Rehousing cheap pedals

A forum devoted to mod, tips and suggestions for upgrading and rehousing your VERY CHEAP commercial stompbox to near boutique excellence.
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shooto
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Post by shooto »

here are some gut shots- thanks for checking this out Greg-

it has the BitMo Monstrosity mod (makes it a really great pedal)

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DWBH
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Post by DWBH »

OMG it has a tooobe inside :P

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shooto
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Post by shooto »

DWBH wrote:OMG it has a tooobe inside :P
^yes it do!

more pics-

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Entrant_21
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Post by Entrant_21 »

I love my VT999!

Have you the details of the monstrosity mod? :)

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Greg
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Post by Greg »

There's certainly plenty of un-used space in that box.
It looks like it could be re-housed into something smaller as long as you were prepared to rework the jacks and switches on that long PCB.. i.e lose the PCB.
Are the pots all board monted ?

The other thing is the tube.. does it get hot, or is it all low voltage ?
culturejam wrote: We are equal opportunity exposure artists.

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shooto
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Post by shooto »

Greg_G wrote:There's certainly plenty of un-used space in that box.
It looks like it could be re-housed into something smaller as long as you were prepared to rework the jacks and switches on that long PCB.. i.e lose the PCB.
Are the pots all board monted ?

The other thing is the tube.. does it get hot, or is it all low voltage ?
yes, the pots are board mounted (tried to get that in the pic) and the tube is low voltage but does get slightly warm...probably why it's vented-

I have no idea how you would move the stuff on the long PCB-

thanks

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shooto
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Post by shooto »

Entrant_21 wrote:I love my VT999!

Have you the details of the monstrosity mod? :)
there are details if you want to do the mod yourself on here, I just ordered it because I couldn't find the parts that easily-

it totally makes a good pedal, a great pedal-

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shooto
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Post by shooto »

anyone have any ideas how to do this re-house?

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azhouse
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Post by azhouse »

I am new. Hello! I am currently trying to rehouse a Tuna Melt with little success. I have removed the switching board, soldered new pots, switches and jacks to the effects board and built the voltage divider for 4.5v delivery. Is the pinout listed by Cow4prez above correct. It is the first description that I have seen that takes into account the purple wire (4.5v). If all is correct with Cow4prez's wiring definition what would need to be connected to the yellow wire (4053 #5 clip out).

As well he has stated that the speed pot needs a jumper across the old tabs. Is this correct?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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Post by azhouse »

FYI

I finally got this up and running last night. I removed the switching board (did not use it in the rehouse) and ran new pots (100 kohm linear), jacks and 9VDC center negative power, and a3PDT switch (for true bypass). I also made a voltage divider to deliver 4.5 vdc to the optical section of the board. The definative pinout for the old 7 wire non surface mount version of the Tuna Melt is (Thanks Cow4prez for steering me in the right direction!!):

purple = 4.5v
blue = output
green = input
yellow = did not use
orange = ground
red = 9v
brown = LED(did not use as I am powering the new LED through the new 3PDT switch)

Done. It was actuall fairly simple once I determined the pinout (I was unsure on what to do with the yellow wire).

Thanks
AZ

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ExplodingPlastic
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Post by ExplodingPlastic »

diode protection? would it work to use the diagram thats over on harmony central's chicken salad rehouse instructions? Could someone post a diagram or schematic of just what you connect to the board rather than the whole circuit?

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Post by DWBH »

Hey guys, I once tried a French Toast, and although I did find it sounded cool, there were some things about that kept me :scratch:

So, the bypass was good when there was a buffered pedal before it. If it was the first in the chain, or if all the pedal(s) before it were TB, it would sound like mud, in both on and off positions. If it had a buffer before, it would gain life. It would have more clarity and definition.
Also, the volume. When the volume was full on, it was still below unity. What's up with that?

So was this unit broken, or is this general French Toast's nature?

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devastator
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Post by devastator »

Hi,

I'm thiking about rehousing a danelectro chicken salad in a crybaby box, but the speed control is a 100KC dual pot and I wonder if that pot can be installed in the place of the hot potz whitout teaking it or the box ?

the pignion put on the wah pot can be removed and installed on any other pot like that one ? or the metal extremity that actions the cursor has a particular shape to be inserted in the pinion ?

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ZeroGrade
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Post by ZeroGrade »

Is there any schematics and instruction for the mod of this pedal?

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Tbrake12
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Post by Tbrake12 »

Just got a Rocky Road off Ebay. It sounds closer to my Fender Vibratone Leslie than any pedal I've ever heard. I'd like to make it true bypass, do the mod to get rid of the volume boost, and I think Ive heard of a mod to remove a treble boost. I want to rehouse it in a respectable metal housing about the Keeley compressor size with good jacks, Pots, etc... The hardware part seems simple, but I don't know where to start with the electronics, pots, etc. Has anyone here done this? Any help would be greatly appreciated! :D Thanks!

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black dalek
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Post by black dalek »

doctorums wrote:i tried searching but couldn't find what i was looking for. could someone help me rehouse my french toast step by step. apologies for total and utter n00bness, i've only got one build under my belt and it was from a kit. schematics are like greek to me, maybe someone has a pictorial or layout or something. thanks in advance.

https://supervelcroboy.wordpress.com/page/2/

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Tbrake12
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Post by Tbrake12 »

Maybe someone could tell me the resistance of the pots? Or which switch and jacks I should buy for true bypass? Is it even possible to rehouse, or am I wasting my time? Thanks!
Todd

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puppiesonacid
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Post by puppiesonacid »

its possible to rehouse. check out the other danelectro rehouse tutorials. there is one on the chicken salad here with some very good pictures and methods to true bypass. to measure the values of the pots, break out the multimeter and measure them, or read them ( if its printed on the pot)
hope this helps,


puppiesonacid

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Tbrake12
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Post by Tbrake12 »

Thanks for replying! I'll look up the tutorials. In the meantime, if anyone reads this and has rehoused or true-bypassed a rocky road, I'd love to talk with you... Thanks!
Todd

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devastator
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Post by devastator »

Hi

I've just received a Chicken salad that I want rehouse in a Hammond box . What are the values of pot ? I can't read that inside.

I think the dual pot (speed) is a 100KC and the trim is 101 ( I think that corresponds to 1K ?) but I don't know the "intensity" value.

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