[LAD] May I asked something OT?

Sakari Bergen sakari.bergen at tkk.fi
Mon Jul 19 06:54:33 UTC 2010



On July 18, 2010 03:57:06 pm Ralf Mardorf wrote:

> A lot of kids wish to have a kill switch for their guitars.
> A kill switch is a short circuit, to 'stop' the audio signal.
>
> I'm not fine with this solution, but the kids argue, that e.g. an
> interruption does cause unwanted noise, especially for over drive
> sounds. IMO even using opto-electronics won't solve the issue, because
> the noise of the transistor overdrive effect still would be hearable,
> while for a short circuit there is silence.
>
> Has anybody an idea to solve this without a short circuit?
>
> I'm really not a fan of short circuits. Note, it's not possible to do an
> interrupt all the times behind the latest noise generator and even an
> interrupt could cause noise itself, while a short circuit indeed is a
> good way to cancel sound.

If you don't like short circuiting the mics, just switch the output jack 
hot lead between ground and the volume pot(s).
Connecting the output to ground is the same as turning the volume down. 
There is no need to short the mics...


On 19.07.2010 08:30, Tim E. Real wrote:
> If you play a Gibson you can set the neck pickup volume to zero and
>   the bridge pickup volume to full and then toggle the pickup switch,
>   rapidly if desired, like Eddie van Halen on You Really Got Me.
> Tim.

Tom Morello gets real creative with his guirar, and uses this technique 
alot. He also unplugs his guitar to make the pedals and amps make noise 
(oscillate), and controls the noise with his wah pedal and by touching 
the tip of the plug to the guitar bridge (which is grounded). Good 
demonstration of how just cutting the signal lead can cause lots of 
noise, while a short will be more or less silent :)

-Sakari-



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