A/B OY! Switchbox

Description

Ok, this really is a pretty basic A/B two-input switch box. The only special feature is a second switchable output (Y mode) in addition to the normal output (O). It's to switch acoustic and electric guitars to my single tuner and then out to DI or pedalboard. This gives me the option to run my acoustic through the DI and pedalboard both, and is far more compact and way less expensive than a separate A/B input switch and A/B/Y output splitter.

Yes, it's unnecessarily complex to begin with.

Components

1 × 1590B Standard Hammond box, or clone.

2 × 3PDT Stomp Switch

4 × 1/4" jacks At least one stereo or switched jack for standard power control

3 × LED Gumdrops, gumdrops, bright shiny gumdrops

3 × LED snap-in bezels/holders

Project Logs

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Drilling Holes Carefully
theonetruestickman • 04/07/2014 at 01:42 • 0 comments

A pre-finished box makes me scared of screwing it up. This is a good thing, because I was a lot more careful and only messed up the power jack hole.
It was fairly simple to transfer my guestimates from the cardboard mock-up to masking tape on the real box, with all the usual tweaking to get it to look right.
I drilled one of the jack holes to make sure I had the clearances for switch placement right... it would stink to screw that up. The jack holes are actually just a tiny bit tight at 3/8" (on the high quality jack), just had to wiggle the bit around slightly and then they popped in no problem.
This is what it looked like after drilling:
Step bits are awesome.
Design Jollies
theonetruestickman • 04/05/2014 at 13:09 • 0 comments

This all started when I thought it would be cool to run my acoustic through my pedalboard as an effects sidechain - add some verb, delays, loops, etc. without duplicating effects I already have on my electric rig. I still don't know if this is actually useful.
Even if it's not, this at least allows me to use a single tuner on my rig for both guitars, rather than replugging stuff when I switch off or what have you.
Further, I need to fit this, a tuner, an EQ, and DI on a micro pedalboard that fits inside my acoustic guitar case, so it's got to be compact. Hence the combined A/B and output splitter. It's completely passive and unbuffered (aside from my acoustic pre-amp), so we'll see how it works.
I can get away with not having A/B/Y function (A or B or both) on the output because I'm using the tuner as a mute on the DI output. Technically I don't need the switchable Y output since I can mute the electric side with the volume pedal, but I didn't think of that and having this option seems safer and more flexible.
PROTOTYPE
theonetruestickman • 04/05/2014 at 02:25 • 0 comments

The (prefinished) box is so pretty I decided to be smart and mock up with cardboard before getting out the drill. This will help with silly mistakes since I can measure stuff an visually verify before making swiss cheese.
Looks like everything should fit and look nice, but probably no space for a battery even if I planned to use it with one.
This is also something nice and simple to try publishing as I go, except that I'm already half way done...