The Fatalities Posted November 20, 2006 Report Share Posted November 20, 2006 i need help on what to do to my guitar for my systems engineering class. it has to be not too complex/easy and should take me half a year at school. i was thinking of one of these add inbuilt effects into a guitar mod it for guitar hero build an amp with built in multi effects so far the guitar hero idea seems good enough. i dont want to spend too much on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert_the_damned Posted November 20, 2006 Report Share Posted November 20, 2006 add inbuilt effects into a guitar If you build the effects yourself then this could take half the year. It wouldn't be to hard either especially when there are a number of sites arround for DIY guitar effects some even selling the boards (one less hastle!) mod it for guitar hero great game! depending on how you did this it could either take you ages or not very long at all. If you make the boards ect. to go in it I'd say it'll take you ages (probably longer than half an academic year) if you just strip down a playstation controller (I've seen something on the net about someone using an old PS1 controller for it) and check out the inside of a guitar hero controller it wont take you long at all. build an amp with built in multi effects now that's a VERY complex project. Multi-effects are not easy (or cheep) to make (unless your mass producing them!). If you want to do an amp project how about doing a simple, low wattage, tube amp (a la the ax84 projects)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crafty Posted November 20, 2006 Report Share Posted November 20, 2006 now that's a VERY complex project. Multi-effects are not easy (or cheep) to make (unless your mass producing them!) +1 Multi-effects units are usually custom-microprocessor based units with proprietary software and switching systems. It'll take you half a school year just to break down the schematics of a Zoom 505, then another half to figure out the software. You'd be better off just designing a few simple effects to fit in the guitar and a switching system for those. Simple fuzz, wah, phaser/flanger, tremolo, and preamp for plugging into a regular stereo would be cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fatalities Posted November 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2006 (edited) ive asked my teachher and he says it has to be mechanical and electronical. so i cant use any of these designs. 240v cannot be used for power ive thought of making a simple tweed twin reverb amp solidstate. as for the mechanical part, the controls will retract and a flat plate will slide over the controls. this will work when the unit is turned off. anyone know of any of a online shop for amp pots, chips? i am also going to buy two 8" 50w speakers im going to somehow use a computer power supply box for the power. if you have any ideas in making a mechanical part of the guitar please say. Edited November 21, 2006 by The Fatalities Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted November 21, 2006 Report Share Posted November 21, 2006 (edited) Is this for highschool or college? Why a computer power supply? You could build a fairly simple tube based amp with relative ease. As for the mechanical part, why not ditch the retractable controls since they're purely aesthetic and add in a squirrel cage fan for a rotary speaker effect? If you're set on the control gimmick, I'd use a four bar linkage with a set of actuators to flip the panel. Oh, and for extra wow factor(I guess that's what you're going for anyhow), you could make a lexan cabinet for this thing to show off the tubes and the mechanical/electronic guts. Can't say I know how a lexan cabinet sounds though; I suppose it's just as likely to sound good as it is to sound bad or make no difference at all. peace, russ Edited November 21, 2006 by thegarehanman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fatalities Posted November 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2006 cant do tubes. way to expensive here. i didnt realise there was a mechanical part so i just did that. what do you mean by the fan? the speakers rotate or there is a fan? im going to try and make a 57 based twin reverb. it is for my final year of high school. scratch the computer power supply part. i have to run it off a max of 12v somehow. i dont want to make it battery powered. the flipped panel idea wont work because the pots and chips will just rip out. i really want to make another guitar but it needs some mechanical feature. i was thinking of putting an expression pedal on the guitar as a built in effect. btw what can expression pedals be used for? all i know is it can be used for wah. is ther a site with what pedals sound like and do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted November 21, 2006 Report Share Posted November 21, 2006 Ok, 12V amp? You're talking pocket amp now, not 57 based twin reverb. Can't flip the control panel? sure you can, didn't they tell you to think outside of the box? Think about using longer cables, maybe a cable bundle like you see on pc boards . The rotary speaker thing is actually a fan in front of the speaker. Sounds sort of like chorus. You really need to reconsider all of this though since you're limited to 12v. Pedals are not mechanical, so why are you considering them? Then again, you could do some sort of old school tape delay. Do some searching, you're asking plenty of questions for which answers are easily available. peace, russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fatalities Posted November 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2006 im new to electronics and dont know how i would go about converting the amps 240v output into 12v. what would be the max speaker wattage could i use? some other dude in my class is building guitar pedals and the teacher said it was ok to do. the project has to have a type of control to it. e.g. r/c car (what most people are doing). the wah expression pedal is the mechanical control to this. thats if i use it in the guitar. i thought of maybe making controls on my guitar that wirelessly control the amp somehow. but that seems expensive. would it be hard to do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crafty Posted November 21, 2006 Report Share Posted November 21, 2006 What kind of class is this? How are you supposed to build something electrical/mechanical if you have zero knowledge or training on what you're supposed to be doing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted November 21, 2006 Report Share Posted November 21, 2006 I don't know crafty, I built a brushless DC motor in highschool without them telling me how they worked. All they told me was to make one because I was getting graded on it. I ended up making one that was dangerously fast and heavy considering the very lax fit and finish of it. Good times. Although I must say, google is your friend. Asking questions when you don't know what questions to ask in the first place isn't productive in the least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fatalities Posted November 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2006 basicall you build anything electrical and mechanical that has some sort of control to it. you get taught about electronics like circuit boards. first we are reasearching on what to do and ask questions about how are we going to go about doing it. i thought id ask the questions here because it is more relative and people may have done this already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cherokee6 Posted November 22, 2006 Report Share Posted November 22, 2006 There are books and sites for making effcts pedals, etc. That may be a good project. You could duplicate a Les Paul Recording wiring syatem which is a bit complicated. I know I had trouble repairing one as I'm basically a "this wire looks like it goes here" kind of guy! I think a small effects box, like the old fuzz boxes might be an easier and less costly way to go. By the way "Parts is Parts" has a site for amp stuff, particularly Korg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crafty Posted November 22, 2006 Report Share Posted November 22, 2006 basicall you build anything electrical and mechanical that has some sort of control to it. you get taught about electronics like circuit boards. first we are reasearching on what to do and ask questions about how are we going to go about doing it. i thought id ask the questions here because it is more relative and people may have done this already. Well, that's great and all, but when I did my electronics vita at vo-tech, we were taught the fundamentals of electronics then learned how to piece them together. Either this project of yours seems kind of odd or I'm just not understanding the point of it very well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted November 22, 2006 Report Share Posted November 22, 2006 Hey there...in Melbourne too... I don't think that they want or expect you to go overboard with this kind of thing. Tube amps, 100watts of speakers...you are talking major power and volatages there...a big commitment in time, money and risk...the risk that it might not turn out quite as you planned... I could give you a few pointers for some do-able projects...Here are some ideas and feel free to email me... I can point you to a great mini tube preamp kit, maybe make some special box...will run off a wall wart... Of course there is always the sustainer...check out the thread, we are always looking for new ideas to be tried out and a few people there will give you support. There is basic electronics, a bit of coil winding...the mechanical part comes into how you may wish to install and control it... I have also seen things like a digital FX selector...how about a pedal board or pedal rack with sequential florr controler...I always wanted to buid something like that!!! Otherwise, any number of practice amps could be devised to perhaps clip to your strap or something of that nature... A simple split box would always be useful...split the signal with a preamp/mixer kind of thing...send one to an amp and another direct to the soundcard for recording... Maybe you could do something with a cheap MP3 player...record backing tracks and have them play through some kind of preamp/mixer so that you can control it from the guitar... These kinds of things are more in line with what they are probably looking for...and would be useful and achievable too... of course I'd opt for the sustainer, but then I already know how to do that!!!! pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fatalities Posted November 22, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 22, 2006 (edited) those are all very good ideas but do not quite have enough work involved. ive found all the electronics i need atm. i think i might stick with the amp idea. ive found the control unit, main chip, remote reverb control, a chip that somehow can 4x the power of the speaker using the same current and voltage but sorta havent found the power supply. most other people are doing r/c things e.g. cars. somebody is already doing a multi effects pedal so i wont be able to do it. only for the sheer fact that everyones has to be different. ive thought of making a car with air suspension but it seemed too complicated controlling it. PS: i forgot to mention that we just buy the circuits, assemble, then make the rest by hand. thats why some people are just buying r/c cars and making thier own chassis Edited November 22, 2006 by The Fatalities Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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