Any ideas what this is for

Jimmy Gibson · Post by **Jimmy Gibson** » 17 Dec 2019 10:50 am

I have recently bought a beautiful Sho-Bud Super Pro,That has a 3 pin midi type input with two switches connected,I have no idea what the midi input and switches are for,can anyone please give me some idea what they are for?

Jimmy.

Tommy Auldridge · Post by **Tommy Auldridge** » 17 Dec 2019 11:19 am

My guess is, It's an output, not an input. Tommy.....

Mike Bacciarini · Post by **Mike Bacciarini** » 17 Dec 2019 11:20 am

Looks like once upon a time it had MIDI pickups/electronics, although now it just looks like George L's. A picture underneath would help...
Actually, if it's 3 pins, maybe not MIDI, just split outputs for the 2 necks?

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 17 Dec 2019 11:33 am

I'm (barely) recalling that there was a brief period of time when Goodrich LDR volume pedals were rigged to hook up with a Peavey amp to make a 3-chord connection via dedicated jacks.
I'm just putting that out there for the hell of it.
Having rigged my new Williams with two extra jacks on the endplate for my own purposes, I'm wondering if this could be another way of achieving a similar send & receive package with one jack.

Definitely, good pics of the underside are essential. Without them, this is just speculative waste of good internet energy.

Jimmy Gibson · Post by **Jimmy Gibson** » 17 Dec 2019 12:03 pm

Jon Light wrote:I'm (barely) recalling that there was a brief period of time when Goodrich LDR volume pedals were rigged to hook up with a Peavey amp to make a 3-chord connection via dedicated jacks.
I'm just putting that out there for the hell of it.
Having rigged my new Williams with two extra jacks on the endplate for my own purposes, I'm wondering if this could be another way of achieving a similar send & receive package with one jack.

Definitely, good pics of the underside are essential. Without them, this is just speculative waste of good internet energy.

Here we go Jon, pictures of the underside,I don’t want to waste any internet energy

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 17 Dec 2019 12:16 pm

My regrets that I did not include a smiley after that statement as it was intended as a bit of hyperbolic overstatement.

No way will I be able to make a confident guess but my mind is going to a routing scheme, possibly to a couple of FX loops? then coming back to the guitar and back out the main jack.

Just sort of imagining out loud......

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 17 Dec 2019 12:19 pm

The frustrating thing is that this is such a specific scheme that I cannot imagine making any sort of use of it without knowing exactly what the designer was thinking.

Gabriel Edell · Post by **Gabriel Edell** » 17 Dec 2019 1:47 pm

Jon Light wrote:My regrets that I did not include a smiley after that statement as it was intended as a bit of hyperbolic overstatement.

No way will I be able to make a confident guess but my mind is going to a routing scheme, possibly to a couple of FX loops? then coming back to the guitar and back out the main jack.

Just sort of imagining out loud......

Right. Like some sort of crazy Jerry Garcia wiring scheme.

Ian Rae · Post by **Ian Rae** » 17 Dec 2019 1:53 pm

The DIN socket is a European standard for lo-fi audio. It is indeed a send-and-receive configuration for use with a tape recorder. The stereo version has five pins.
They were around decades before midi existed, but they're good enough for that, having been largely discredited for audio use.

What it's doing on a pedal steel I cannot begin to imagine.

Jimmy Gibson · Post by **Jimmy Gibson** » 17 Dec 2019 1:53 pm

Just to add none of the wires from the switches are connected to the jack socket.

Jim

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 17 Dec 2019 1:58 pm

Gabriel Edell wrote:
Right. Like some sort of crazy Jerry Garcia wiring scheme.

Indeed. An OBEL is what they call it --OnBoard Effects Loop. I toyed with the idea but opted for standard 1/4 jacks.

re: Ian's post, maybe it is a repurposing of the DIN connectors toward this idea.

Ian Rae · Post by **Ian Rae** » 17 Dec 2019 1:59 pm

It could be an unfinished project. I have been known to fit things to things and then not followed it up.

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 17 Dec 2019 1:59 pm

Jimmy Gibson wrote:Just to add none of the wires from the switches are connected to the jack socket.

Jim

I give up.

Ian Rae · Post by **Ian Rae** » 17 Dec 2019 3:10 pm

Jon, a loop would be an appropriate use of a DIN connector, but more appropriate to 1960s Germany than present-day America.

Doug Earnest · Post by **Doug Earnest** » 17 Dec 2019 6:57 pm

Somebody probably rigged a remote control for the effects on a late 70's to 80's Peavey amp, like for the phase shifter and tremolo or channel switching. I've seen guys do it on guitars back in the day.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 18 Dec 2019 6:43 am

Have you asked the person you bought it from?

Jimmy Gibson · Post by **Jimmy Gibson** » 18 Dec 2019 9:03 am

Richard Sinkler wrote:Have you asked the person you bought it from?

Yes Richard,the guy I got it from sells steels,and he brought from the original owner,who has moved to another country,and has no idea how to get in touch with him,I am not that bothered the steel plays and sounds absolutely great,but I just thought I would try and find out what the midi input/output and switches could have been used for.

Thanks guys for your input,

Jimmy.

Ian Rae · Post by **Ian Rae** » 18 Dec 2019 11:33 am

Somewhere on the planet is an amp head İ used to own with an XLR male socket on the rear of the chassis which is clearly a Dİ output. Except I never got round to connecting it up.

Bill Sinclair · Post by **Bill Sinclair** » 18 Dec 2019 12:25 pm

Ian Rae wrote:It could be an unfinished project. I have been known to fit things to things and then not followed it up.

That's my thinking, Ian. Those appear to be double pole - single throw switches but there's nothing soldered to (or any sign of previous solder) the top terminals. They don't do anything - never did.

Jim Goins · Post by **Jim Goins** » 18 Dec 2019 12:50 pm

Maybe hook up for a mic. cord to the p.a. board. JIM.

Bill Terry · Post by **Bill Terry** » 18 Dec 2019 1:03 pm

Doug wrote:Somebody probably rigged a remote control for the effects on a late 70's to 80's Peavey amp, like for the phase shifter and tremolo or channel switching.

That's what it looks like to me, some sort of 'on-board' remote switch... whatever was on the other end of the DIN cable was in a loop maybe, or getting 'switched'.

If that's what this is, it wouldn't be too unlike the Quilter remote switch actually, except Quilter uses a CAT 5 cable connected to the switching circuits on the back of the amp.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... controller

Ben Michaels · Post by **Ben Michaels** » 19 Dec 2019 3:07 am

Doug Earnest wrote:Somebody probably rigged a remote control for the effects on a late 70's to 80's Peavey amp, like for the phase shifter and tremolo or channel switching. I've seen guys do it on guitars back in the day.

That is/was an external control for something. With it not being connected to the input, it must have been desoldered from the circuit at some point. The wiring is similar to some foot switches. Really you have a double foot switch with potentiometer on the side of you PSG.

The potentiometer confuses me though. Normally effects are on/off and don't have the option of controlling them via the footswitch like that.

Doug do you know what amps you have seen others do this for? I want to find a schematic.

Another guess in line with the project theory is that originally the two switches were connected to a 1/4" that worked as a footswitch for an amp. At some point it was converted to a direct out and rewired. Rather than have the switch holes in the side they left the switches in.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 19 Dec 2019 6:47 am

The potentiometer is probably one of the two that were installed on a Super Pro. Back in the 80's, I had a rack effects unit that I put a remote switch in a box that clipped to the guitar leg. I could turn on the effect unit with it. This might have been a similar thing.

Doug Earnest · Post by **Doug Earnest** » 20 Dec 2019 6:05 am

Ben Michaels, the amps I would be referring to would be the Artist, Deuce, Mace, Classic and maybe the original Sessions, likely others also.
They had multi button foot switches that connected to the amps via a DIN connector.

Bob Moore · Post by **Bob Moore** » 21 Dec 2019 3:35 pm

Could that be a low impedance jack like for mice? I have seen them on 6 stringers. Bob M

The Steel Guitar Forum

Any ideas what this is for

Any ideas what this is for

Midi