Stuff that needs to be invented thread :)

**Heybopper** · 12-31-2024, 06:29 PM

I thought Id say Happy new year and start the new year with a new thread.
Im talking about realistic things here that could be fun or useful. Im starting off with Pedal decoy units. Basically an empty box, with lots of flashing LEDs and no text just symbols to fool other guitarists when taking pictures of your pedalboard.
I found out that its possible to hook up a guitar to an oscilloscope to get cool displays but my scope is from the 70s and is not really portable so something to fit on your pedal board that could do something similar.
Other useful things or fun things that could be plugged into your pedal power supply box, like a Light. I have enough pedals but still have a few outputs spare. I will look into 9 volt powered gadgets.
We really need to get rid of leads on pedal boards although it can look cool I had a nightmare at the last gig. Im running two amps and one wasn't working. I spent an hour plugging in and unplugging the leads on my board while there was really loud music in the venue. I gave up and just used one amp, then in the break I realised that the jack socket hadn't been pushed in all the way on the input on the second amp.
Im sure there are lots of ideas here

**Woody Sound** · 12-31-2024, 09:16 PM

An endpin jack adapter with a built-in vol pot. Plug the adapter into the endpin jack, plug the cable into the adapter.

**pcjazz** · 01-01-2025, 12:20 AM

Originally Posted by Woody Sound

An endpin jack adapter with a built-in vol pot. Plug the adapter into the endpin jack, plug the cable into the adapter.

Already invented and works like a charm: Schatten Black Box (also available in stereo).

**Doctor Jeff** · 01-01-2025, 09:52 AM

A suck attenuator pedal would be nice.

Or maybe a talent augmenter.

**rpjazzguitar** · 01-01-2025, 03:52 PM

Years ago I heard Don Randi iirc at the Baked Potato go smoothly from clean to distorted without changing volume. That was on keys.

I've tried to get that capability a few times, different ways, but never perfected it. The problem is that increasing the distortion typically also increases volume. The gear that I'm familiar with doesn't allow you to specify a volume range. I came closest with a Boss GT-1, but I still couldn't get the volume exactly
right.

At one point I tried it with an old Fender tone/volume pedal (like a regular expression pedal, but also could go side to side - so it controlled two pots in different planes of motion). But I never got it to work well.

**Jimmy blue note** · 01-01-2025, 04:13 PM

For $500, you can buy a device that's guaranteed to make you a better guitar player. You keep it close to your practice chair. When you take the guitar out, you take the device out and put your computer inside. Cannot be opened until you put the guitar away.

For the deluxe version (for an additional $500) you can get a device that detects your tempo. If you exceed Largo, it administers a mild shock to your specially designed chair pad.

Free software package includes the "Noodle Nicht!" which detects tired licks and noodling. Administers a mild shock to the chair pad.

It's guaranteed to show a marked improvement. If not, you won't get your money back but they will send you a voucher for a new electronic pedal, and a note for your wife allowing you to buy a new guitar.

**Mick-7** · 01-01-2025, 04:24 PM

Originally Posted by Doctor Jeff

A suck attenuator pedal would be nice.

Or maybe a talent augmenter.

There is one, I believe it's called "practice." But finding someone who will pay you to do it so you won't have to work for a living in the meantime is the big challenge.

**deacon Mark** · 01-01-2025, 04:49 PM

I wish someone would invent a fret that lays right in the slot and then once in you could push and the tang appear and it would hold (like an expanding fret tang.) This would avoid the pounding and pressing frets and done right no problem with fret sprout. I think it would have been done if possible, already.

**Woody Sound** · 01-01-2025, 09:29 PM

Originally Posted by pcjazz

Already invented and works like a charm: Schatten Black Box (also available in stereo).

Thanks!

**RyanM** · 01-02-2025, 12:28 AM

Originally Posted by rpjazzguitar

Years ago I heard Don Randi iirc at the Baked Potato go smoothly from clean to distorted without changing volume. That was on keys.

I've tried to get that capability a few times, different ways, but never perfected it. The problem is that increasing the distortion typically also increases volume. The gear that I'm familiar with doesn't allow you to specify a volume range. I came closest with a Boss GT-1, but I still couldn't get the volume exactly
right.

At one point I tried it with an old Fender tone/volume pedal (like a regular expression pedal, but also could go side to side - so it controlled two pots in different planes of motion). But I never got it to work well.

Wetter Box | The GigRig Shop

you could probably do it with this, use an expression pedal and set up your distortion in the loop.

**Skip Ellis** · 01-02-2025, 01:11 AM

Easy enough to DIY but it would be nice if amp makers had some sort of 9V power outlet on the amp itself. I only use a reverb/delay pedal (Earthquake Systems Dispatch Master) but hate to mess with the extra cord and wall wart.

**pauln** · 01-02-2025, 01:19 AM

Stuff that needs to be invented thread :)-pedals-jpg

**Christian Miller** · 01-02-2025, 09:22 AM

Originally Posted by rpjazzguitar

Years ago I heard Don Randi iirc at the Baked Potato go smoothly from clean to distorted without changing volume. That was on keys.

I've tried to get that capability a few times, different ways, but never perfected it. The problem is that increasing the distortion typically also increases volume. The gear that I'm familiar with doesn't allow you to specify a volume range. I came closest with a Boss GT-1, but I still couldn't get the volume exactly
right.

At one point I tried it with an old Fender tone/volume pedal (like a regular expression pedal, but also could go side to side - so it controlled two pots in different planes of motion). But I never got it to work well.

Balancing drive and clean is a dark art in my experience.

What complicates things is that drive also compresses the dynamic range so if you are hitting the strings harder in the gig the drive sound can actually come out squashed and quiet. The more gain you add the more this happens.

You can actually hear a lot of high gain sounds disappear into the mix if the settings are wrong even with the best of them - Steve Vai can be prone to this live, and I do find Ben Monders distorted lead sound to often get a bit lost, specially in busy mixes like on Black Star. Interestingly it was (to my knowledge) never a problem for Holdsworth and I suspect this may be because he didn’t use that much gain.

I’ve never found using a volume pedal works for setting the overall volume - and believe you me I’ve tried! I’ve only ever found it useful as a swell effect. So for this kind of stuff I’d rather have discrete and useful settings.

I set up a drive pedal with a boost going into it, and set the drive for mild crunch with the option to push it into a higher gain state with the boost engaged. I use a clean boost but can do the same thing with a tube-screamer with the gain set low. However a clean boost is also useful in a jazz gig when you are finger picking parts with the band for example, rather than playing more of a rhythm thing.

Not that it isn’t super important to be able to balance without a bunch of pedals, but amplified sound can behave oddly.

Usually I find those four possible settings with the boost and drive of clean-loud clean-hairy-sustained sees me through most situations.

**supersoul** · 01-02-2025, 09:34 AM

Originally Posted by Heybopper

I found out that its possible to hook up a guitar to an oscilloscope to get cool displays but my scope is from the 70s and is not really portable so something to fit on your pedal board that could do something similar.

I used to have a tube powered oscilloscope. It definitely sounded better, had that old warmth to it.

**GuyBoden** · 01-02-2025, 10:49 AM

My conclusion over many, many years was:

Tubes for single notes.
Solid State for chords.

**Heybopper** · 01-02-2025, 12:31 PM

Ha ha some great replies

Yes a quantise pedal. You ask the drummer what tempo he is going to play at. Give him lots of grief if he plays at even a couple of bpms slow or fast. Tell him his times off. Anyway if he gets the tempo right and tells you what it is, you an set your pedal to that exact tempo, even set it to swing or straight notes and everything you play will be 100% in time. There can be extra foot switches for triplets, semi quavers, quintuplets ect

Or a home made plectrum machine. Just choose your material oh hang on I just realised we have 3d printers now

**rpjazzguitar** · 01-02-2025, 02:07 PM

Originally Posted by Christian Miller

Balancing drive and clean is a dark art in my experience.
I’ve never found using a volume pedal works for setting the overall volume - and believe you me I’ve tried! I’ve only ever found it useful as a swell effect. So for this kind of stuff I’d rather have discrete and useful settings.

Not that it isn’t super important to be able to balance without a bunch of pedals, but amplified sound can behave oddly.

Usually I find those four possible settings with the boost and drive of clean-loud clean-hairy-sustained sees me through most situations.

I almost always play with my foot on the volume pedal of a Boss multi FX, currently an ME70. Now and then, some non-linearity in the sweep will bother me, but usually it's transparent. Meaning, I don't think about it anymore, my foot listens to the volume of the band and makes its own adjustments. Before the ME50 I did it with an Ernie Ball volume pedal which also worked fine.

The volume pedal dissociates picking intensity from volume. So, it's possible to pick lightly without losing volume, and the opposite. Usable effects.

I agree about the potential problems with adding overdrive or distortion. But, I couldn't get far enough to have that problem. I was unable to achieve adequate control of the volume envelope when adding drive.

I gave up. I have four patches programmed into the ME70 and that's what I use. They're all normalized for volume. If I need to be louder, it's the volume pedal, not the patch. Clean, octave down, wet and wetter. You can hear the result in the Showcase section -- I just posted three tracks.

**supersoul** · 01-02-2025, 02:18 PM

Originally Posted by rpjazzguitar

I almost always play with my foot on the volume pedal of a Boss multi FX, currently an ME70. Now and then, some non-linearity in the sweep will bother me, but usually it's transparent. Meaning, I don't think about it anymore, my foot listens to the volume of the band and makes its own adjustments. Before the ME50 I did it with an Ernie Ball volume pedal which also worked fine.

The volume pedal dissociates picking intensity from volume. So, it's possible to pick lightly without losing volume, and the opposite. Usable effects.

I agree about the potential problems with adding overdrive or distortion. But, I couldn't get far enough to have that problem. I was unable to achieve adequate control of the volume envelope when adding drive.

I gave up. I have four patches programmed into the ME70 and that's what I use. They're all normalized for volume. If I need to be louder, it's the volume pedal, not the patch. Clean, octave down, wet and wetter. You can hear the result in the Showcase section -- I just posted three tracks.

The Boss GT-3 has the ability to assign the foot controller to change multiple effects parameters simultaneously. I made one patch that changed the distortion from none to full while also adjusting the distortion volume so that the overall volume would stay the same.
Distortion 0 - 100, Volume 100 - 50 (i.e. backwards).
Probably all the Boss multi-effect floor behemoths have this editing ability, mine is the only one I'm familiar with. They're old and cheap, but it actually has analog distortion circuitry and not a digital emulation.

**rpjazzguitar** · 01-02-2025, 09:48 PM

Originally Posted by supersoul

The Boss GT-3 has the ability to assign the foot controller to change multiple effects parameters simultaneously. I made one patch that changed the distortion from none to full while also adjusting the distortion volume so that the overall volume would stay the same.
Distortion 0 - 100, Volume 100 - 50 (i.e. backwards).
Probably all the Boss multi-effect floor behemoths have this editing ability, mine is the only one I'm familiar with. They're old and cheap, but it actually has analog distortion circuitry and not a digital emulation.

I believe I tried that with the GT-1. It sort of works. The problem is that there is a curve to the increase in volume of the distortion effect and a second curve for the decrease in volume from the volume effect. Unsurprisingly, these two curves did not align well. There ended up being a "hump" in the resulting volume curve, where the distortion's increase was not countered by the volume decrease -- until later in the sweep of the pedal.