Active Blend

[rocket88]

i know i started a post about a similar concept before using the sparkle drive as a model, but can't find it and figured it would be worth starting a new convo about this. so i've been messing around with a few pedals adding a blend, specifically the split n' blend. while it's a great add on there's one big problem that i see, which is that as you blend in the clean you're loosing output on the effected signal, to me isn't really the best for a bunch of pedals. think about a pedal like a big muff. so this got me thinking about the best method to adding a blend that leaves the effected signal alone, but adds your clean to it and can boost it.

through my investigating i stumbled across the idea of using a panner, link to pdf from R.G. Keen, which seems like its a better solution as it grounds the signals to prevent bleed through, but i believe it still will lower output of the effected signal. also, there's the paralooper, which i listened to the clips on moosapotamus, which seems to also lower the output of the effected signal. i remember frank mentioning the klon route, but i don't really want to do the dual gang thing, and looking at the klon schematic it seems as though the clean signal is slit after the input buffer, then mixed with the distorted signal and boosted. if i'm correct, then one could split the signal at the input of an effect, similar to the klon, then use a boost of some sort and rejoin the signal after the distorted signal before the output pot. i was thinking though, which is always a bad thing, that why can't you just put a splitter before the input of the effect and run one signal to the effect and the other to a clean boost that will run in parallel to the effect, and connect them both the a single output? i feel like that's overly simple so there's got to be more too it.

so long story short, best method to add 1 pot to add clean signal that can be boosted to match the effected signal, while leaving the effected signal output alone. similar to what the brassmaster can do.

[M. Spencer]

Did you ever find a solution to this? I used a split n blend on a big muff and while I did notice the slight drop in volume on the effected signal, I just balanced it out with more volume on the effect. But a more elegant solution is intriguing.

[traktop]

I´m currently working on a solution for that.

Built a green russian with a split n´blend for a bass, and while it did the trick, it didn´t do it to well IMMO, (it coloured the tone no matter what transistors I used, and lacked unity gain as well).

Then I tried a lpb booster after the dry buffered signal and before the pot, what made things even worse, (got unity gain back, but it mushed the tone even more and now I´ve got three boards inside a muff build...).

I´m telling you what I will try right after writing this post:

Build an AMZ mosfet booster, (it seemed to be far more transparent),  with a vol. trimmer on its board. Then I´ll wire 2 leads from the input jack switch lug to both booster and muff inputs.
Muff output straight to output jack switch lug, booster output to blend pot #3 lug and blend pot #2 lug to the output jack switch lug as well. Won´t connect lug number 1 to ground, cause I would loose all the signal I guess.

I was thinking on maybe upping the blend pot so I could eliminate the dry signal completely with more resistance, (I don´t know if I this would work though), or even using a switch to remove it completely... The switch thing is something that I´ve already got installed on the enclosure and was used before for doing exactly the opposite, (connecting the the dry signal straight to the output jack), but I understand that this would be a so ghetto fixing... (and forget about that elegant one master vol. pot of course)

Let´s see how it goes...  

[traktop]

Well, I tried with AMZ mosfet booster and the tl071 buffer, (two different attemps, nor at the same time in series), to carry the dry signal to the blend pot ,and a curious thing happened, (in a bad way, of course...).
They worked awesome by themselves out of the blend pot with absolutely zero change in tone, (the mosfet booster was a little louder). But when passing through the blender pot, both experienced a significant lost in clarity and highs in general.
I don´t know if it´s because of the pot or the fact that I used the input of the "dry signal buffer" as the send to the big muff and this would be loading the dry signal, but I think I´m done with blender/splitters for a while.