Looper/channel switcher not working?

Bidley · September 2013

I bought one of these a long while ago, to switch my TS9 on with the dirt channel. I never got around to using it though, as I found a different workaround. Now I want to use it, and it doesn't work properly.

It will switch the loop in and out, but it doesn't switch the channel. My amp works with a bog standard two-button Marshall footswitch (channel and reverb). When I push the stereo cable (the pedal has a stereo socket) into the pedal slowly, it switches the channel fleetingly, but that's it. If I leave the jack in at the point it switches the channel, the switch does nothing. Is the pedal wired to the wrong lug on the stereo socket? Here's a pic;

http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd489/Bydytron/IMG_20130928_1542361_zpsd152f8dc.jpg

It has an internal (what I think is a) polarity switch too, which doesn't affect the problem.

Halp!

mike_l · September 2013

if its like mine a standard instrument cable does the switching, and has no trouble doing it.
Mines a gec-9 unit.

Bidley · September 2013

Just tried a standard instrument cable, nothing. Cheers though dude!

ICBM · September 2013

Normally, it's the tip which switches the channel and the ring which switches the reverb - although there are exceptions, like many Peaveys - so the jack is wired correctly. If that was the cause of the problem the reverb would turn on and off instead of the channel.

Lots of potential for short circuits on that polarity switch - how is it mounted when the pedal is assembled? Are the two 'X' wires touching each other? (They're not necessary anyway, it just needs to be a SPDT.) It also looks like the switch body is coming apart, so it may just be knackered.

I would remove the polarity switch and the blue wire, leaving the orange wires attached at the footswitch end. Then simply connect one orange wire to the tip terminal of the jack and test it. If that makes the channel switch the wrong way round, swap to the other orange wire. Finally remove (or insulate the end of) the unused orange wire.

Bidley · September 2013

ICBM said:

Normally, it's the tip which switches the channel and the ring which switches the reverb - although there are exceptions, like many Peaveys - so the jack is wired correctly. If that was the cause of the problem the reverb would turn on and off instead of the channel.

@ICBM Aha, I had my reverb down low. The switch does turn the reverb on and off (my amp, a Carvin X100B, has no reverb indicator light). So it it a case of wiring the lugs on the switch differently after all?

Bidley · September 2013

Whoops

ICBM · September 2013

Yes, just move the blue wire to the next terminal, next to the white/grey wire.

Bloody Americans! I thought that was just Peavey

.

I'd still tape up or remove that polarity switch though, it looks like a right mess.

Bidley · September 2013

ICBM said:

Yes, just move the blue wire to the next terminal, next to the white/grey wire.

Bloody Americans! I thought that was just Peavey .

I'd still tape up or remove that polarity switch though, it looks like a right mess.

Brilliant, cheers. One more problem though - the terminal between the 'blue' (it's actually purple, but the photo has made it look blue) and the white has been inexplicably snipped off. Would it be alright to solder it onto the bit where the terminal was?

The polarity switch looks alright IRL - again, the photo hasn't flattered it.

ICBM · September 2013

Bidley said:

One more problem though - the terminal between the 'blue' (it's actually purple, but the photo has made it look blue) and the white has been inexplicably snipped off. Would it be alright to solder it onto the bit where the terminal was?

Yes, as long as you can get a good bond and don't melt the plastic.

Bidley said:

The polarity switch looks alright IRL - again, the photo hasn't flattered it.

Just make sure it doesn't short against the casing.

Bidley · September 2013

ICBM said:

Bidley said:

One more problem though - the terminal between the 'blue' (it's actually purple, but the photo has made it look blue) and the white has been inexplicably snipped off. Would it be alright to solder it onto the bit where the terminal was?

Yes, as long as you can get a good bond and don't melt the plastic.

Bidley said:

The polarity switch looks alright IRL - again, the photo hasn't flattered it.

Just make sure it doesn't short against the casing.

10-4. Thanks for your help dude.

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Looper/channel switcher not working?

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