their input and ideas. The tuner-out of the
Dual SGoS, as well as the fourth mode
(aka “Carl Verheyen-mode”) of this box are
good examples of this. Carl was one of the
better-known guitarists who used the Dual
on an everyday basis. He wanted an additional tuner-out and a preset mode from
standard A/B boxes – one switch is for A
or B, another one for A and B and the third
is for the tuner. I built this as a custom version for Carl, then started receiving a lot of
requests for this setup. I did a redesign of
the old Dual to implement those features
and the Dual SGoS has been one of our
best sellers ever since.
Putting the finishing touches
on a Dual SGoS
Not long ago,
I met Joe
Bonamassa
in Bochum,
Germany.
He has been
using my 1@ 3
switchers on
his pedal-
board since
2001 and
stated that
this is the only
switcher that
is 100 percent
transpar-
ent, without
any tone
coloration. I
brought him
a new 1@ 3
SGoS switcher
that he tested right before his gig. I think
that Joe is a real sound purist, recognizing
even the smallest differences in tone – I’m
happy that I had the chance to talk about
tone and switchers with him.
Where did the “mushroom” footswitches
come from?
I soldered my first switchers by hand and
I connected the three switches to the PCB
with cables. This method was not very
production friendly and also notorious for
malfunctioning. Standard footswitches have
a very limited lifetime, and to be honest, I
really don’t like the design. Based on my
experiences repairing amps and stompbox-es I knew that I also didn’t want a solution
where the switches are soldered directly to
the circuit board because of the risk of a
broken or damaged PCB. Production costs
and the risk of malfunctions are low with
this design, but what can you do with a
switcher that’s unreliable?
While looking for a suitable solution, I visited an electronics tradeshow in Munich, and
found aluminium knobs with a plastic bearing, engaging a micro tactile switch inside
the case! Naturally, this is not my invention;
the method of “indirect engaging of a
switch” has been well known for industrial
applications for many years, but the design
is especially developed for the needs of
musicians. All of the components – the aluminium mushroom knob, the bearing bushing, the retaining spring, the microswitch on
the PCB and the relays – are designed for
at least two million switching actions. With a
little luck, a standard footswitch will survive
20,000 switching actions. I think the best
proof that our switchers are very reliable is
the 1@ 3 that Joe Bonamassa uses – it has
spent seven years on the road without any
problems. With the Little Lehle, I released
a second system that works with the same
knob, but inside there is no microswitch.
Instead, a specially shaped flexible sheet of
metal is engaging a high quality slide switch
with gold contacts. I use this system in the
Little Lehle, the Little Dual and soon in the
Lehle Parallel-L.
Tell us more about the Little Lehle – what
was the idea behind the design?
The Little Lehle is our beginner’s model,
offering the same quality in sound and
construction as our big switchers. The Little
Lehle switches a stereo stompbox or as
a symmetrical signal into the signal path.
You can also use it as a stereo A/B box for
two amps or two instruments. The Little
Lehle is loaded with two slide switches in
parallel with gold contacts, which delivers
eight individual switching stages. Because
of this, you can switch a signal in stereo
or symmetrical while also switching the
grounds. Of course, it can still function as
a mono switcher. When you are using the
Little Lehle as an A/B box for one guitar
and two amps, it’s impossible to get any
ground loops. The lifetime of the gold-con-
tacted slide switches is drastically expanded
compared to
standard
footswitches.
Also, they will
not produce
the typical
popping
noises that
often occur
with standard
switches.
Since it was
released, the
Little Lehle is
my top seller
and my goal
is to equip
every guitar-
ist with one.
This summer
I will release
the Little
Lehle II, offering the same new design as my
big switchers.
What else is on the horizon for Lehle?
The Sunday Driver is coming next. It’s a
clean boost with two boost options; the
“driver mode” where the box is working as
a linear line driver and the “Sunday mode”
where it works like a buffer, very similar to
the D-Loop buffer function. Next, I plan to
release the little line-mixers Parallel M and
Parallel L, which will convert a serial effects
loop to parallel. Another big project is the
design of several channel-switchers for
amps that can be connected to my SGoS-series products, working as a network.
Lehle
lehle.com
