guitarkidd Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 Alright here's the deal...i rescently bought a digitech WH-1 original whammy pedal circuit board on ebay for 50 bucks. I got it and it powers up and is kool, and i thought it would be awsome to make a guitar and put the circuit board inside the guitar, so far i have run into a few problems, but the one major problam that i have is getting power to it. It runs on AC current, and im pretty sure 9 volt battery's are DC. Anybody know how i can convert the power to DC in a small space or any Batterys that might work. (any ideas about the whole thing would be good). I also heard that Tom Morello put the WH-1 circuit board in one of his guitars (thats where i got the idea), is that true that he did that? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 The circuit runs on DC - all you have to do is examine the power supply, find out what it puts out in terms of voltage and current, and design a battery power supply that's small enough to fit in a guitar. It sounds like a downright Herculean task to me - I wouldn't even attempt it without a lot of upfront money and no guarantee of success required. Keep in mind that Navarro can afford to have Space Shuttle retro-rockets installed in his axe if he wants 'em. Check the thread on building in a ZVex Fuzz Factory from about a week ago for more info on the mechanical problems. As for the power supply, it's probably digital levels, so a laptop computer setup might work. Your first order of business would be to get an accurate schematic, so you know what you're dealing with. Check this thread for more on the Whammy and controllers. And while I'm not trying to be a jerk, I would suggest that if you're only "...pretty sure 9 volt battery's are DC...", this project is way beyond your capabilities unless you've got some serious backup. It's a really nice effect ( and worth some cash, as I remember), and it would be a shame to ruin it in an ill-advised project that you probably can't pull off. Maybe Ansil can offer some more insight into the process. I'd sell it to a collector and use the money to make another amplifier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biohazard Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 Unfortunately, I fully agree with Lovekraft. It would be incredibally difficult, plus that circuit board is huge. How would you fit it in? I think it would be very difficult to do yourself and as Lovekraft said, getting someone to do the job would be expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nonamemx Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 Tom morello just uses his on the floor, i think. It would be more versital and easier to use than one inside the guitar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ansil Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 of course you could just leave it on th efloor and ahve a controller that is in the guitar and runit parrallel with the guitar signal an control the pot on your guitar. it could be done the last whammy i looked at was similar in function to the morley wahs where theyhave tow leds and ldr's and they use a little piece of tin in between there to block out or let in the light at precise moments. you could just fabricate something like that or put a simple voltage controller on your guitar to vary the voltage betwen the two leds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 Running a controller in the guitar makes a lot more sense. That does away with your power supply problems, and gives you onboard control without having to route a huge hole in your guitar! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aeli Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 Does this have anythigh to do with the effects loop jack which I asked about in the alembic thread? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ansil Posted May 20, 2004 Report Share Posted May 20, 2004 Does this have anythigh to do with the effects loop jack which I asked about in the alembic thread? not that i can see but i could look at that and check it out for you.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spirit Posted May 20, 2004 Report Share Posted May 20, 2004 Matthew Bellamy of Muse has a Whammy Pedal built into one of his guitars, custom made by a luthier whose first name escapes me, but whose last name is Manson. They did it with MIDI strip thing like those found on keyboards. http://www.mansonguitars.co.uk/ Click on "Artists", then on "Matt Bellamy", and then you shall be able to see his guitars. The black one has the whammy pedal in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeB Posted May 20, 2004 Report Share Posted May 20, 2004 yeah, i read an article on that. was the guys name joyce? Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted May 20, 2004 Report Share Posted May 20, 2004 Bellamy's guitar: This illustrates my personal problem with onboard effects - you can make it all fit inside the body, but it doesn't leave much body. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biohazard Posted May 20, 2004 Report Share Posted May 20, 2004 No, it's Hugh Manson, Ron Joyce is a friend og Hugh's who does his wacky electronics, I know this because im obsessed with Matt Bellamy, Muse, and his guitars. It's not a whammy pedal he has built in there, its a MIDI strip controller which controls the whammy pedal (because the whammy that Matt uses is a WH-4 with MIDI input). That picture with the electronics only looks daunting because there are about 7 other effects built in there, so its not all the whammy stuff. The MIDI strip is a linear pot which acts as a MIDI controller pad, it goes into a microprocessor and this controls the whammy. I have no idea what the program the wrote for the microprocessor would be. I've not done anything like that before so have no idea. I wanted to do this at one point but when I found out just how complicated it is, I decided to leave it until I felt I was capable to come back and give it a good go. Oh and Manson's charge something in the region of £500-£600 for this, i think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ansil Posted May 20, 2004 Report Share Posted May 20, 2004 http://www.hollis.co.uk/john/circuits.html scroll down near the bottom for his diy midi stuff maybe that would help someone.. i dont' do much midi work anymore.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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