[Trouble]

Have a question, as I’ve looked all over the internet and couldn’t really find an answer. Maybe the answer is just insanely obvious and it’s going right over my head, or it’s one of those things that are right in front of your nose, and it gets missed. Buuuut….

 

How exactly does the bass pedal on the drumset work, for RB? (For RB3 specifically, if it’s different for different RB’s, lol.) I opened up the only part that looked…open-able, on the bass pedal for my rb3 drumset, and it’s just that little square bit right where the cord connects to the pedal (so not anything very big) and there’s only a very small PCB in there that connects to the cord/wire that plugs the pedal into the drumset, but….that’s it. So, how does it know when you hit the pedal?! It’s making me crazy, not being able to find the answer to this anywhere, so I feel as though the answer is probably something really easy and I’ll probably feel really dumb once someone tells me what it is…. but I had to ask anyways, because even if it’s really obvious, it’s clearly not that obvious to me. ” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_frown.gif” /> Lol.

 

The main reason I’m asking about this is because… For quite a few months now I’ve been toying with the idea of a whammy pedal instead of a whammy bar. I have an overdrive pedal already, but I hate the whammy bar. Waaaayy to many times when trying to use that, then quickly start strumming again or something, I accidentally hit the strum bar or something a second too soon, or I fumble somehow…and screw up. Plus, my whammy bar is apparently way overused, or old and to be honest….. it can’t get it up anymore… (poor thing, but things these happen). I guess when these things happen, there is help out there to remedy this limpness, but… I’d rather just trade the limp ol’ thing in for something newer, younger…and easier to use.

 

So has anyone out there ever made, or used, or would know how to make and use, a whammy pedal? I just recently learned in the last couple days about some important parts of the whammy bar (the internal parts of it, inside the guitar obviously lol) that I didn’t know before were important. I’ve recently learned about this… potentiometer, instead the guitar/whammy bar parts. So, is it possible to use a volume pedal or something that has “variable control”? I’ve tried looking online for pedals and information about all the different kinds of crap out there… and I’ve been having a difficult time in differentiating between the standard “on” and “off” switch pedals (you hit it once to turn something on, hit it again to turn it off, etc), and the “variable control” pedals that you can press and hold for whatever purpose it’s for, I guess (that would be what I’d need in this case, right? Similar to holding down the whammy bar, I would hold down the pedal to get the same effect, yes?)

I keep coming up with these types/brands every time I do any sort of searches on them, but I’m not at all sure if this would have the desired effect? —> https://www.amazon.com/Linemaster-All-Purpose-Foot-Switch/dp/B007TN6FPK/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1468927268&sr=8-4&keywords=potentiometer+foot+pedal

 

I also see pedals on there that are like…$100+, or even $200-300+ and… that’s definitely out of my price range. Haha. I was honestly really naively thinking/hoping that I could somehow work/re-work the bass pedal from the drumset to act as my whammy pedal. Once I learned about this potentiometer though, I realized that this naive hope was probably down the toilet… But that’s partly why I was curious how the bass pedal works, lol.

Sooo, now that I’ve shared my novel-long life story about my epic quest to make, or find a whammy pedal for RB…. I hope someone will be able to help me out? Or shed some light on anything that could help? Or….anything at all? ” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_smile.gif” />

Btw, I just want to throw this out there in case someone is like “ohh, I’ve got a blueprint (or whatever they’re called) that shows how to make a whammy pedal on a PCB (or whatever, however they’re made)!!” And….I don’t know how to read that stuff at all. ” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_frown.gif” /> Showing where/how different things connect to what and how they do this, or that… (Like this, I mean: http://noisybox.net/electronics/cracklebox/images/kraakdoos_schematic.gif) …. I just wanted to put that out there, because I’ve seen information like this out there on the interwebs – not for a whammy pedal, but just for various things in general… like awesome, super badass frets that are just by touch, not actually buttons… lol, stuff like that – and I have no clue at all what I’m looking at with those. I’ve tried to figure it out, tried to learn about it and kinda self-teach, with really no luck. I can follow instructions if someone tells me what to take apart, what to solder and put back together and what to do/fix/change/add, etcetcetc… So there is that I suppose. ” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_smile.gif” />

Thanks in advance for any help or advice anyone has. Sorry for the ramblings about PCBs and whatnot, at the end there, by the way. Hahah.

[Rushfan2112]

There’s a magnet inside the housing that makes connection when the pedal is pushed down. I have taken mine apart several times.

Yes each version of RB has a different type of connection on the drum bass pedals.

[Bansheeflyer]

From what I know about electronics the bar on the guitar is just a variable resistor and the amount of signal sent to the game changes how the whammy sounds. If that’s true then theoretically you can just bypass the whole whammy and solder the kick pedal wires to the guitar’s board. I don’t know why you’d want to do that thought because then you’d be lugging a kick pedal wherever you take your guitar.

 

You might be able to modify the input where you’d plug in the overdrive pedal but as I recall that input connects to the motherboard directly so I don’t know if that could work.

 

The only problem is the pedal is on and off only so you wouldn’t really be able to do much to “bend” the pitch except full effect or none at all.

[Trouble]

From what I know about electronics the bar on the guitar is just a variable resistor and the amount of signal sent to the game changes how the whammy sounds. If that’s true then theoretically you can just bypass the whole whammy and solder the kick pedal wires to the guitar’s board. I don’t know why you’d want to do that thought because then you’d be lugging a kick pedal wherever you take your guitar.

 

You might be able to modify the input where you’d plug in the overdrive pedal but as I recall that input connects to the motherboard directly so I don’t know if that could work.

 

The only problem is the pedal is on and off only so you wouldn’t really be able to do much to “bend” the pitch except full effect or none at all.

I don’t take my RB instruments anywhere… Lol. I’m very much a “solo player”, I suppose. I’ve played a bit with friends when they’ve come over and wanted to play, but generally speaking, I play by myself (mainly because none of my friends actually play RB, or if they did…they don’t anymore really, and the couple people that I do know that still play, aren’t my friends, they’re my bf’s…lol). So, I’m a loner RB player… haha.

 

I tried bypassing the whole whammy bar thing, and that doesn’t work. Gotta have that potentiometer, and bypassing the whammy bar ends up also bypassing that potentiometer. I’ve seen some stuff online in various places where people have posted their little how-to’s on making a whammy pedal (totally from scratch – using wood, the potentiometer from the whammy bar… I would assume from there, anyways, and whatever other parts are involved to make the whammy pedal like that)… and I’m not really up for doing all that. I’m more electronically-inclined than I am with the whole woodworking thing, lol. Plus, I have pretty much all of what I need to make a whammy pedal by re-wiring stuff and electronically re-working stuff to make it happen… don’t really have the woodworking crap to make a totally from-scratch pedal.

 

I have the overdrive pedal, which obviously as you said, is just the on/off part of the overdrive, and doesn’t offer what the whammy bar can do. I just want to have a pedal that I can press to get more overdrive – like what the whammy bar does. I don’t care about the sound changes or anything, it’s strictly for using on the long notes to get more overdrive stuff. Lol. I’m getting really tired of my sad, limp whammy bar, plus it has on numerous occasions been a make or break on me getting 100% on a song, using the whammy bar then when I move my hand a bit to go back to strumming, I’ve hit the strum bar on accident, and end up “missing” a note, getting rid of my x6 multiplier, etc… or in worse case scenarios, actually end up missing a note.

#472321

[Trouble]

There’s a magnet inside the housing that makes connection when the pedal is pushed down. I have taken mine apart several times.

Yes each version of RB has a different type of connection on the drum bass pedals.

And that’s for the RB3 drum pedal that you’re referring to? Just want to make sure. Lol.

 

Thanks for clarifying that for me too by the way. ” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_smile.gif” /> I figured it had to be something of that sort, because there weren’t any wires or anything going into the part of the pedal that you put your foot on… So, I guess I’m glad that my assumption about it was accurate. ” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_smile.gif” />

[Bansheeflyer]

Now I’m wondering if there’s a way to wire the kick pedal to the overdrive one, but to do that you’d probably need a completely different circuit board on the overdrive pedal and even then the guitar probably couldn’t differentiate between the overdrive pedal and the whammy pedal.

 

I think all kick pedals use the magnet system, I’m not sure what Rushfan meant when he said the connection was different.

[Trouble]

Now I’m wondering if there’s a way to wire the kick pedal to the overdrive one, but to do that you’d probably need a completely different circuit board on the overdrive pedal and even then the guitar probably couldn’t differentiate between the overdrive pedal and the whammy pedal.

 

I think all kick pedals use the magnet system, I’m not sure what Rushfan meant when he said the connection was different.

Yeah, I think you’d be right about the lack of differentiating between the two. As I said in a previous comment on here, I’ve seen quite a number of different how-to’s on making a whole pedal that uses the potentiometer from the whammy bar (or maybe just a potentiometer that’s similar or identical to the one used in the whammy bar, but maybe it’s not the exact same one? I don’t know.. lol), but…That would require some skills that I don’t have, tools I don’t have…etc. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to somehow attach the potentiometer from the whammy bar…to the kick pedal from the drumset.

 

These are the things I’ve seen about different things people have done regarding making their own whammy pedal:

 

http://www.scorehero.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=76718(This guy used the…gas pedal from a Microsoft steering wheel or something, but this was being used on the GH guitar, so don’t know that it would work the same way… if it did, it would require modifying the wiring and stuff)

 

http://www.benheck.com/guitar-hero-pedal-controllers/(This is a bit too extreme for me, this guy made a pedal for the whammy bar and for strumming… I don’t want a pedal for strumming, kinda just takes the fun out of ….playing Bass, or Guitar.. lol. You wouldn’t actually use a pedal to strum if you were actually playing a bass or guitar.. lol.)

 

https://www.engadget.com/2008/12/11/how-to-build-a-guitar-hero-foot-pedal-controller/<

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(This one is probably my best bet at using the information here in order to somehow attach the whammy bar potentiometer to the kick pedal for the drums… but I’ve been at a loss as to how to do that.)

 

Does anyone possibly have any ideas or suggestions on how I could go about attaching the potentiometer to the kick pedal? If you look at that last link there, it shows what the potentiometer is, and where they put it on their home-made kick pedal. I’ve been trying to come up with a way to do something similar to the kick pedal for rb3, but have been at a loss for how to go about doing it… ” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_frown.gif” />

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