Footswitch question

[ElCamino]

Just purchased an inexpensive Orange Crush 20L amp. 2 channels: clean and dirty. When I plugged in my Fender footswitch, however, it doesn't change channels. My footswitch is the older Fender style: black and sliver with the angled sides, like the base of a pyramid. Two stomp buttons, one for channel and one labeled "chorus."

I'm guessing it's not compatible with my new amp. Am likely just going to run up and buy an Orange FS-1 footswitch that I know is compatible with my amp per the Orange website. But I wonder if something could be wrong with the amp jack or something.

Can somebody give me the 10-second schooling on footswitches---latching vs. non-, etc.----and pedals if appropriate. If it's not already obvious, this is brand new territory for me.

Thanks!

[Bob Womack]

Older amps often had nothing except a latching "make or break" (SPST) switch that allowed the signal to pass to the reverb circuit or energized the trem circuit. Modern amps often have a more complicated circuit that adds an LED to show status and many use a relay or FET circuit that looks for a momentarily closed connection to toggle status and therefore doesn't need or want a latching mechanism. You can often find info on your particular amp online, sometimes through schematics and sometimes through looking for hacks where people are substituting smaller switches for the stock units in their pedal boards.

Bob

[pieterh]

I can't see where you would plug in a footswitch, am I looking at the same model?

In the manual to the 20L it mentions footswitch for the distortion but the schematics of the top and back panels don't show a socket for a footswitch to be connected - if you ask me Orange have printed the same info re switch options in the section on restored and specs.

Checking through the website I see that the 35 model has an input for the footswitch jack. Does yours definitely have a footswitch input?

[ElCamino]

Originally Posted by pieterh

I can't see where you would plug in a footswitch, am I looking at the same model?

In the manual to the 20L it mentions footswitch for the distortion but the schematics of the top and back panels don't show a socket for a footswitch to be connected - if you ask me Orange have printed the same info re switch options in the section on restored and specs.

Checking through the website I see that the 35 model has an input for the footswitch jack. Does yours definitely have a footswitch input?

Howdy. Yes, it definitely has a footswitch jack. It's on the back. I did a little more digging and found recommendations to go with the Orange FS-1 switch. Inexpensive and the same brand so I "know" it'll work. It's on the way. Apparently it's of the latch variety, which is what this amp requires. I'm guessing the Fender 2-button I have is non-latching or the fact that it has a second button for chorus (effects) and the amp has no additional effects has something to do with its incompatibility.

Thanks very much for looking into it, though. Much appreciated. (Still unsure what all this latch vs. non- business is, but I'm sure Google knows. Just have to ask.)

[pieterh]

Latch simply means that when you press the button it latches into position (say, "on") and closes a circuit and when pressed again it disconnects. Most pedals used to be of this kind and tend to be compatible across the board - I have a generic switch from IMG which changes channel on my Duncan Tube and works on other amps too.

Other switch types may be more brand specific and contain more sophisticated electronics to control a wider range of functions - instead of closing or opening a circuit they send control signals that the electronics inside the amp interpret and respond to. It may well be that the Fender footswitch you have is set up so that it works in this way. If it was of the latching type it may have what looks like a stereo jack and that the channel change is routed through the wrong conductor as far as your amp is concerned. Dos anything happen when trying the chorus button?

[ElCamino]

------Dos anything happen when trying the chorus button?

No, not a thing. I wondered if there could be something wrong with the amp jack, but all things point to a new pedal switch doing the trick: The Fender switch is old, lent to me by a friend who isn't a guitar person, and I've never used it. It could well not be functional as well as possibly incompatible. Also, the amp is brand new, and all else functions great. So I figure the chances of the jack being damaged in shipping or otherwise defective are small. All of which is why I pulled the trigger on the new switch.

[pieterh]

Let us know how you get on with it!

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

…Modern amps often have a more complicated circuit…

Hi Bob…
No kidding!

I bought a Roland Cube 40-GX amp for worship team, and bought the foot switch which has 6 switches (with LEDs) and it switches everything with a TRS cable!

• Effects (Chorus, Phase, Tremelo, Heavy Octave, Flange)
• Delay (Warm or Clear)
• Reverb (Spring or Plate)
• Clean channel
• Overdrive channel
• Memorized channel with any effect, reverb, volume levels, and amp model…

What kind of magic is this? How do they do all that with a simple Stereo cable?

And the pedal has another insert on the back for a digital volume pedal if you want to add that too.

My only complaint was they didn't put a TAP TEMPO on the foot pedal. I have to do that on the amp…which sits right beside me on a stand.

If I plug standard (even modern) foot switches into the back of the amp, best I can accomplish is ⅔ of what their pedal controls.

[BTF]

The angular Fender switches were for electronically-switched amps. They usually don't work with amps needing latching switches because they either had momentary switches or had diodes in series with the switching circuit (if the switch has a square led(s), it has one or more diodes.

You can make it work with other amps, but you must gut it and replace the switch types. Of course, the switch then no longer works with the Fender...

Hope you like the Orange!

[ElCamino]

For all those following this scintillating thread about my channel footswitch journey, the Orange FS-1 works like a champ.

And the Orange Crush 20L amp is perfect for what I need. Just enough ooomph to earn complaints from my neighbors (apartment building) and quite possibly hang tough with some folks I jam with, all for pretty cheap.

Now to play around with my new VHT Melo-Verb Tremelo + Reverb pedal. ("Why buy an amp that does it all for $299 when you can spend $139 on something super basic plus another bazillion dollars on pedals to get not quite as good a sound as what you would have gotten had you just coughed up the $299 in the first place," I always say!)

Oh and my apologies to Bob Womack. You explained right outta the gate about latching vs. non-, which I read and understood, and in a later thread said something about still not knowing what latching means. Wish I could blame it on being drunk. I wasn't. Just thoughtless or a blond moment or something.

[Bob Womack]

Glad you found your switch!!!

Bob