Build Your Own Clone Message Board

Hey, I'm building a dual looper pedal using your looper as a template and I wanted to basically turn it into a loop switcher with a tuner out. I think i've got it all figured out but I'm confused about how the loops are grounded and how I'm gonna have to change it when I add another jack for the tuner. In the original directions the jacks for the two loops aren't grounded at all. I'm not 100% sure I understand why you don't have to do it, but I'm assuming that's not gonna work that way for the extra jack. Is it as simple as just grounding it to the input or output jack or is it gonna be more complicated then that.

In the BYOC TB Looper the metal frame jack sockets are all grounded through the metal case. The two ground wires running from the jacks to the switches are only there to provide the ground connection for the LED switching.

If you build your switcher with insulated jacks sockets or mount them onto a non-conductive panel you will need to run ground connections to all of them. The best way to do this is to arrange all the ground connections to meet at a central point. However it is difficult to build a "star" ground like this and do it neatly.

The BYOC amp selector uses insulated jacks.

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"It’s your soldering."

As Stephen says - the Amp Selector and Stereo FX Router has 4 plastic body insulated jacks. The 2 input jacks in the ASSFXR have ground connections while the two output jacks are switched between a ground connection or floating on the secondary of the isolation transformers.

As you say 'looper' in your post I assumed you meant the True Bypass Looper which has 6 metal jacks all mounted on, and grounded through, the metal case.

No need to be terse fellas!

I recently built the amp selector and noticed the lack of jack grounds too.

To help the OP, though I'm no EE, I would think a tuner out could be imagined as a true bypass pedal placed before the Amp selector, and could just be implemented as a regular TB switch, grounded to the enclosure and the input jack.

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"Spud knows tone"

codtone.com

I'm an idiot. I don't know what made me think we were talking about the router and not the looper. My bad.

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"It’s your soldering."

Well, having re-read the whole thread, I'm not sure what we're taking about... the TB Looper or the Amp Selector?

The amp selector has the non-grounded jacks though...

_________________
"Spud knows tone"

codtone.com

Maybe I am reading this wrong, but are you just looking for a pedal to mute your signal when you use your tuner? You could use this:
http://www.guitarpcb.com/apps/webstore/products/show/2709436
Not sure if that is what you are talking about though.
-P

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The simple way to add a tuner output is to run the tip of the input jack directly to a single pole two way switch that switches the input either to the tip of a tuner out jack or to the rest of the looper circuit.
You could arrange things more elaborately with a double pole switch so that the rest of the looper signal side was connected to ground while the tuner was selected.
With metal jacks and a metal case you don't need to wire the ground return for the tuner jack.

Thanks for all the help fellas. Really all I'm concerned about is if I add a tuner out to the whole thing, do I have to ground that jack?

The other thing is that I'm hoping for, i guess, is a little knowledge about the whole grounding thing. I guess I understand how the jacks ground through the enclosure but I thought the rule of thumb was to ground everything together? Is it just that i'm not used to seeing so many grounded points and so few things needing to be grounded? What's your pholosophy on grounding fellas, what are the tricks?

The short answer is no.
If you are using metal jacks on a metal box all the ground points of the jacks, the sleeves are connected together through the box. The only wired connection you might need to make is from the box to the ground of any other circuitry you might have in a pedal. In the case of the passive looper there is no other circuitry.

...No other circuitry apart from the LEDs I should have said.

Cool. Thanks for all the help everyone.