Amplifying a percussion stomp box.

Goat Mick · #1 05-25-2022, 06:54 AM

I recently picked up a Peterman Puck'n Stompa from Australia and it is definitely the most sensitive and easy to use percussion stomp box I have ever tried. The only down side is I need to have a 3rd input to be able to amplify it. Not much of a problem with my Loudbox Performer and Artist as I can go into the Aux input on the back and it has an independent volume control. However this has got me thinking (scary I know) that it would work much better and be more flexible if it were going into the same input as the guitar. So now I want to build a stomp box that will combine the signals of the percussion and the guitar into one output. And it think it would work best with a volume control on the stomp box portion and a straight passthrough on the guitar side with a combined out. I've done wiring harnesses for electric guitars so I have the basic skills, but I'm trying to figure out the best way to do this. The easiest would be to wire the stomp box with a volume to the output jack and also solder in the guitar signal to the same jack. I thought about using an ABY box but I haven't seen one that basically does what I want this to do.

shufflebeat · #2 05-25-2022, 09:37 AM

I'm not familiar with the stompa but it looks like it doesn't have a preamp built in. Does your guitar?

Passive pickups can sound significantly different depending on what impedance input you connect them to. The chances of having the perfect input impedance for two different pickups on the same input are low. One active and one passive is a whole new box of frogs.

You could blend the signals with a small mixer then plug the output of that into the amp - like a mini PA.

Rick Jones · #3 05-25-2022, 10:50 AM

From my own experiments with stomp boards and boxes (I must stress that I haven't tried the Peterman, but it looks cool), you need to drop most of the top end out of them to get them sounding 'right'.

If you're summing them into one channel you'd ideally put an EQ in front of the A/B/Y box (after it would affect the guitar sound) and then I imagine it's going to be muddying up a lot of the bottom end of your guitar in the 'mixed' channel. It seems like a headache to me.

A Boss 7 band Bass graphic EQ pedal would likely be a good impedance matching device as well as having the option to cut and boost things, though.

Goat Mick · #4 05-25-2022, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snorse

From my own experiments with stomp boards and boxes (I must stress that I haven't tried the Peterman, but it looks cool), you need to drop most of the top end out of them to get them sounding 'right'.

If you're summing them into one channel you'd ideally put an EQ in front of the A/B/Y box (after it would affect the guitar sound) and then I imagine it's going to be muddying up a lot of the bottom end of your guitar in the 'mixed' channel. It seems like a headache to me.

A Boss 7 band Bass graphic EQ pedal would likely be a good impedance matching device as well as having the option to cut and boost things, though.

I've tried it through the guitar channel of my Loudbox and it gives a nice "thunk" with the same EQ settings I use for my guitar. I honestly think that all I really need is to be able to control the volume of the Peterman and just run both signals into the same channel. I've noticed that the Ortega and Meinl boxes do have a guitar passthrough so they can run into the same channel of the amp as the guitar. I just gotta figure out how to wire it.

Rick Jones · #5 05-25-2022, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goat Mick

I've tried it through the guitar channel of my Loudbox and it gives a nice "thunk" with the same EQ settings I use for my guitar. I honestly think that all I really need is to be able to control the volume of the Peterman and just run both signals into the same channel. I've noticed that the Ortega and Meinl boxes do have a guitar passthrough so they can run into the same channel of the amp as the guitar. I just gotta figure out how to wire it.

Oh, cool. In that case I may look into one myself! Thank you

shufflebeat · #6 05-25-2022, 11:43 AM

Does your guitar have a preamp?

Does your Puck'n Stompa have an XLR socket or a 1/4" jack?

Brent Hahn · #7 05-25-2022, 11:57 AM

If anyone's curious, this is an example of a Peterman. I recorded it for a radio show, a solo singer-songwriter on Weissenborn and stompbox. As I recall, it was passive, I didn't EQ or compress it at all, and I thought it sounded amazing.

Rick Jones · #8 05-25-2022, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brent Hahn

If anyone's curious, this is an example of a Peterman. I recorded it for a radio show, a solo singer-songwriter on Weissenborn and stompbox. As I recall, it was passive, I didn't EQ or compress it at all, and I thought it sounded amazing.

Wow, that really does sound good. Think I'm going to get one. Thank you guys.

Goat Mick · #9 05-25-2022, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shufflebeat

Does your guitar have a preamp?

Does your Puck'n Stompa have an XLR socket or a 1/4" jack?

My gigging guitars all have Baggs M1 pickups. the Puck'n Stompa has a 1/4" jack. I found out about the Puck'n Stompa on a cruise back in April. The guy who was the music director on the ship also did solo gigs in the different bars and it amazed me that all he had to do is pick his foot up and lay it back down to get a great sound out of the Puck'n Stompa. I had never seen one before so I geeked out a bit and asked him about it. I ordered one from Australia as soon as I got home and it does work great. However it is a bit challenging to use with my Fishman Loudbox amps and my Bose S1 because they only have two mic/instrument level inputs. I have been using the Aux input on the Loudboxes, but I'm not very happy with the results I'm getting from that. It sounds much better into the guitar input. Just gotta figure out a way to combine the signals.

rockabilly69 · #10 05-25-2022, 04:06 PM

I would amplify is through a small bass amplifier. I have a HUGE amount of experience with the puck 'n stomp, and have had many conversations with Peter Sesselmann the designer. They are great pedal and I have even taken the design further for my needs and build my own using his drivers and transformers.

One thing I have learned is that these boxes are hard on both low and high frequency drivers, and I have blown more than a few when using the puck from aggressive stomping, as they have fast transients that starve smaller PAs and acoustic combos and can interfere with a clean guitar signal. So I stared running mine through smaller bass amps that were designed to reproduce lower frequencies. And I would always roll the treble frequencies off when using the puck n' stomp.

I eventually used a small Behringer BX1200A bass amp for mine that could handle the abuse. Something like this modern day equivalent...

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

I took the guts (speaker, transformer, jack) out of one of his pucks, and built this box around them and it worked for years! The two rubber areas are for my heel and toe (the speaker driver is under the toe portion). By using the rubber circle right over the driver I knew right wjhere the sweet was!

shufflebeat · #11 05-25-2022, 04:20 PM

Bit of a left-field thought here but I'd love to try this through an old Yamaha AG Stomp through slight compression, EQ to suit, mic modelling and "room" reverb.

Having listened to a few YT vids I bet I could get a pretty convincing "Audix D6" (and a few more) kick drum sounds with that source and those tools.

rockabilly69 · #12 05-25-2022, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shufflebeat

Bit of a left-field thought here but I'd love to try this through an old Yamaha AG Stomp through slight compression, EQ to suit, mic modelling and "room" reverb.

Having listened to a few YT vids I bet I could get a pretty convincing "Audix D6" (and a few more) kick drum sounds with that source and those tools.

I always used compression and EQ on them, even when using it subtle. Listen to these song you can see how it does something nice even when just barely there (you need to hear on a system that reproduce low end)...