Guitar stomp box recommendations?

[OrcidSamuel]

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone has nay experience with Guitar Stomp boxes?
Not like your standard pedal, but literally a box you stomp on with a piezo inside to get a nice bass drum sound when you're playing.

I'm looking for something to round out my sound at gigs where it's just me and my guitar. I was looking at a stomp box and a reverb pedal to get a bigger sound.

Anyone recommend a good stomp box with a line in and line out that doesn't cost the world? Cheers!

[PRR]

Welcome.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stomp_box

Some of the places I've gigged, the floor was resonant enough. OTOH there was the concrete stage....

I didn't realize that, instead of a good board, they now make little boards with a microphone inside.

[BJM]

Hi,

Ortega and Meinl sell them. Quality will probably be OK I think they're quite expensive. But as this is a DIY forum for stompboxes......https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0VFZ0dnrtI  . Doesn't look too difficult.

[iainpunk]

i say YAY to those, they are great if theres no drummer, but they are harder than you'd expect.
on option is to get yourself some dutch Klompen, they can do the trick!
if not inclined to wear wooden footwear, go to a local cigar shop and ask for a cigar box, put in it the biggest bass speaker that you can find that fits inside and bolt it to the top/stomping side. it will work like a microphone, just wire the speaker terminals to a jack. maybe if you like, a preamp with some tone shaping and slight overdrive if you want to make it complicated but cool.

cheers

[ashcat_lt]

You might get a bit more gain-before-feedback, and actually a bit more useful sound to begin with, if you stick a magnetic pickup in it and make the stomp surface some ferrous metal.  I've heard of people using old license plates.  Raw piezos usually want very large large input impedances in order to pass anything you could call bass, and sometimes end giving you some unwanted and/or unpleasant higher frequencies.  Guitar pickups you can just plug into a guitar amp and get all the thump without so much of that extended ugliness up top.

[BJM]

I saw the Ortega Annalog has a piezo and doesn't need power.... and some reviews say it's not loud/punchy. You could also consider a cajon with a bass drum pedal. 

If it's just you and your guitar I suppose you play acoustic? Maybe the Schlagwerk San Jam is something for you?

[iainpunk]

yeah, i dis-recommend (what't the correct english word for that?) piezo pickups because they are really prone to feedback, and they tend to have a ''thin'' sound character to them.
if you use a small sub woofer, it will both pick up the sound from the box, and also oscillate mechanically, adding oomph and bass to the kick sound!
using a pickup and metal plate might work, seems like a realistic plan, might try it out soon, i have some left over pickups stuck to my desk lamp.

cheers

[garcho]

^ agreed, piezo pickups are either expensive or crappy.

You could make an arduino/teensy/etc. SD card sampler, that plays a file every time you stomp a momentary stomp switch. Record yourself playing whatever accompaniment you want, or make something on the computer or with a drum machine, and upload it to the SD card. It would be pretty cheap and simple, lots of examples around. You could easily add a switch or knob to change sounds without getting too complex. You could run it off a 9V guitar supply.

[stallik]

I tried piezo, pickups and speakers but nothing came close to an early peterman diy module I bought a couple of years back. It's basically a tiny speaker with the cone damped by a piece of plastic and a mini transformer. Gives ground shaking bass thump. The only high end comes from things rattling on nearby tables. Neighbours love it

Prices have gone up but the unit has been upgraded since I got mine
https://www.peterman.com.au/music3/Stomp-DIY-Trans-PRO

[ashcat_lt]

How bought just a battery with a BAC across it.  Momentary switch to connect it to the tip of the jack.  9VP2P of POP. 

[fryingpan]

Just get any 3.5" speaker, connect it like a microphone and kick it while you play. 

[iainpunk]

Just get any 3.5" speaker, connect it like a microphone and kick it while you play. 

don't kick the cone, you'll tare a hole in the fragile material, i'd say mount the same speaker in a box, and use some epoxy and old nuts/ washers/ other heavy scraps to lower the mechanical resonant frequency.

another option would be an audio exciter, which is basically a speaker without the cone, so you can mount it directly inside a box.
https://www.parts-express.com/speaker-components/exciters-tactile-transducers
maybe add a few springs in the box for some nasty reverbed drums

cheers

[moosapotamus]

Mount a bass pickup in the box and use a piece of sheet metal/steel for the top . An old license plate works, and acts like the strings when you stomp on it. You can add volume and tone controls just like in an actual bass/guitar. Might also want to adjust the height of the pickup to find the best distance between the pickup and the plate. I haven't done this myself, but I do have an inexpensive no-name bass pickup waiting for me to build a simple box for it.

[garcho]

I attached guitar strings under the head of a bongo drum, like a snare, then mounted a pickup underneath. It was more of a snare sound (surprise!) but it worked fairly well. Ye olde guitar style volume/tone knob worked well to keep the crazy transients under control.

[Phend]

With the right gizmo you can attach a horn or harmonica.

[fryingpan]

Just get any 3.5" speaker, connect it like a microphone and kick it while you play. 

don't kick the cone, you'll tare a hole in the fragile material, i'd say mount the same speaker in a box, and use some epoxy and old nuts/ washers/ other heavy scraps to lower the mechanical resonant frequency.

another option would be an audio exciter, which is basically a speaker without the cone, so you can mount it directly inside a box.
https://www.parts-express.com/speaker-components/exciters-tactile-transducers
maybe add a few springs in the box for some nasty reverbed drums

cheers

I was joking. But yeah, any speaker in a box will do, if you don't mind a very thumpy bassy sound (you're basically making a Yamaha Subkick microphone).