lqdsnddist
Axe-Master
Some of you have seen some posts I was putting into the "Show off your FC6/12 pedal board thread" but it was politely asked of instead make a new build thread, as that thread was intended for finished products. Fair enough.... Was going to just hold off til I had a finished product, but a few people have inquired about the build and said they enjoyed the progress, so figured I'd create a new thread outlining a bit of the process to date...
I bought a FC-6 when my name came up, and I was going to go for the 12, but figured it was maybe a bit bigger than I needed in many cases and also more expensive, plus, the FC-6 was available today.... So I got the FC-6 and it was awesome, amazing how much you can do with 6 switches but I of course thought it would be great to be able to do more with external switches. Lot of people did I"m sure. Well, finally that FW update came out and gave us the awesome "stand-in switch" feature, so I said 'game on!... lets build something cool'
Thought about a couple of ideas as I really didn't like just sticking a metal box to a pedal board.... I'm not going to pay someone like $30-40 for a custom switch box with two $2 switches, a $5 enclosure, a $1 stereo jack, and about $.05 worth of wire, I'll just build my own (nothing against those who offer them, or buy them of course, just not my style).
Being maybe a little OCD, I really am 'bothered' when I see board that have the switch boxes, DIY or bought, that don't have the same spacing as the FC switches. Silly I know, but I like the 3" apart, 4" between rows spacing. So, anything I built needed to keep that same spacing, and again being OCD, I wanted to keep the same angle between the rows too.
So I grabbed some cardboard and came up with a little "add-on" I could build which kept the same spacing and angle as the FC top plate, and added only about 1.5" width. Was going to do it with a 3rd switch but what I found with a wired mockup was that I'd hit the second row switch when trying to hit the 3rd row as they were too similar in height. No doubt this is why the FC's have only 2 rows ??
First mock-up
Pretty cool right ? (for cardboard at least...)
But, I was thinking "man.... I can have up to 4 switches... do I only want to use 2 ?" So I then got the idea to make the add-on box twice as wide
And since there was wasted room at the top, I thought wouldn't it be cool to have a couple of expression knobs. I thought I'd make some sort of cool foot roller type pot, ala a Boomerang pedal, but that proved to be a little difficult so ended up scraping that foot idea, BUT, one thing I did realize is I liked the 4 switch box at a bit of an angle.. Just felt better than moving to far left or right in a parallel plane, so I was going to built it as kind of a wedged shape, but then I thought "hey... would be cool to have this external so I can take it or leave it"
Thinking was, sometimes I want to carry the box, have the space, and I can use it, simple as plugging in a few cables, or if I don't need it, I can take just the FC-6 on its own, use MLM and still change layouts etc... maybe take one EXP pedal. I really like this concept more than sticking everything onto a board and always needing to carry 4 exp pedals, etc and having a monster board
So then I made a little nicer cardboard mock-up and found that having the rubber FC feet looked really cool, and I also got the idea for a more traditional knob on the top. I really wanted a knob, and not a foot pedal, because some things like motor speed in the tape delay block have a "0" setting at 50%, so its nice to have an easy visual of what is 50% and be able to adjust up or down, and with a detent pot, you can get back to the 50% setting, which you can do with an expression pedal really. Only trick will be it needs to be a recessed or low profile knob so it wont get stepped on hitting the switches. I wanted it big too, so I can visually look down and see it
I bought a FC-6 when my name came up, and I was going to go for the 12, but figured it was maybe a bit bigger than I needed in many cases and also more expensive, plus, the FC-6 was available today.... So I got the FC-6 and it was awesome, amazing how much you can do with 6 switches but I of course thought it would be great to be able to do more with external switches. Lot of people did I"m sure. Well, finally that FW update came out and gave us the awesome "stand-in switch" feature, so I said 'game on!... lets build something cool'
Thought about a couple of ideas as I really didn't like just sticking a metal box to a pedal board.... I'm not going to pay someone like $30-40 for a custom switch box with two $2 switches, a $5 enclosure, a $1 stereo jack, and about $.05 worth of wire, I'll just build my own (nothing against those who offer them, or buy them of course, just not my style).
Being maybe a little OCD, I really am 'bothered' when I see board that have the switch boxes, DIY or bought, that don't have the same spacing as the FC switches. Silly I know, but I like the 3" apart, 4" between rows spacing. So, anything I built needed to keep that same spacing, and again being OCD, I wanted to keep the same angle between the rows too.
So I grabbed some cardboard and came up with a little "add-on" I could build which kept the same spacing and angle as the FC top plate, and added only about 1.5" width. Was going to do it with a 3rd switch but what I found with a wired mockup was that I'd hit the second row switch when trying to hit the 3rd row as they were too similar in height. No doubt this is why the FC's have only 2 rows ??
First mock-up
Pretty cool right ? (for cardboard at least...)
But, I was thinking "man.... I can have up to 4 switches... do I only want to use 2 ?" So I then got the idea to make the add-on box twice as wide
And since there was wasted room at the top, I thought wouldn't it be cool to have a couple of expression knobs. I thought I'd make some sort of cool foot roller type pot, ala a Boomerang pedal, but that proved to be a little difficult so ended up scraping that foot idea, BUT, one thing I did realize is I liked the 4 switch box at a bit of an angle.. Just felt better than moving to far left or right in a parallel plane, so I was going to built it as kind of a wedged shape, but then I thought "hey... would be cool to have this external so I can take it or leave it"
Thinking was, sometimes I want to carry the box, have the space, and I can use it, simple as plugging in a few cables, or if I don't need it, I can take just the FC-6 on its own, use MLM and still change layouts etc... maybe take one EXP pedal. I really like this concept more than sticking everything onto a board and always needing to carry 4 exp pedals, etc and having a monster board
So then I made a little nicer cardboard mock-up and found that having the rubber FC feet looked really cool, and I also got the idea for a more traditional knob on the top. I really wanted a knob, and not a foot pedal, because some things like motor speed in the tape delay block have a "0" setting at 50%, so its nice to have an easy visual of what is 50% and be able to adjust up or down, and with a detent pot, you can get back to the 50% setting, which you can do with an expression pedal really. Only trick will be it needs to be a recessed or low profile knob so it wont get stepped on hitting the switches. I wanted it big too, so I can visually look down and see it