Radical Red Reverberator Expression Mod!

[stanimal]

we here all know that Ryan and Tanya are two of the most humble yet brilliant pedal builders ANYWHERE.... well i had an old Holy Grail that i used to use and modified it a year ago for expression control after witnessing Jeff Tweedy doing an acoustic show using the very same idea and was inspired.... after landing my sparkle blue RRR from a guy over at TGP (thanks dude wherever you are ) i sold the grail and immediately put it in my head to do the very same mod.... with (alot of) Ryan's help via multiple latenight longwinded emails the result is here for you to check out.... granted i had it set on Room reverb so it's not as obvious as say the Leslie Rotating Effect but this should show you that the next version of the big box RRR is going to have a lot of fun little tricks in it like this..... not that I would know.... ummm.... i don't know.....

thanks Ryan!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDcMk5Ua91U[/youtube]

[oinkbanana]

neat!




but how can i fit this expression mod on my miniRRR?

[Gunner Recall]

neat!




but how can i fit this expression mod on my miniRRR?

My first thought exactly
You are Stan

[nightraven]

nice!
i remember the digitech xp400 reverberator with the treadle could do this and it was loads of fun

[Nychthemeron]

Stanimal is a modding machine! I just saw the Twosome vid, and now this? What will he mod next?

[Ryan]

Awesome video, Stan! The world's first and only RRR with expression!

This whole expression control for mix experimentation has led me to believe it's a really cool feature, I can't believe I never messed around with expression pedals before.

I bet Stan could do a miniberator exp mod with a 1/8" jack down the stomp switch...

[stanimal]

Awesome video, Stan! The world's first and only RRR with expression!

This whole expression control for mix experimentation has led me to believe it's a really cool feature, I can't believe I never messed around with expression pedals before.

I bet Stan could do a miniberator exp mod with a 1/8" jack down the stomp switch...

hmmmm, i actually took another look at the big box RRR and imagined it was a mini.... so long as you NEVER intend to install a 9v battery in the box i'm pretty sure there's room in the battery compartment to squeeze a jack in there (mini's will have space for a battery, riiiight ryan?)

doable!

[Gunner Recall]

There is no room for a battery in the minis...it's packed rather tightly, I don't think another jack could be added.

[Ryan]

Sorry, Stan, but Jon's nailed it... the minis are a super tight fit and the battery had to go. The battery never should have been included with RRRs anyway though, it just doesn't last worth a crap and when it drops below 7.5 volts the resulting behavior is downright upsetting. Imagine the kid from the Exorcist but instead of a kid it's a Reverberator pedal, puking green soup all over the place and screaming obscenities at you and priests, it's awful.

The upgraded RRR will be battery free too... I'd actually like to totally phase out batteries from every pedal but I feel complicated about it.

I think we could do an 1/8th stereo jack mod though for the minis, down by the stomp switch, and then just use an adapter to go from 1/4 to 1/8 from the exp pedal.

[oldangelmidnight]

it just doesn't last worth a crap and when it drops below 7.5 volts the resulting behavior is downright upsetting. Imagine the kid from the Exorcist but instead of a kid it's a Reverberator pedal, puking green soup all over the place and screaming obscenities at you and priests, it's awful.

Oh, man. Now I want a RRR with a starve knob.

[stanimal]

Sorry, Stan, but Jon's nailed it... the minis are a super tight fit and the battery had to go. The battery never should have been included with RRRs anyway though, it just doesn't last worth a crap and when it drops below 7.5 volts the resulting behavior is downright upsetting. Imagine the kid from the Exorcist but instead of a kid it's a Reverberator pedal, puking green soup all over the place and screaming obscenities at you and priests, it's awful.

The upgraded RRR will be battery free too... I'd actually like to totally phase out batteries from every pedal but I feel complicated about it.

I think we could do an 1/8th stereo jack mod though for the minis, down by the stomp switch, and then just use an adapter to go from 1/4 to 1/8 from the exp pedal.

oh man, you were serious when you told me that before.....? whoops... well, yeah i feel the same way about batteries, not just because the circuit taxes them quickly but also because they're no longer necessary (my opinion)... i never put battery jacks in the pedals i build, call it a protest.... but after opening up my big box RRR and seeing just how much would have to fit in a mini i was giving you benefit of the doubt thinking, "ryan could do it AND have room for a battery!" but i'd actually love to see a pic of the inside... feel like emailing one?

[steevdeadman]

it just doesn't last worth a crap and when it drops below 7.5 volts the resulting behavior is downright upsetting. Imagine the kid from the Exorcist but instead of a kid it's a Reverberator pedal, puking green soup all over the place and screaming obscenities at you and priests, it's awful.

Oh, man. Now I want a RRR with a starve knob.

THIS!

[Ryan]

Oh, man. Now I want a RRR with a starve knob.

Haha, I never thought of it like that.. as a badass noise making feature!

Stan, no problemo buddy, here's a pic of the inside of a miniberator...

Final Miniberator Proto.JPG (52.49 KiB) Viewed 5901 times

I started the design with the intention of not using a battery but I think if I did a 4 layer pcb and switched to pcb mounted jacks I could find the room, I'd see it as an awesome challenge and I love doing pcb work. Another factor is the size of smd components I chose to use, I use the biggest size available in the miniberator, 1206. I feel like it helps to bridge the gap between through hole and smd, it's easier to like smd when it's nearly the same size as through hole and has the exact same power handlings and tolerances.

I feel complicated about batteries in every other pedal but the RRR, there's just no point in the RRR as it wears a battery down so fast.. like 30 minutes fast with the carbon batteries we include with the pedals. I can't bring myself to design around batteries, I do what's best for the sound and the circuit and I don't consider battery life as important at all and I really do think it's a good idea to not even have a battery snap in the box. Especially with how many awesome power supplies are available, even the less expensive switch mode supplies work great, usually even daisy chained.

[stanimal]

UMMM... yeah, there's isn't an emoticon to express how hard my jaw hit the floor when i saw this design pic.... ryan, it's been a real honor and pleasure to be able to pick your brain and check out your designs and understand how you think... your pedals really are great examples of total effects designs....

it's funny you'd mentioned using Dr. Scientist pedals with the great power supplies offered out there... i actually attempted to daisy chain 8 heavy duty pedals onto one single output jack on my pedal power 2 plus... but got a crazy low humming (which usually tells me i'm overtaxing the circuit)... turns out i can only use ONE Dr. Scientist pedal in the chain, so i have dedicated (isolated) power supplies for my SDD and Cosmichorus....

[Ryan]

Thanks, Stan, much appreciated!

I forget how the current sourcing works on the PP2... some of the outputs are 100mA but some are up to 250mA I think? You could get away with daisy chaining a couple pedals on the high current outputs but I wouldn't try to do two Dr. Scientist pedals with a 100mA adapter, that's just not enough juice. Especially if one or both of them are digital, digital pedals should never be daisy chained. I think PP2s are probably the best adapter available though, hey?