Introduction: DIY Custom Rock Band Pedal, Just Like the Destroyer Pedal!!!

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About: I'm a Philosophy major/PoliSci minor at UT @ Arlington planning on going on to law school at UT Austin. I like to make things rather than buy them and I'm very interested in flight and propulsion in general. I…

This instructable will show you how to put together your own custom Rock Band pedal, just like the Destroyer Pedal, except you won't have to pay $70 for it!

I decided to do this because I didn't want to buy something that I know I can make myself, and since I'm an engineer I love building stuff. Oh, and the Destroyer Pedal is the biggest ripoff I've ever seen, $70 for something that only cost me $25 to build seems a little overrated, that guy is making a large profit, don't listen to him when he says he isn't, he just wants you to buy his product.

Well, enough with my whiny, cry baby opinion, lets get on with the show!

***UPDATE: I'm going to add how to make your own bass pad type thing for it, its way easier to do the quicker and also longer speedy sequences if the beater meets some resistence. I'll work on it tomorrow and monday and post what i come up with.

Step 1: Gather the Goods!

Here's the BoM (Bill of Materials):
1 x Bass pedal - I got mine off ebay, $14.50 including shipping, here's a link to all listed pedals.

1 x Reed Switch/Relay - i got mine from Radio Shack, you don't really need a reed relay, because you will be using a magnet to trigger it, but Radio Shack only had the relay type and thats what i got. either way, they work the same in this application, fyi jameco has some cheap ones, just make sure that wherever you get it from you get a NO(normally open) type, not NC(normally closed). MAKE SURE YOU PAY ATTENTION TO THIS!!!

1 x Magnet(12 mm x 12 mm x 5mm is recommended) - I recommend getting a rare earth magnet, particularly a Neodymium magnet. I got a 'grab bag' of these once from a website for really cheap, so i have all different kinds. Sorry, but i forgot the site, or i would post a link. Hereis a link to a good site though.

1 x 1/8 inch ""mono"" jack - I got mine from Radio Shack, and it came with prestripped wires so all i had to do was solder them to the leads from the reed switch.

*Optional* 1 x Soldering Iron/Solder - It makes a better, stronger connection, but isn't absolutely necessary.

Step 2: Reed Switch/Mono Jack Assembly

Connect one of the leads from the mono jack wire to one of the leads on the ends of the reed switch, either using solder or twisting them together or something. Then, connect the remaining wire to the other lead on the reed switch. If you want, you can use some electrical or duct tape to tape the switch to the cord to make sure it won't get wiggled around. Ta Da! That's all for this, but just to be safe I've included a diagram...

Step 3: Attach Switch Assembly to Pedal

Attach the Switch assembly to one of the support posts on the pedal, I chose the left side, since I'm planning on using this as my main pedal for my right foot, and i want the cord to be out of the way.

I used three small zip ties that you can get almost anywhere, i got two packs of these from radio shack last summer for about $2 each. Make 2 of the zip ties into loops, and then wrap the third around the pedal post and then through those two zip ties. then, just put the reed switch inside them and tighten them up and there ya go, its attached! See the picture for a better idea of what i mean...
(sorry for the fuzziness, i didn't notice it when i took the picture)

***UPDATE***
I changed the reed switch to the bottom of my pedal, its now zip tied to the rectangular metal thingy down there, and magnet was moved to under the pedal, it now works much better, and double bass is easier. ill post pics as soon as i can...

Step 4: Attach Magnet to Foot Plate

Get your magnet, Neodymium or otherwise, and a large zip tie, or some glue, etc. Then, just wrap the zip tie around the pedal and put the magnet inside it on the side of the pedal where the reed switch is attached and tighten. If using glue, or tape, or whatever, then just attach it that way, as long as its on the side with the reed switch.

Step 5: Test It!

This is the slightly tricky part, because depending on your pedal, this will vary for everyone, but the concept is simple: Make magnet close to switch. I suggest sitting in a chair and pressing the pedal while the game is in practice mode. Be sure to do normal kicks, nothing too outrageous, just like you normally do. If it doesn't register, never fear, you probably just need to move the magnet closer to the switch, or move switch closer to magnet, etc. Once you figure out the magic position, go to the next step.

Step 6: *Optional* Double Bass Mod

You can go to Radio Shack and get something like THIS to plug in both bass pedals at once. There's only one problem with this: If one pedal is pressed down, then the other one won't work until you let off of the depressed one. There is an easy way to fix this, well actually, depending on how good you are at soldering/electrical circuit assembly, it might be quite hard...but anyways, go HERE to find out about it. If you go this route, then you don't need the Y-Adapter above, because you will be using two mono in jacks in the circuit.

Thanks for reading my instructable! Comments are appreciated...Please rate if you like it!
(sorry about the lack of good pics, i didn't think of making an instructable when i actually made the pedal yesterday, so i only have completed photos)

here are all my pictures of my completed bass pedal