hello. i want to build craig anderton's "clarifier" onboard preamp/eq (into my strat), but he says a special jack is needed that includes an independent spst or spdt switch to turn the power on and off. i'm new to pedal building and i have no idea what i'm looking for.

also any suggestions on a bypass switch in case of battery failure?

thanks!

The Clarifier article shows how it can be run off a bipolar OR a single-ended supply.  If wired up in the latter format, all you need is a regular stereo jack on the guitar to turn the battery on and off.

yep, the same as an emg or duncan blackout. it's just a ground break.

Quote from: pazuzu on February 18, 2011, 05:38:28 PM
yep, the same as an emg or duncan blackout. it's just a ground break.

Well it CAN be the same.  The confusion is that Anderton designed it, or at least wrote it up, such that it could be powered by one OR two 9v batteries.  The user has to figure out what they want to go with, and what sort of wiring and switch/jack scheme accompanies that.

same as running emg's in 18v, it's still a ground break. whether it's series or parallel, you put the negative off the them to one half of the ground on the stereo jack.


*however i have not bothered to look at the schem...so i could be talking out of my ass.

The Clarifier schematic indicates use of a switching jack, of the sort that one often sees in boomboxes or similar, to switch between output or headphones, with the addition of an attenuation circuit.  I'm not denying there is some other way to do it with a regular stereo jack, but ikeshark appears to be trying hard to follow what Anderton says, which is what leads him to the jack in question.

The Clarifier was conceived of as a flexible circuit in terms of where it could be inserted.  That includes use as part of a DIY mixer "channel strip".  In that application there is probably great utility inrunning it off a bipolar supply.  However, as a simple gadget for providing some cut and boost for a guitar-level signal, a single-ended supply is perfectly acceptable, as is the stereo jack that helps to do the battery switching.

And, for rectal discourse, pazuzu, you are considerably more civil and articulate than far too many are in their oral discourse.  Carry on.