6-band graphic eq project component substitutions / improvements

[dtleahy]

Guess it's time to order parts, and start soldering.

Tom, I'm going to give the Bourn 3310-x panel mount pots a try. Thanks!

Might make little complimentary wood knobs for them, in fact, I'm sure I'll use some sort of knobs to cover the blue plastic.

Hmmm, wait a minute...on my Mackie mixer, there are small pots using 9mm dia. knobs. Like these:

There are no visible washers or nuts holding the pots on the mixer. I wonder how those pots are mounted? Maybe not a panel mount, maybe mounted on a board, and the "panel" is a cutout overlay? I'm intrigued at just exactly what Mackie is using for pots (they use good components), and how they mount them.

Does anyone know?

Here's what Mackie advertising says:

Every VLZ3 mixer is built tough-as-a-tank. Our legendary solid-steel chassis can take the kind of abuse that would turn our competitors' flimsy boxes into twisted chunks of debris. Instead of cheap, unsealed potentiometers, we use co-molded pots, which offer substantial strain and impact relief. By design, our control knobs “ride” just above the surface of the chassis, so if something falls onto the mixer, the impact is transferred from the knobs to the chassis—not to the potentiometers or circuit board. Finally, we use thick, horizontally mounted fiberglass PC boards to eliminate the potential for damage and brace them with a shock-absorbing support structure. They’ve survived earthquakes, hurricanes and typhoons, so Mackie mixers can certainly handle whatever you throw at them.

Thanks,

Dennis

 

[dtleahy]

The control pots for th EQ do not have to be mounted on the PCB, they can mount on guitar side with only shaft slightly protruding, then have short wires to the PCB.

Another question, if I may:

How long could these wires be without a great deal of signal degradation or ? I'm wondering if it would be possible to have the pots on the guitar side up near the neck, and wires leading back to the rear of the guitar, where the PCB would be mounted (for ease of access to change the battery, for example.)

It would be about 20" (max) from the neck to the tail of an acoustic guitar.

Is this one of those things where the hookup wire would need to be enormous, for a 20" run, rather than just using 24ga hookup wire for a very short (say, 4") run?

In any case (regardless of length) should the wire be shielded, or will that make no audible difference?

Thanks,

Dennis