1/4 inch footswitch jacks

Hi all!

What is the purpose of those 1/4 in h footswitch jacks in the back? Why would you use them as opposed to the regular footswitch? Do they allow additional functionality? For example could you use them to independently switch the reverb or contour on and off in each channel?

Thanks!

Len Rabinowitz said:

Hi all!

What is the purpose of those 1/4 in h footswitch jacks in the back? Why would you use them as opposed to the regular footswitch? Do they allow additional functionality? For example could you use them to independently switch the reverb or contour on and off in each channel?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Hi Len,

They are external switching jacks, and designed to be used with an external midi switching device. They can also be triggered by any tip/ground footswitch.

Thanks!

Thanks! Do they give you any additional functionality? What footswitches would work with them?

Len Rabinowitz said:

Thanks! Do they give you any additional functionality? What footswitches would work with them?

Click to expand...

They don't offer different features, but offer the flexibility to be controlled to whatever you program your switching device for. If you aren't using an external switching device, you can trigger the fuctions one at a time with any single button tip to ground latching-type footswitch. Thanks!

So if you did it this way with a midi footswitch, could you set that so that channel 1 had reverb on and contour off and channel two had the reverse?

Len Rabinowitz said:

So if you did it this way with a midi footswitch, could you set that so that channel 1 had reverb on and contour off and channel two had the reverse?

Click to expand...

Absolutely! An external switching device can be programmed to do exactly that. Thanks!

Ah hah! So in a way it does give you additional capability. Any suggestions for a good midi footswitch to use?

How about this? Could you use the RA-100 dual foot switch with a Y-cable to split the TRS Cable into 2 tip/sleeve plugs to trigger two of the external switches?

You can go even simpler than a MIDI setup. Just as an example, I had a problem with my 4-button footswitch (one of the lights was not working) and I sent it into Mesa for repair. In the meantime, I plugged a simple on/off footswitch (from my Blues Junior) into the channel 1/4" jack on the back. Worked perfectly to toggle between the two channels.