Stepping on Knobs... ACKKK!

[Robboman]

Am I the only one who ever accidentially kicks or steps on the knobs on pedals, changing their settings? I swear I'm not THAT drunk when this happens!!!

All the generic BOSS, DOD and Ibanez pedals have the knobs recessed into the case just like they aught to be... so WHY do all the best boutique pedals come in those flat mxr or hammond boxes, where the knobs stick way up above the switch? I'm using several ODs and other things on the floor. I gig in a band where I also sing lead or backup on 80% of the songs. This makes it harder to look down and stomp accurately. Time and time again, I kick a knob on something, usually just as I'm going into a lead. AARGH!!

Does anyone have any elegant, simple mechanical suggestions on how to deal with this? (no I'm not gonna go buy a Bradshaw switcher and rackmount all my pedals!)

Yeah, just take the knobs off. Or wrap a rubber band around the case and knobs to hold them in place.

[DerekMinnich]

Hammond boxes are decent priced and readily available. Custom made boxes would be pretty expensive for some of these small guys so I'm guessing thats why they use what they do.

As far as a solution.....don't know what to tell you other than heel-toe.....heel-toe. That order.

[fabiomayo]

Hi... I wouldn't say I mind the knobs sticking out but my guess is just that pedal builders are trying to maximize their profits (after all it is their business, isn't it?). I have two pedals made by a local tech and he uses a custom made box that makes it impossible to kick accidentaly the knobs and also has a separated space for battery (most of those flat boxes don't have it even though it generally does not represent a problem). This guy's pedal are extremely cheap, look nice, and are made with a home made PCB and good components (but they lack the much appreciated true bypass). And he delivers real quick...
I'm just saying that it might be a bit more expensive but not that much. On the other hand, I really like those flat boxes... Can't tell exactly why but I'd pick them over others designs almost anytime

[Fernando]

Hey, Fabio, I live in Rio de Janeiro too! Nice to meet you here. I saw on another post that you're using some of those Barber pedals. Where did you get yours? I have a Tone Press on order.

Sorry about the little hijack....

[fabiomayo]

Nice to meet you...
I got mine from pedalgeek. I had it sent to a friend's in Houston and my father or some of his friends (that works in a worldwide company with facilities in Houston and are always going back and forth) volunteered (or I 'volunteered' them ) to bring it to me. This is the way I buy most of my stuff. Right now, we have pretty good builders of our own. You should check out Guitartech in Rio (nice overdrives and boosts), MG and a lot of other guys (most in Sao Paulo)... You may send me an email fmayo1969-335@yahoo.com.br and I´ll give you some references...

[Phil M]

The Blackstone design is genius, even if it's not as easy to tweak on the fly. If you've got it set and don't need to tweak, that format rules.

I haven't had the problem that the initial poster mentions, but I swear that I will one day snap the mini-toggle on my TMB. It's in a bad spot, IMO...

[gkelm]

Same problem here...I've used rubber washers from Home Depot/Lowes on the shaft under the knob. I usually have to ream out the hole of the whasher to get it to fit...seems to help quite a bit. Same trick to keep the comp-cut UP on the FDII.
Greg

[908SSP]

You could run a looper pedal all push buttons along the bottom edge of your board and run all the pedals up out of the way.

[Robboman]

Originally posted by theelectic
Yeah, just take the knobs off. Or wrap a rubber band around the case and knobs to hold them in place.

Thx.. good suggestions, that's what I'm after. I've taken knobs off one pedal but on the others the knobs provide a good visual reference on the setting, so I'd rather not lose em... also the knobs kind of protect the metal pot shaft, I could see them possibly bending or breaking if I stomped on them bare. I'll experiment with the rubber band idea.

I did try putting rubber o-rings underneath the knobs on my Barber pedals to stiffen them so they don't turn so easily. It sort of worked, but what that did was apply upward pressure on the pot shaft, which occasionally had side effects (like the volume pot being bypassed to full-on position!)

I thought about bolting some kind of metal bar over the knobs as a foot protector, but now were getting into some crazy fabrication.

[bluesdoc]

Gaff tape..............

jon