenever I get a new pedal, I always take it apart and put it back together repeatedly until I'm comfortable enough without feeling self conscious about it. Thanks though man!

 

[dspelman]

You're not the first one to give this a think. Essentially, there's where modelers came from. Keyboard players have a ton of ancient keyboards tossed in a blender and put into a single modern keyboard. You're considering the half-century back version of how this would go.

There have been a number of guitars that have had effects built in. The Gibson Firebird X, the Moog E1, guitars that have a bolted-on Kaos Pad and many more.

 

[redking]

Actually, just buy a ground-breaking Firebird X and you are done.

 

[Davey Rock]

Actually, just buy a ground-breaking Firebird X and you are done.

There's that humor I was missing.

 

[cooljuk]

Sounds like you've got your mind set and, if you've never had any regrets as you say, why are you asking us?

Your questions in the OP make me think you have minimal experience with electronics design. That's not a bad thing, but it does limit your chances of success in this project. This isn't a paint-by-numbers with simple instructions or a kit build with lots of support from others who have done the same thing.

Best of luck!

 

[Davey Rock]

Sounds like you've got your mind set and, if you've never had any regrets as you say, why are you asking us?

Your questions in the OP make me think you have minimal experience with electronics design. That's not a bad thing, but it does limit your chances of success in this project. This isn't a paint-by-numbers with simple instructions or a kit build with lots of support from others who have done the same thing.

Best of luck!

Sounds like you've got your mind set and, if you've never had any regrets as you say, why are you asking us?

Your questions in the OP make me think you have minimal experience with electronics design. That's not a bad thing, but it does limit your chances of success in this project. This isn't a paint-by-numbers with simple instructions or a kit build with lots of support from others who have done the same thing.

Best of luck!

Thanks man! Always good to have a little encouragement. Yes my knowledge is limited and the very little I DO know is because I try to improv when I have two money for a tech. Works wonders tho. Thanks a slot man!

 

[Lester]

I'd do it but with a separate box. Save the extra pedal boxes and bits and you can always reverse directions later.

Only issue I see is that you'll want to be able to turn some effects on and off... so you'll need another box with an array of stomp switches. You could use a switching jack for each effect and if you have a plug in that jack it becomes a switched effect. You might need to get a little creative if the effect requires a DPDT type switch.

 

[cybermgk]

Just duct tape the pedals to the amp head, with a voodoo power supply. Same end result, easier to reverse.

In reality velcro would be cleaner

 

[CB91710]

I considered moving all of my pedals into a rack enclosure, when racks were a thing.
Problem would have been switching them.
All were momentary on stomp switches except for my Rat and Morely WVO, so I drew up a circuit that used DTMF tones that would allow me to trigger up to 16 effects (from a 16-button remote board).

I had trouble sourcing some of the parts, as traditional DTMF was on its way out... I could get the decoder, but the encoders were hard to get, in part because phone phreakers were still buying up what little was available.

Ultimately, they were all left on the board and the rack was never built.

 

[CB91710]

Just looking to expand my capabilities. It would help me with nitpicky stuff like not luggin around a bunch of pedals, batteries/adapters, getting them in order, everyday damage, heavier amp makes me feel like I'm holding something serious, as I don't like light guitars/gear. Etc. The only thing I'd see as a downside is that I wouldn't be able to on/off the ones I'm not using or adjust them close to me. I'd have to walk to the amp.

Either way, you're going to be lugging everything around (plus the weight of the head).
A good pedalboard is neat and organized, and you can hide the power supply under it, so the whole thing lifts up with one handle.
Leave the batteries out, so all of the cables remain plugged in.

Then when you want to change/upgrade one of the pedals, you just pull it off the board and slap the replacement down.
Build them into a head and you're stuck with those effects forever without major surgery... so you'll end up tagging new pedals to be beginning or end of the chain, which may not be where they sound best.

Want to have two rigs, a lightweight rig with just an overdrive, wah, and Univibe? Small board handles that easily without having to lug around the head.

 

[PapaSquash]

Just get a Katana. Solid state, built in effects, foot switch capable, programmable, ready to go.

Doesn't solve the urge to tinker.

 

[Knoby]

Of course it's possible. But why?

Quicker and easier to buy a boss katana.