hi there! I'm working in a pedal project and I would like to know the opinion of the professionals and amateurs out there

this post is quite long, so sorry for making you read it full (in case you do). ah, also for my English grammar...

As you can see in this primary enclosure design, the basic idea is to emulate those Spaghetti Western sounds in a single stompbox, plus more diverse genres like Surf, Rock n Roll, Rockabilly...

So this huge box (190x120x40 mm) hides basically, in order of appearance:

Il Buono/The Good: a booster (that subtle increases the mids) and a Fuzzrite clone.

Il Brutto/The Ugly: tremolo (Schaller Tremolo clone with an extra fast/slow switch);

Il Cattivo/The Bad: a Deep Blue Delay clone (fixed settings for what I consider a cool slapback, anyway there is internal trim pots to modify it) and finally a Boss FRV1 (digitally emulated Fender Spring Reverb unit).

Once explained, the questions I have are the following :
* The "Duello all'alba!" (italian for "Duel at dawn!") footswitch activates the booster for soloing. the rest effects are activated with a standard hand switch. Could be "necessary" any other footswitch to change the tone on the go? like one for the fuzz... I want this pedal as basic as possible, and the design itself compromise the options available... in my case, I do not change my tone during songs, just some extra mids during solos.

*Could be interesting to make any knob available for the slapback? Again, the design makes limits, and simplicity is a rule, but maybe experienced guitarists could have any idea to give me. In my case, I set the slapback and I never change it, but really I'm not a "delay guy", and I guess internal pots are enough.

*delay and reverb are so critical for me, as they both are digital, plus the reverb is just a rehoused boss pedal, not "home made". the question is: is there any nice DIY kit for an analog slapback?, any kit (I'm afraid digital is mandatory) for a nice enough spring reverb emulation? Real springs within a stompbox is more problematic than useful, so I think I have no choice. In order to sell this pedal in a future, I would like to use any diagram or kit available instead a commercial reverb pedal.

*about delay and reverb... maybe (again trying to keep things easy) could be a good plan a single switch simply swapping the effects (one or other, but not both together)? I feel that slapback echo is not reverb friendly, but maybe I'm wrong

*keeping the boss pedal in my project ... what is your consideration about the buffer? better to keep it or remove it?

*any other suggestion? I'm not a professional, I neither pretend to, but as a hobby and maybe as an extra income, I would like to make this idea come real.

thanks in advance for your suggestions!

Last edited: Dec 08, 2014 05:28:39

Sounds like an awesome idea!

Suggestions...

1.) I would suggest an on/off footswitch for each effect. Those toggle switches to cut in/out is not an ideal solution for playing live.

2.) Il Brutto needs to be the fuzz. Fuzz is ugly, it is nasty, that is why people love it.

And... I would love to hear examples of delay used on any spaghetti western soundtrack... or really even tremolo. It just seems odd that those effects are being built into a spaghetti western pedal when they are quite rare.

Even fuzz is incredibly rare in spaghetti western soundtracks, although not unheard of.

JakeDobner wrote:

Sounds like an awesome idea!

Suggestions...

1.) I would suggest an on/off footswitch for each effect. Those toggle switches to cut in/out is not an ideal solution for playing live.

2.) Il Brutto needs to be the fuzz. Fuzz is ugly, it is nasty, that is why people love it.

And... I would love to hear examples of delay used on any spaghetti western soundtrack... or really even tremolo. It just seems odd that those effects are being built into a spaghetti western pedal when they are quite rare.

Even fuzz is incredibly rare in spaghetti western soundtracks, although not unheard of.

hello, thanks for your suggestions.

1) About the Footswitch... you are right, but I really don't think it's necessary a Footswitch for reverb or slapback or even tremolo. these effects in my opinion are just connect and forget... May am I wrong? the decision of only having only one Footswitch is to make it simple as hell, but that's why I am asking for opinions, as people don't use effects in the same way as I do and maybe more Footswitches are useful, but I'd like to have as few as possible...

2) I've thought about character names and effects, but as the "art concept" is just that, a concept, finally every character coincides with the effect in the same order, first in the movie title is "the Good", so he must be first effect group in the chain: the dirt (fuzz+booster). appart from this, I didn't find any candidate for the elegant tremolo maybe it would be better to use "Once Upon a time in the West" as concept to get Claudia Cardinale as Tremolo!

3) the choice of effects is not random, I am sure that fuzz is common in Spaghetti Westerns, the Mosrite Fuzzrite is the usual suspect in this sound. Ennio Morricone used a lot (I'm almost sure, you make me doubt), also used in "the Good the Bad and the Ugly" soundtrack.

Is right that delay is not commonly used, but this pedal is not an one tricky pony, also pretends to be useful for surf, rock n Roll, Rockabilly, country etc. some of these styles use slapback, that's why I do not give options to configure the delay, just a "take it or leave it" switch, as the only interesting delay option is the slapback. Maybe a mix knob could be useful... no idea.

for the same reason, tremolo is a must, necessary for surf but also modern "Spaghetti" music, just listen Calexico or, without leaving movies, "Open till Dawn" soundtrack.

I'm glad to open a discussion related with this, I have my own ideas but sharing them I pretend to have new points of view or, maybe, to give an idea to any professional pedal maker out there to build a device like this... no need to be professional but someone skilled enough, as I am an unskilled dreamer

Cheers folks!

Last edited: Dec 08, 2014 05:23:20

while replying I've realised that maybe Footswitches are necessary in order to have a comfortable usability on stage. So I'll change the design to a horizontal pedal instead vertical, 4 footswitch (boost, fuzz, tremolo, reverb) + 1 normal switch to choose between reverb/slapback.

DreadInBabylon wrote:

It won't be commercial, but knock yourself out!
Usually musicians want more control rather than less control.

of course, if you want plenty of control you can choose rack units or more expensive (and less vintage) pedals, the point of this is to make a meeting of those old tones within a box to carry out everywhere.

this is more a stompbox for fanatics, an original? alternative. i do no pretend to earn money with this, although if someone could offer me this pedal I'd d buy it right now! for me this is truly commercial stuff, although I know I'm minority in the business....

Last edited: Dec 08, 2014 07:36:03

Surf_Skater wrote:

You'd have to license the rights from Boss for their Frv-1. Cost of the pedal would probably have to be around $500 since you're putting a $139 pedal inside it.
Personally, if I was going to spend that much I'd just buy a tank and do without trem and fuzz till later.
Now if this is just going to be a personal project. Have at it. It does sound like it would be kinda cool.

aye, the commercial idea would be with my own reverb, never with the boss pedal. I am considering the spring tank, but it would be so huge, that's why I'm asking if someone knows any DIY option for an emulation. Anyway, maybe you are right and a spring tank would be a good choice.

I do not understand your opinion about fuzz and tremolo, sorry...

walden wrote:

I do not understand your opinion about fuzz and tremolo, sorry...

I love fuzz and tremolo. I just place quality reverb as a higher priority. My reverb stays on almost all the time. While the other two effects are just used occasionally.

BTW, I definitely dig the artwork on it.

Surf_Skater wrote:

BTW, I definitely dig the artwork on it.

which artwork? mine or the other examples?

Surf_Skater wrote:

walden wrote:

Surf_Skater wrote:

BTW, I definitely dig the artwork on it.

which artwork? mine or the other examples?

Yours.

I'm sorry for my low English understanding but what exactly you mean with "dig" the artwork? do you dislike it? any particular reason?