How does this work?

[BILLYL]

Saw this on Ebay
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=38074&item=3737634797&rd=1

And was wondering how this thing works>

Thanks

BILL LAWRENCE

[petemoore]

Looks like a Vol. control and a couple jacks in a box to me.

[Mark Hammer]

OK.  One post then let the thread die.  I don't want to hear about it ever again.

A couple of years ago, J. Everman gets a request from some of his clients that they could really use something where they could turn down the volume to a predefined level just by hitting a switch.  They don't want boost.  They don't want to futz around with a volume pedal and worry about overshooting or undershooting when they should be focussing on playing.  They just want to be able to go from volume level A to volume level B just like that, boom, boom.  What the circumstances and rigs were, I have no idea, but that's what they wanted, not what was foisted on them

J, being the nice guy he is, and being a businessman who knows that the customer is frequently right when using a credit card or personal cheque for a deposit, but always right when paying full price using cash or a money order, makes some.  It's a box, two jacks, a volume pot, and a switch.  No power, no batteries.  The clients are happy.

The item has parts, labour and shipping costs, not to mention the markup that retailers will impose, so in order for him to make anything out of it, it sells for a hundred bucks or something.  That's the boo-teek business.

Everyone on the DIY circuit goes "What!!?  A hundred bucks for THAT?!?  Yeah, right.  I'm running."  Clearly one of those people is this particular vendor who thought "Hey, *I* could do that.  There's no patent on volume controls, right?".  

So, yes, it is a pretty banal idea.  No, it doesn't do anything amazing.  Yes, almost anyone here could make themselves one for less.  On the other hand, look here:  http://ampage.org/hammer/files/1981_E-H_pricelist.gif
Halfway down the lefthand column, you'll see a 5X, reduced from $14.00 to $9.50.  Bear in mind these are 1981 dollars.  Now look at the prices of the other items, like the LPB-1 ($18.50) or Muff Fuzz ($23.50).  OK, get ready.  The 5X was a box with 5 jacks wired together, and maybe 4 resistors. from one to the others.  Now $100 for a pot, switch, sturdy box and a warranty doesn't look so bad, does it?  And $20+shipping looks absolutely fabulous.

[BILLYL]

Thank you very much for the info

BILL

[R.G.]

This is exactly the concept presented in "Effects Economics 101" in the Guitar Effects FAQ, which apparently doesn't get read anymore.

I guess I need to put some graphics and background music into it.

[Mike Burgundy]

I should hope it *does* get read. To everyone who hasn't: DO.
GEO is a great resource.
How easy it is to forget though - even though I've read some tips waaay back, I still manage to recover some little gem of a tip when I revisit
If you could find the time to expand the debugging page, I'm sure it would be immensely appreciated as well.
That said, "economics 101" I can't find but I've had a full working day, a CD-presentation to make sound nice, and some beers after. I'd like to read it though.

PS - this might be comparable to the treatment of any FAQ in history. It's there, but people sometimes forget to look around before they go "huh?" for the second time.  Nature of the beast, probably.

[puretube]

maybe a link  :wink:
would help people getting there?