So I've loved the idea for years of incorporating the processing power for digital music of the iOS devices into not just recording, but live performances. There have been several products released over the past few years that are pretty incredible, but always left me feeling like there was a big part missing. The initial offering for guitar interfaces (the IK Multimedia iRig, Peavey AmpKit, etc.) were all astonishing in their reproduction of sounds, but always left me with that stupid little 1/8" headphone jack for output. Not at all useful if I wanted to run into a PA.
Griffin Technology previewed the Stompbox a while back and I thought I was sold, but again I was left with what felt really cheap and awkward for interfacing with a PA. A few even managed to incorporate a 1/4" jack, but the impedance was always wrong.
Digitech debuted the iPB10 to accept the iPad and although it was an incredibly cool concept, it's $400 price point coupled with the fact that you must dedicated a device costing at least $500 puts it's minimum cost at just shy of $1,000. Really? A grand for some digital effects?I watched devices come and go and although I'm still pretty excited to check out Mackie's DL1608, I'm not sure I'll be able to afford it.
Then I saw a preview for the IK Multimedia iRig Stomp. It contained an upgraded circuitry from the iRig (which received less than stellar reviews from most users, though I suspect that was more a result of their software and less the hardware), but was packaged in a stompbox format and included a pre-amp, headphone jack, and not one, but two 1/4" line level outputs. It seemed like I'd found my answer. Then it was a waiting game. I watched as my favorite retailers promised ship date after ship date. I waited and waited. Marked them in my calendar, and then waited some more.
It's important to understand why I want the iRig stomp to work so badly. I run a strange setup for my guitars. A few years back I added a D-TAR Wavelength pickup to my Taylor T5 in order to be able to run dual outputs, an acoustic signal, and an electric simultaneously. I often perform alone and I wanted the added depth of sound of running the twin signals. I started with a little box and added one here and there until I ended up with this:
And I love it. It does so many things. I love explaining it to people. I love playing through it. I love watching all the pretty flashing lights when I plug it in. What I don't love is carrying it. Fully loaded in it's box it weighs just over 150lbs. It BARELY fits in the trunk of my car. I designed it to fit, but didn't count on it weighing so much. It's great when I'm traveling through the summers and playing for 3 or more days at the same venue. It's not great for setting up to play a 7 song set in a church service. It's too much. It's too heavy. It's too flashy. I want something that gives me most of the functionality, but much less bulk and weight. Enter the iRig Stomp.
After months of waiting, I finally ordered one of the first available and received it a few weeks ago. I sat down with it, plugged it in and marveled at how horrible the sounds coming from it were. I then did a little bit of reading, discarded the Amplitube software and downloaded Peavey's AmpKit, and I was in love. After about $20 worth of app purchases, I had the sounds I wanted, both from the acoustic side and electric. So now I needed two, and two iPhones (I can steal my wife's on stage right?), and I needed to be able to control the volume of the electric so I can fade it in and out depending on the song.
My main rig has a Morley Mini Volume pedal on it. It's so compact for a volume pedal at about 6 3/4" x 4 1/2" compared to an average size of 10" x 6" for full size volumes. I decided that two iRig Stomps, another signal switcher, and a Morley Mini Volume would fit the bill. I could put it all on a board about 7" x 10" and have about 60% of the functionality of my main rig, but at a fraction of the size and weight.
I can't leave well enough alone. my brother-in-law needed help moving the in/out jacks on his Morley Mini Volume, so I tore into mine to see what I could find. I found that there was a ton of space in there, possible even enough to fit the internals from the iRig Stomp into (I had, of course, opened mine up as soon as I received it to inspect the guts). I started working on the layout and was shortly led to the conclusion that I could, within a larger enclosure, fit all the components for all four of the desired pedals. The design of the Morley lends itself very well to alternate placement. I will show all of this in more detail in future posts as I go through the build. If I cut out all the cabling necessary to rout the signal chain through the 4 pedals, I save enough money to pay for the enclosure. I found several boxes from Hammond Manufacturing that would work, but I think I've decided to build my own out of sheet metal. Regardless, here is the mockup:
Notice I have labeled a midi jack on the back side. That will be my interface with another box I will build that will house/mount/power/interface with the two iPhones. Basically I will use any 8-pin din connector and corresponding cable I can find.
It's just a theory at this point, and will likely undergo massive changes before completion. I still need about $150 to buy the rest of the components and since I do all my music experimentation with our 'extra' money, It'll be a while before that happens, but please check back from time to time to see how things are or aren't progressing.
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