Mark IV Footswitch Mod

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upyouraxe

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So I am a longtime Boogie fan/user. I've never posted here before. I've owned Lonestars, Rectoverb, Mark IV, Mark V, Mark V 35, and Mark V 25. Of all these, my favorite and the only one I still have (and won't sell) is a Mark IV Combo. (Just to flesh out my tastes a bit...I've tried it with all different tube combos and find that 4 6l6s is my sweet spot. I also really like a 12ax7 LPS for the P.I. And V30 is my favorite speaker in the IV. ) Ok... One thing about this amp always drove me crazy. I never understood why the darn footswitch wire for the FU-3 was hardwired on one end. Always drove me crazy. It made it impossible to coil the wire neatly (yes...a little anal retentive over here). And I was always trying to jam the wire into the back of the amp when the tubes were hot or jamming the whole mess in a bag. Hated it and always wondered why the perfect amp (in my mind) was flawed by one piece of poor design.

Anyway, I decided to mod the footswitch and fix this problem. I love the outcome and thought I'd share for anyone else who wants to do this.

I'd rate this modification as relatively simple. But you definitely want some proficiency with soldering. If you're a newbie, I'd really recommend some of the numerous youtube vids on guitar work involving soldering. And DEFINITELY practice your technique on scraps!

Here is what I did...
First, I noticed that I could disconnect the wire from the amp and that it used a 6 pin XLR female plug on the wire side and a 6 pin Switchraft XLR male panel on the amp side. I said to myself, "why not mount the same thing on the footswitch side and then just make wires with 6 pin female xlrs on both sides." To do this...

I opened up the female XLR plug on the wire to get a look at the wiring / colors. Each pin or receptacle is numbered so I just noted the color that went with each pin.

Next I opened up the footswitch and disconnected the other end of the wire wire from the footswitch. It has plastic connectors on the inside so I simply disconnected these connectors and then clipped them from the end of the footswitch wire, leaving myself about 3 inches of exposed wire. (I removed the nut fitting and screws that holds the wire sheath in place.)

I then simply soldered each of my clipped wires (the ends connected to those plastic connectors) to a new switchcraft male xlr 6 pin panel mount. Switchcraft D6M... I followed the color/wiring diagram I made from opening and observing the other end of the wire.
One pitfall...Be careful with mixing Neutrik and Switchcraft... I did this with 1 extra cable I was building and it did not work for me. The neutrik would not fit in the Switchcraft jack. This was probably a newbie error on my part (I never really messed around with 6 pin XLR type jacks before this project).

Once my new 6 pin male panel mount was soldered with the connector wires from inside the footswitch, I fed the connectors through the footswitch hole and reconnected the connectors correctly. (If it helps, I snapped a picture before disconnecting just to make sure I got it all right when reconnecting.) I then screwed my new 6 pin panel mount into place on the footswitch. I was able to turn it slightly so that it covered the old holes nicely. I drilled pilots and screwed it into place. Very professional looking finish.

I purchased several new switchcraft female 6 pin xlr plugs --Switchcraft A6F. I also purchased Belden 6 connector computer wire for my new cables. Following the wiring color diagram I had made, I just soldered switchcraft plugs onto a 10' run and a 25' run so I have 2 cables for whatever scenario I am faced with at gig time.

This really was pretty straightforward and I found it to be pretty easy/fun. Works like a charm too!
I could not upload pictures here, otherwise I would have. If anybody wants pictures...send me your email and I will send them along. I'm no expert!!! (probably obvious here)...but I'll also answer any questions and share more of my experience.
 
I feel the same way about the FU-3. I love the fact that the Mark IV comes with a dedicated foot switch, but the cord is a pain in there butt and it takes up way too much room on my pedal board. So I ordered one of these (btw: the cord is removable):

https://scontent.fzty2-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/16487677_1095808763860786_8585842843244826664_o.jpg?oh=41fede45d23b9e70e7ecd16e4872f4f6&oe=5B07DF41
 
Well ther you go, McFriedy. That is pretty **** cool and definitely much less of a footprint on the floor. I want to try out their Falchion Overdrive pedal!
 
I posted a video on thismod a few years ago. Maybe it will help.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SP3wwePoWw
 
Hey, awesome! I obviously reinvented the wheel. Vid much better than my long winded post on it. When I searched "Mesa Boogie Mark IV Footswitch" I never saw that video. I think if I had done more/better search with "FU-3" in there I'd of gotten to it. Thanks
 
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