Add FX loop to Joyo American Sound (or, really any pedal)

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rigid_designator
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Post by rigid_designator »

First post here, with a simple question. I hope this is in the right place, since it pertains to modding a pedal.

I have a Joyo American Sound (a chinese clone of Sansamp Character Series Blonde), that I use on a small pedal board along with a fuzz, delay, reverb and looper for playing open mics at my favorite bar with my electric guitar. The whole rig plugs straight into the PA, and it works out pretty well. I've noticed Bill Putnam's mods for Sansamps and, in particular, the idea of an FX loop caught my eye. More than once, I've been asked to adjust the volume of my rig, which usually necessitates tweaking more than just one pedal. A "master volume" would really help. Sure. I could just get a volume pedal, or stick a pot in a small enclosure and tack that onto the end of the board... but space is at a premium, and I like the idea modding the Joyo...

So, with that long-winded introduction, it seems to me all I have to do is wire in a pair of TS jacks before the input lug of the volume pedal. Delay, reverb, etc go in the loop and voila, master volume for the whole shebang.

I'm handy with a soldering iron, and have built a few small kits, both audio and non-audio related, but I'm still enough of a noob at this that I'm inclined to ask questions before possibly f*$&ing things up. Will this work, or am I missing something? Thanks for the help :D

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rigid_designator
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Post by rigid_designator »

Here's a highly technical drawing of my brilliant idea [sarcasm].

Image

Obviously, the jacks would always need to be jumpered, otherwise the pedal would be broken, but hey, it's quick and dirty. I bet there's an easy solution to that problem though. I'll think on it. Still, thoughts?

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idy
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Post by idy »

One problem I can see is that you will be feeding a very loud signal into some pedals that might not sound good like that. Do your reverb delay etc sound good when you feed them with the Joyo on "10"? That's what they will be getting. Many delay/reverbs are not really great with super hot input.

It might not cause real-world trouble but it is a bit sloppy to send signals in/out without DC blocking caps.

Your other idea, a simple passive volume at the end of your chain, or even a little booster, is the sure thing. Sometimes you need to cut volume before the reverb/delay section and then boost again to drive an amp.

Is there room in the Joyo for a new (master) volume pot (and the two jacks?) That way you avoid all problems and still not need an additional box. Could even put a tiny booster board in there....

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