Dual Rec had problems tonight...please help

[plapnab]

Hi all,
Had an issue with my Dual Rec tonight. You know that static buzz you get when you turn on a DR with the footswitch plugged in...well, last night when I would fire it up I would get that for a good 30 seconds. Additionally, the overall channel switching went completely haywire! It would work fine for a while but, then it would seem to get hung up between channels 2 and 3 (both red and orange lights lit on the front of the amp) accompanied by the expected hums, buzzes, and loss of single. When it did this the first couple times I just unplugged the footswitch, the amp would automatically go to the orange channel and sound fine, then plug the pedal back in and everything would work normally for a while. But, this only worked a couple of times and after like the third meltdown it just stopped working all together and back to meltdown mode it would go. I was in the middle of a gig at the time and was going to just finish out the night switch channels manually on the back of the amp and try using dynamics to compensate for no solo boost. However, I tried one more thing that seemed to help. Now, normally I have "loop on" selected on the back of the amp...reason being that I control the effects thru my pedal board and sometimes when I hit the solo channel I accidently turn the FX off. Anyhow, I tried setting this knob to "ftsw" and everything seemed to work fine for the rest of the night. Does anyone know what's going on here? I recently had the amp completely re-tubed...but, could it be the v4 failing? Or, is it something more serious??? Searched through the forum and couldn't find a similar thread. Help

 

[R_ADKINS80]

the simple fact that you said the problem went away when you unplugged the foot switch tells me the problem is more than likely either the foot switch itself or the cable. I'd start there.

 

[fluff191]

the simple fact that you said the problem went away when you unplugged the foot switch tells me the problem is more than likely either the foot switch itself or the cable. I'd start there.

+1

Your footswitch took a sh!t.

 

[plapnab]

the simple fact that you said the problem went away when you unplugged the foot switch tells me the problem is more than likely either the foot switch itself or the cable. I'd start there.

+1

Your footswitch took a sh!t.

LOL...straight to the point on that response. Yes, the footswitch and the cable were both my first thought. However, since everything seemed to work ok when I changed the knob on the back of the amp from "Loop on" to "ftsw" I thought it might be something else. I suppose maybe there's something in the circuitry in the pedal that would cause this to work. Oh well, I guess I need to shop for a new footswitch. I hate it when gear sporatically malfunctions...it's easier to troubleshoot when stuf just breaks.

 

[fluff191]

haha the only reason I said it was your footswitch is a buddy that was on tour had a similar thing happen to him and once he took his rig to Mesa it was a misbehaving footswitch.

 

[plapnab]

I don't know what to make of this. Pulled the footswitch apart and checked the soders...fine. Hooked everything up hand had it running all afternoon...no problems. Turned it on and off about 100 time...no issues. Maybe it was a bit grouchy last night. I'll have to keep an eye on the footswitch. If it is the culprit I suspect possibly the orange channel switcher is malfunctioning. Fortunately, I have a replacement part. Just wish whatever it was would just all together fail so i can get on with it. :lol:

 

[screamingdaisy]

More than likely it was the cable, or the cable was poorly connected.

I've had similar issues (channel switchign going haywire) with a my Mark V when I stepped on the cable and it partially disconnected.

 

[fluff191]

If I had a dollar for every time my cable was only partially connected to my footswitch, I would have a Mark V by now. Seriously. 8)

 

[rouleau]

OK !

Verify if you're on the SPONGY mode, if yes turn to Bold mode and try the again. if it's ok use a voltmeter and verify the AC voltage line. I have seen that a couple of time when the AC line is under 110V. the amp switchin matrix make weird things in spongy mode.

 

[UnderJollyRoger]

I would recommend checking the footswitch cable, too. Plus, it's probably the cheapest thing to replace

 

[plapnab]

OK !

Verify if you're on the SPONGY mode, if yes turn to Bold mode and try the again. if it's ok use a voltmeter and verify the AC voltage line. I have seen that a couple of time when the AC line is under 110V. the amp switchin matrix make weird things in spongy mode.

I'm kind of wondering if it was a power issue now as well. Yes, I do run it spongy and did flip it back and forth...also, flipped the tubes to diodes and back. Neither cleared the problem but, switching from spongy to bold created a loud popping noise the first time. At the time, I had all my stuff plugged into our bass player's power conditioner. And, he's been having all kinds of problems as well. Like I said, the next day I hooked everything up and ran it all afternoon with no issues. So, I'm wondering if our bass player has a bad power conditioner (Furman).