Matchbox

Carl Dvorcek · Post by **Carl Dvorcek** » 1 Jul 2000 10:34 am

Right in the middle of one of the best gigs the band has played in a while, my Goodrich Matchbox died. Ugh! I opened it up and everything looked good including batteries. I removed the little circuit board with the intent of replacing the transistor which looked kinda funky on a Huntron tracker. Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather. The bottom of the board looked like someone had soldered all the components and wires in with a branding iron. Shoddiest soldering I've ever seen in my electronics career. Closer scrutiny of the board revealed one of the coupling capacitors was not soldered in. Evidently, during manufacture, it had just enough solder on it to barely hold it in place. After a while in use, it just broke loose from vibration or whatever. I thought I'd bring this up for anyone who has ever had a Goodrich product fail. There's not much to them and anyone who knows how to solder can probably correct such failures.

Carl

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 1 Jul 2000 11:26 am

I've never had a unit fail (yet) and I've looked at the workmanship in them. They are all hand soldered, but then with a relatively small operation like they have it wouldn't be cost efficent to have a high price wave soldering unit.

The Goodrich soldering is way above the hand or even machine soldering I've seen on some of the imported stuff.

I will admit, in ham radio terminology, Goodrich devices do look "homebrew".

Keith Hilton · Post by **Keith Hilton** » 1 Jul 2000 2:35 pm

Interesting!

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ajm · Post by **ajm** » 4 Jul 2000 9:35 am

Just a tip.....

I've never played with a Matchbox nor seen a schematic for one, but having a buffer between the steel and a regular old passive non-powered volume pedal is generally considered essential if you want to preserve the high end of your sound. My impression is that this is the main function of the Matchbox.

A cheap alternative for me has been to get an effects box and place it between the guitar and volume pedal. But.....for this to work the box must have active buffering circuitry in it. There may be exceptions, but almost any effect with electronic switching will do. This means almost any box made in the last 20 years (Boss, DOD, Ibanez, etc.). I use a Boss CS-3 compressor. You don't need (and probably don't want) the actual effect to be on, you just want the box itself in the signal path. (Yes, you do need a battery in the pedal or a power supply.) This means that you could actually use a Boss Heavy Metal pedal if you want.

If my experience is any indication, you will definitely notice a difference if you go to buffering your signal. If you're on a gig and the Matchbox develops a problem, give this a try if you have an effect box handy.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 4 Jul 2000 10:32 am

The isolation/buffering/impedence conversion helps in some cases. I used to use to think a MatchBox was a necessity until I changed to Lawrence 710 pickups. I now find I have a better sound without the MatchBox.

In ref to various other units doing what a MatchBox type device will do. I've found that an MXR Microamp works as well as a MatchBox.

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 4 Jul 2000 3:59 pm

Maybe it's just me, but I don't see what these devices do for the "highs", as most players say. My MSA (they are notoriously "dark" and mellow) has highs out the ying-yang! I've never seen ANY steel that wasn't full of highs (given a good amp).

Most of the recordings from the '60s had clear, razor-sharp highs without all these devices...am I missing something? (Probably half the steelers I've seen recently still DON'T use a matchbox.)

P.S. I didn't post this to start an argument, I just want a few opinions.

Keith Hilton · Post by **Keith Hilton** » 4 Jul 2000 4:45 pm

Hey Donny, try this experiment: Unplug your pot pedal volume control. Then run a straight guitar cord to your amps, without any volume pedal. Next, turn up your volumes on everything until you get a good hum going. Better keep your hand on the strings to keep them from vibrating and feeding back. Now Donny, listen closely to that "hum", with just the straight guitar cord run direct, without a foot pedal. Now Donny, don't change any values. Plug in your old pot pedal and push it wide open. You will hear the same hum you had with a straight cord, but the sound will be different. The "hum" will now have a duller sound. In other words it will not be as bright a hum. Pot pedal wide open, dull hum.
Direct cord, brighter hum. Donny, wonder what killed off the the high frequency part of the hum? Could it possibly be that your old pot pedal is doing the same thing to your sound as it did to the hum. That being---- making it a duller sound? This is a test no one can deny, if they can't hear the difference in the hum, I suggest getting a hearing aid.

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[This message was edited by Keith Hilton on 04 July 2000 at 05:47 PM.][This message was edited by Keith Hilton on 04 July 2000 at 05:49 PM.]

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 5 Jul 2000 6:50 pm

Interesting, Keith, I must admit. I tried your little "experiment"...and sure enough, there was a slight tone and volume difference without the pedal in the circuit. But read on...

Now, as I see it, two things are happening here. When you run one cord straight from the guitar to the amp, you're not only eliminating the volume pedal, but another cord, and a couple of plugs and jacks as well. We all know that shielded cable has a "capacitance-per-foot" that will affect the high frequencies. The more cable, the more high frequency attenuation. And I would imagine that the two extra jacks and the plugs (which are on the second cord) might do the same thing...to a lesser extent.

In order to properly run the test you describe, here is what we would have to do to make it meaningful. We would have to make a small junction mini-box. This box would contain only 2 jacks...wired directly together. Now, to run the test, we would remove the volume pedal, and substitute the junction box. This way the number of plugs, jacks and the cord length would be the same...then we would have a "meaningful" test.

We might still see a difference. I haven't tried this yet (and it will probably be awhile before I do). In the meantime, we should also get a spectrum analyzer to see exactly "what" we're losing, and if a simple one or two notch increase in the treble control will put it "back in".

If this test proves that we're losing something that there's no way to regain (by just changing the amp tone-controls) then I would be convinced you guys are onto something. Until then, it's all "smoke and mirrors" to me, (and to a few others, as well!)

Keith Hilton · Post by **Keith Hilton** » 5 Jul 2000 8:37 pm

Donny,I agree with what you said. Glad to see you understanding what I am trying to explain. Donny, there is a 2nd part to this test----I forgot to tell you that. With the first part of the test you heard the duller sound to the hum with the POT pedal, and a brighter sound to the hum with the straight cord. Now, put a pre-amp driver within one foot of your pickup ,and run the cord to the foot pedal. By pre-amp driver, I mean the Goodrich Match Box, my Digital Sustain ,or some other pre-amp. Now Donny, listen to the sound of the straight cord again. Then listen to the sound with the pre-amp boosting your signal to the pedal wide open. You won't have a dull sound once you put the pre-amp next to your pickup, because it pushes your sound. Donny, this proves the pre-amp hung on the leg of steel guitars is doing something. This is a real simple test and anyone can tell the change in the dullness or brightness of the hum.

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Carl Dvorcek · Post by **Carl Dvorcek** » 7 Jul 2000 12:57 pm

Amazing how a thread on poor soldering transpired into effects, volume pedals, and cabling. Interesting reading though. I started using the matchbox with my ShoBud D12 and a Fender Twin. I used it for nothing more than an impedance matching device vice a Bobbie Seymore installed matching transformer. Worked great. I moved up to a Session 500 and still felt I needed it. Finally went to George-L E-66's with the 6-position switch. I still feel the Matchbox adds to my tone although the E-66's offer interesting tonal qualities themselves. I still wouldn't be without my Matchbox even if the soldering is poor. It does, by the way, have a more professional looking solder job now.

Carl

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 9 Jul 2000 7:32 am

Well Carl,

Maybe I'm guilty of the "transitioning" of the original question. You just seemed so "lost" when the matchbox quit. I guess I just kinda thought "How can that little device failing be such a big deal? The guitar and amp still work!". I guess it's all what we get used to...sorry.

Donny

Lee Baucum · Post by **Lee Baucum** » 9 Jul 2000 11:21 am

One bit of information missing from Carl's story is, what kind of f/x units are in-line between the matchbox and the amp or amps. I believe the more "stuff" you have in-line, the more important that "match box" becomes. The way the f/x units are hooked up is also important.

I plug my Mullen into a Hilton Digital Sustain, then to a Goodrich 120 volume pedal, out to a Lexicon MPX-100, then to an ART dual 15-band EQ, and out to two amps (Nahville and and Evans). I can hear the difference when I take the Hilton Digital Sustain unit out of the line.

When I am on the bandstand, I plug a cheap little Radio Shack splitter into the output of the Hilton Digital Sustain. One cable goes to the volume pedal and the other cable goes to a tuner. There is no audible difference in tone when I do this.

If I plug the splitter into the output of the guitar (leave out the Hilton Digital Sustain) and run one cable to the volume pedal, the sound is not near as good. Then, as soon as I plug the tuner into the other output of the splitter, the fidelity goes to hell.

I can see where one would panic if the "match box" were to fail. In many cases, it is a very important unit in the chain of f/x boxes we use. I love my Hilton Digital Sustain unit.

Lee, from South Texas

Carl Dvorcek · Post by **Carl Dvorcek** » 10 Jul 2000 5:42 am

No problem on the thread change. Actually, it turned out to be very instersting. As far as fx go, I'm using an Ibanez Analog Delay.

best regards to all,
Carl

LARRY COLE · Post by **LARRY COLE** » 10 Jul 2000 7:00 pm

I used to use a SESSION 500 and used the volume pedal loop. I was replacing pots often. Now I put the volume pedal between the guitar and the amp and pots last much longer. I always thought it was the voltage going through the pot that was burning them out.

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LC. WILLIAMS U12

Keith Hilton · Post by **Keith Hilton** » 10 Jul 2000 8:25 pm

Larry,both the Peavey 3 cord hookup and the Matchbox are pre amps. The outputs are similar. The voltage produced by a Match Box is around one volt. If I am not mistaken these POTS are rated at 250 volts. Besides the current from a Match Box is extremely low. Way down in u-Amps. I know these pots are rated for much more current.
Larry, there is something you should worry about a lot more than the current, or voltage, from a Goodrich Matchbox, or the Peavey 3 cord hookup. You can generate 10,000 volts walking across a carpet. Havn't you ever seen fire shoot from your finger. This voltage and current is thousands of times stronger than what a Matchbox, or what the Peavey 3 cord hookup
puts out. So it is thousands of times more likely that your POT was "ZAPPED" by static electricity. Next, there is a thing called "SEQUENCING"! What this means is that guys have several devices hooked up together, each one having it's own power supply. As things are turned on ,or off, there are hunge surges of current that go down guitar cords. Most manufacturers, me and Peavey included ,install devices that protect against these huge surges of current and voltage at turn on and turn off. Your OLD pot has no protection from these huge current and voltage surges. Get that Larry, NO-PROTECTION of any kind! As your different divices power up, or power down, they send damaging surges of current and voltage down the guitar cords, and sometimes ZAP pots and other unprotected things. You are blaming something that is not causing the problems you suggest with your POT. I hope this helps!

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[This message was edited by Keith Hilton on 10 July 2000 at 09:32 PM.][This message was edited by Keith Hilton on 10 July 2000 at 09:33 PM.]

Michael Brebes · Post by **Michael Brebes** » 14 Jul 2000 5:25 am

For someone using a regular passive volume pedal on a pedal steel, before the amp, I have found that the best configuration is to have electronic buffering between the guitar and volume pedal AND after the volume pedal. The high impedance that sits on the line when the volume pedal is not all the way down reacts with the capacitance in the cable and can rob some of your tone. By buffering the output of the volume pedal the cable gets removed from affecting your tone. I have an older Matchbox and, from what I see in its circuit, I would opt for an MXR Microamp over the Matchbox, because the Matchbox has a 500K pot AFTER the last output buffer stage, which defeats part of the function of the buffer amp by turning it back into a high impedance device as soon as the volume is turned down below wide open. I have a nice simple circuit that I came up with that uses one dual opamp and a few capacitors and resistors that can either run off a 9V battery for about a year or could run off a wallwart power supply. If the wallwart supply is used, then the opamp can be changed to low-noise type. If anybody's interested they can email me for a schematic.

Keith Hilton · Post by **Keith Hilton** » 14 Jul 2000 9:02 am

Michael, what type of protective devices are in your design, for failure modes, and noise protection?

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