how to build this passive AB output pedal?

KS11 · Post by **KS11** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 4:35 am

hello my pedal gurus and experts at shortscale, just a question for you guys. i am going into making my own pedals, and this looks like a easy one to make. a passive line splitter.

how does one go about making the simplest one available?

i been kicking some ideas around about it. such as wiring it into some slidecraft switches or a 3 way tele switch and mounting it in a pedal box.

my stupid idea comes from this, if i wire up a stereo jack or even solder in two wires from the "hot" connection, then this will serve as output from my guitar into a switch setup. (basically jaguar on-on switches or a 3-way tele switch) then the output from this switch goes into two separate jacks for connection into my amp.

is it as simple as i think it is? or is there some resistors or some parts i am missing in my calculations? the one listed in the pic above costs 150$, i dont believe this unless there is some magic mojo built into the wiring or something.

<--- total pedal noob here. thanks in advance.

Haze · Post by **Haze** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 5:24 am

I'm not familiar with that one but i'm pretty sure it has a buffer built into it or something that increases its output impedance to handle splitting the signal. If you have a buffer before a passive Y box things should be alright.

Will · Post by **Will** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 5:25 am

If you just want to split your guitar signal to two amps, all you need is an enclosure, three jacks, and some wire. Just connect all the sleeves (ground) to all the other sleeves, and all the tips (signal) to the other tips. They can all be mono jacks.

edit: There doesn't strictly need to be a buffer system. The amp input impedances should be 1M ohm. Two chained together would be 500k ohms, which wouldn't be too appreciable of a loading increase. If you want to do a buffer, they are actually extremely simple, even as a first project.

Are you interested in any type of switching?

wwrrss · Post by **wwrrss** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 11:56 am

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=1272

just buy one of these for Â£2.

KS11 · Post by **KS11** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 7:32 pm

thanks much for the useful responses!

Will wrote: Are you interested in any type of switching?

i was thinking this should be the same as a pickup selector on a guitar, so any switch that works on a guitar (strat, jaguar, gibson type toggles) should work here

so a simple passive box for practice, then i'll my hand at one of these: http://www.buildyourownclone.com/beaver.html

Julian · Post by **Julian** » Thu Jun 17, 2010 2:59 pm

Costs about 15-20 bucks to build with parts from smallbearelec.com

If you're good at cramping things, you can even fit it in a 1590a