help choosing switch for my pedal

[wrex02]

I've been looking around various places for different switch setups for my pedal project. Anybody found any good proximity switches that will work with the rock band drum kit? Small preferably. Not really trying to go the magnetic or reed switch route, have heard bad things about the destroyer and they really just look awful to me. Most of them are huge and would be awkward to mount.

Thanks

[wrex02]

/***bump***\

[mooremwm]

I'm not sure about the proximity switches, but I used this magnetic switch (http://www.thesource.ca/estore/Product.aspx?language=en-CA&catalog=Online&category=Home+Security%2fAccessories&product=4900532) from The Source and it works great with my Pearl pedal. I took the magnetic half apart though and just mounted the small magnet on the underside of the pedal then covered the switch part on the baseplate up with thick black tape. I think it looks pretty good and works perfectly (although I'm probably going to add a bit of hotglue to make it more secure).

[Bakkster]

If you don't want a reed switch, you will probably need an active switch.

My suggestion would be a photo-transistor. This would need an LED on the pedal, ideally on a post below the pedal, and the phototransistor in an enclosed space in the base. The problem with this is it will require power (active), and there won't be as sharp of a transition between on and off.

Any particular reason you want a proximity sensor that isn't a reed switch? Any thoughts to using a piezo on a beater?

[wrex02]

Well I am Trying to avoid the use of a beater just just because of the extra noise it creates would love too but... And the proximity idea just seemed appealing to me after reading a review for another pedal on the market. I also have used these types of switches at work for different applications and they have worked very well in my experiences. They are extremely accurate and there are no moving internals to break or contacts to wear. The ones i use are huge and run off of anywhere from 24vdc to 120ac and it would be just ridiculous to even try to make one of them work. Not sure if there is even any supply voltage present to the rb pedal but if there is I'm sure they make low voltage types of these switches that I could order. But then again this is my first attempt so I'm totally open to suggestions of other peoples successful attempts.

[Bakkster]

Well, the stock pedal is simply a reed switch, so there's no supply current to use.

I think that in the course of making a bass pedal, you have to hit something at the end. Why not make the stopper of the pedal hit a piezo, which switches a MOSFET or BJT transistor? This shouldn't add any noise, and might even reduce it. If you chose the right piezo and transistor, you should be able to avoidan external supply. Only downside I can think of is needing to hit the pedal, rather than just putting it down, but that's the way a normal pedal works.

[bknstx]

I don't know how much this will help i took apart the rock band pedal and took out the magnet and put it on bottom of my regular pedal then took out the sensor and taped it to the foot board and got a 1/8 extension cable because the regular cable isn't long enough here is some pics i took sorry for the quality I took them real quick with my web cam ps its the cheapest mod you can do and it works great

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v114/alcha3/drumcontroler.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v114/alcha3/drum1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v114/alcha3/drum2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v114/alcha3/drum3.jpg