Obel

[Marleyboy]

Can someone explain this to me in detail?i could research it but this seems to be the best way to figure it out.i am new to the search for Jerry tone.my philosophy has always been the simpler the better.2 Duncan 59s a piezo coil tap and 3way pickup selector.keeps my mind free to just play I can get easily distracted.i do use a buffer but need some information on the obel.thanks-marleyboy

[TI4-1009]

From Waldo's Tiger page

http://www.wald-electronics.com/tiger.html

"Tigers Wiring

The aspect of Tiger I am most acquainted with is its electronics. The guitar features a single-coil in the neck position, as opposed to the humbuckers you see on his other instruments. Garcia used a DiMarzio SDS-1 Strat-style pickup in the neck, and DiMarzio Super 2s in the middle and bridge. There is also a coil-cut switch for the middle and bridge pickups.

The guitar's wiring is somewhat unusual. The pickups are switched by a standard 5-position pickup selector. The neck and bridge share a tone control, and the middle pickup has its own tone control. The output of the pickups goes directly into a unity-gain (no boost) preamp powered by a 9-volt battery. The preamp protects the guitar signal against high-end loss due to cable capacitance by lowering the output impedance.
From the preamp, the signal goes to an onboard effects loop switch, which routs the signal either directly to the guitar's volume control or to Garcia's effects (via a TRS jack), and then back into the guitar (through the same TRS jack) to the guitar's volume control. From there, the signal finally goes out the main output jack.

The genius of this wiring is that it allowed Garcia to keep full volume going to the pedals while controlling his output volume from the guitar. The advantage is that the tone and response of the pedals would not change with the guitar's output volume, as it normally would if Garcia plugged directly into them. The wiring also allowed for a true bypass of the effects when they weren't in use. "

There is a ton of OBEL info on this discussion board- use the search function and poke around.

[NSP]

Can someone explain this to me in detail?i could research it but this seems to be the best way to figure it out.i am new to the search for Jerry tone.my philosophy has always been the simpler the better.2 Duncan 59s a piezo coil tap and 3way pickup selector.keeps my mind free to just play I can get easily distracted.i do use a buffer but need some information on the obel.thanks-marleyboy

Not much to it really, you've already got the buffer which is pretty much required to drive the 30+ feet of cable from guitar to amp. Between the previous post and Waldo's website you can learn all you need to make it happen. Once it's installed, it won't be a distraction as you don't mess with it while you're playing, unless you toggle to bypass.

Essentially what you will need is to install a second jack (TRS - tip, ring, sleeve) and a DPDT toggle switch that will either send the signal through the loop or bypass and go straight to the output. The TRS jack you install will send the signal down the A side of the stereo cable (tip), through your effects chain and back up the B side of the stereo cable (ring) "before" the volume control. The volume control is a voltage divider, so without the loop anytime you cut the volume you cut the voltage going to the pedals which can cause variations in tonal response, especially in the envelope filters we all love so much.

So, you will need -

TRS jack
DPDT toggle switch
Cabling and junction box. I got my cable from Andrew Olson, but a search here will find you other options. The junction box I built myself for less than $20 and using schematics on Waldo's site.

http://www.aoguitars.com/
http://www.wald-electronics.com/misc.html

Peace

[Tennessee Jedi]

MB
The tech stuff aside ( me no like tech just want stuff to work ) the OBEL will free you of distractions ....
I play clean most of the time - when the FX loop is bypassed its a 'straight to the amp' sound .... + 1 !
The best thing I like is the fact i dont have to do a " pedal dance " as much .... with a flick of a toggle I can engage the board and what ever FX's are on .... and you cant step on 2 pedals at the same but with the OBEL its possible ....