Walkman Distortion Box

goldenbaby · April 08, 2009, 05:57:41 AM

Well, my first one went to the dump, cause nothing came out of it but a loud hum. Now I got a Sony one that looks newer, and I've got it worked. It does sound filthy, especially when you're not playing.
My question is how to wire up a switch to bypass the distortion, and how to change the three-wire 1/8" stereo jack into a 1/4" mono jack....which channel should i keep to make mono, or is there any difference, and will I have to add a resistor?

LoFi-Ninja · April 09, 2009, 11:07:50 AM

I think you would need a 2 x DPST switch.. Don't know the name of that switch.. 4PST ? Then it should route the signal thru the walkman at the same time it makes the output jack connect to the walkman. And the other way it should disconnect the input from the walkman and route it directly to the output which also will be disconnected from the walkman.. If you dont disconnect the output jack I'm sure you'll get hiss/ground/gunk sound from walkman..

Personally I've never had any problems making sterio to mono just connecting L and R togheter.. If you don't want that you should use R, which should be the tip of any mono jack..

goldenbaby · April 18, 2009, 07:49:46 AM

Well, apparently a DPST switch looks like this:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/DPST-symbol.svg/100px-DPST-symbol.svg.png
{sorry, it wouldn't diplay on the forum}

...which looks to me like what you said I would require.

pneaveill · April 19, 2009, 02:56:20 AM

Will have to dig mine out of the garage and try this one.

LoFi-Ninja · April 21, 2009, 01:16:23 PM

Quote from: goldenbaby on April 18, 2009, 07:49:46 AM
Well, apparently a DPST switch looks like this:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/DPST-symbol.svg/100px-DPST-symbol.svg.png
{sorry, it wouldn't diplay on the forum}

...which looks to me like what you said I would require.

Actually you need a DPDT switch.. Anyways I made a small diagram for you.. It should work just fine, if not you might need to switch the GND aswell, but I can't see how it would have any effect..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lofininja/3461678977/

Feel free to UP my karma

goldenbaby · April 22, 2009, 02:43:38 AM

Oh yeah, no kidding. I realized what I forgot to think about.

LoFi-Ninja · May 21, 2009, 10:22:44 AM

My walkman distortion box / crazy noize box... It self oscillates making all kinds of noise..

32 body touch point / patch bay
2 Potentiometers
5 Switches
In
Out

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LNRnB1htLA

First part of vid is just self oscillation.. Middle is toy drum into the input.. Last part is output of toy drum tied to my finger...

guy.dallas · July 15, 2009, 10:08:57 PM

LN your stuff is always so creative, effing love it. Keep it coming man.

rbino · July 18, 2009, 04:16:16 PM

I made one of these and for the bypass I've simply soldered the central lug of a SPDT to the tip of the output jack socket and then I've soldered one wire from the headphone jack's tip to one of the lateral leg of the SPDT and another from the input jack's tip to the third leg of the SPDT.
The sound is very satured, I would say too saturated, the sound is very "cutted". Anyway, I have other 2 cassette players so I will try with these, maybe I will have best results.

LoFi-Ninja · July 25, 2009, 12:10:33 AM

Quote from: guy.dallas on July 15, 2009, 10:08:57 PM
LN your stuff is always so creative, effing love it. Keep it coming man.

Thanks alot. I got something in the making. It's working, but it is a VERY compact build. It's basically like every 1/10 of a mm is counting. So I'm still fighting that. And no, another casing is not an option

jamiewoody · January 15, 2010, 12:29:34 AM

maybe you can hook two of these up, one with a record head, and make a tape delay?

moordenaar · January 15, 2010, 08:45:34 AM

Quote from: jamiewoody on January 15, 2010, 12:29:34 AM
maybe you can hook two of these up, one with a record head, and make a tape delay?

That has been done before and is very possible. Just have a search on google. Something like "casette tape delay" should do it.

Dylan · December 27, 2010, 06:16:28 PM

Didn't want to start a new thread, so I decided to necro this one. Hope y'don't mind.

Just finished making my walkman distortion last night. Nothing too fancy, just the distortion and a demented sort of bit crusher/gate feature that uses a sort of enhance toggle switch. Not too learned on pedals so I don't know what the effects are called, so yeah. Here's a video, http://www.flickr.com/photos/dylanpalme/5297498486/#secretaea5445271

untune · December 27, 2010, 07:59:29 PM

What's that bass you've got, and please can I have it?

Dylan · December 27, 2010, 10:37:48 PM

haha, it's a 1964 Teisco Del Ray, here's a full picture of it http://www.friendlyrivermusic.com/uploads/images/images/64TiescoBass.jpg (that's the same one I have, picture's from the shop I got it from). And no, no you cannot have it. It's my baby.