Members Belva Posted June 14, 2009 Members Share Posted June 14, 2009 A friend at the Sat jam showed up with a "new" Bassman 50 head last nite. He has it jumpered and asked me about setting up a footswitch. Seems like a very simple task using a switch, two 1/4" jacks & some guitar cable. And a switch box of some sort. If you out there were to do this, would you put the switch on the + or the - side of the wire? I vote -. It really doesn't matter, but that's just the way I was taught. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Belva Posted June 15, 2009 Author Members Share Posted June 15, 2009 I should probably clarify. The footswitch would be in the jumper wire that goes between the 2 channels of these amps. The idea being to set up a switchable boost. Seems like it might work if you have the amp dialed in right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members David E H Posted June 15, 2009 Members Share Posted June 15, 2009 So...like an A/B/Y switch? I think......try searching that for a schematic...I believe you could go about the way you presented, but signal loss might be an issue.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mike42 Posted June 15, 2009 Members Share Posted June 15, 2009 Never tried this, so I'm just thinking out loud. Seems to me the problems you might encounter would be noise/hum possibly getting in the switch box unless everything is pretty well shielded, and the big concern - turn on/off noise (pop, thump, etc.), assuming this will be switched on the fly. I'd probably just jig something up to try before I committed any time or effort to a finished product. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members katillac Posted June 15, 2009 Members Share Posted June 15, 2009 Whoa. I think I understand what's going on here. A fellow forumite, Ross (aka World of Tone, who is the guy who got me to join here, but don't take it out on him, k?) has a Bassman setup that he tweaked and has it set up SO {censored}ing nice it's not funny. He showed me a little trick with my amp that's similar to what he does on his. My amp has two channels - one on each side of the head (left/right), that are marked Jazz and Rock respectively. Each has a high and low input. What he did was plug into the high Jazz input, then jumped a short cable from the low input of the Jazz side to the high input of the Rock side. I'm able to use the reverb of the Jazz side with the onboard "Effects" switch (acts like an overdrive) on the Rock side at the same time. My signal was WAY too clean before this. I could crank the amp up all the way and it would only break up a little. Now, with the jumper, I can get some pretty sweet tones without using an overdrive stomp box. Is that the kind of scenario you're talking about, as in having a switchbox so you can use one channel, then switch to the jumpered configuration? This is of interest to me as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Belva Posted June 15, 2009 Author Members Share Posted June 15, 2009 Yes, Kat. This is an old trick with these amps. Just running a short jumper wire between the 2 channels & plugging into channel 1 basically gives you a master volume amp. What he's proposing is just making a switch box in the middle of the jumper wire. As Mike42 pointed out the box would have to be shielded to avoid hum. And the pop would have to be addressed. I'll have to report knowledge gained from this thread at next Sat nite jam. Makes me look smarter than I really am. All I have to do is PTFA here. (That's pay the {censored} attention for you non Navy veterans) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mike42 Posted June 15, 2009 Members Share Posted June 15, 2009 Had one other thought on this. It's possible that these jacks may have multiple switching functions which might mean that you couldn't get by just switching the signal line. Again, I'd jury rig a temporary setup to make sure it will work before I built the real thing. Plug into both jacks, and try making/breaking the circuit to see if it'll work with with plugs in both jacks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Belva Posted June 15, 2009 Author Members Share Posted June 15, 2009 I do have an A/B/Y box to experiment with. Based on your thought, Mike, I may also plug & unplug the jumper wire while he is playing to see what happens. I can't see telling the guy to just buy an A/B box when we can round up enough stuff to make something for free. Plus were all poor from spending too much on whiskey & females. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members katillac Posted June 16, 2009 Members Share Posted June 16, 2009 Yes, Kat. This is an old trick with these amps. Just running a short jumper wire between the 2 channels & plugging into channel 1 basically gives you a master volume amp. What he's proposing is just making a switch box in the middle of the jumper wire. As Mike42 pointed out the box would have to be shielded to avoid hum. And the pop would have to be addressed. I'll have to report knowledge gained from this thread at next Sat nite jam. Makes me look smarter than I really am. All I have to do is PTFA here. (That's pay the {censored} attention for you non Navy veterans) That sounds like it should be simple compared to an A/B/Y box. Would it not be basically an on/off switch in the middle of the jumper cable? Wouldn't using a metal box work for shielding? And about the popping, why would it pop? What about using a capacitor to ground to discharge residual signal if there is popping? Maybe I'm making it out to be more simple than it should be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted June 16, 2009 Members Share Posted June 16, 2009 No need to get complex here. All thats needed is an ABY box and an additional 2 cables. By the way its the signal hot wire that gets switched. The ground is common throughout and always connected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Belva Posted June 16, 2009 Author Members Share Posted June 16, 2009 No need to get complex here. All thats needed is an ABY box and an additional 2 cables. By the way its the signal hot wire that gets switched. The ground is common throughout and always connected. That's what I needed to know. Thanks WRG! I have enough used stuff to make a simple in line f/s. And I'll use an empty puppy food can as a housing. As you can see by my avatar I just got one of those. That's NOT my new girlfriend. The puppy is much better looking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted June 16, 2009 Members Share Posted June 16, 2009 Thats gonna be a big dog from the looks of it. Yes with a ABY you can select one channel or the other, and when you Y it you'll get both channels. Also theres nothing to stop you from putting different effects on either channel and before the ABY as well. With the pedals bypassed it will act like straight wires. You can also use say 2 cheap overdrive units with the volumes turned off. With the effects in the bypass mode, both channels will be active, when you turn one on with the volume off, that channel wil turn off. Another idea is to wire a guitar for stereo whese the output jack is a stereo plug. You use a low impediance mic cord with a stereo jack, at the other end the cord splits into two 1/4" jacks. The two pups are wired out seperately and go to either channel. You can put a mono switch or pot on the guitar which combines the two pups before the volumes. Each volume will adjust one of the amp channels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Belva Posted June 17, 2009 Author Members Share Posted June 17, 2009 Interesting idea with the stereo guitar. And the od units acting as bypass may be an idea as this guy is a pedal junkie. I have an ABY box to experiment with. I'm using that with my latest PE amp head as it has 2 seperate mic channels. I set one channel a bit louder than the other & basically have 3 different volumes without touching the guitar. I may recommend he break down & get an ABY box of his own. When he hits Y he'll have that master vol crunch in addition to two cleans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members katillac Posted June 17, 2009 Members Share Posted June 17, 2009 I've been meaning to comment on your new pup, CT. Total cutie, that one! Looks like maybe a Brittany and Aussie cross, or something along those lines. Definitely high frisbee catching potential. Do you have more pics? What's his/her name? Another idea is to wire a guitar for stereo whese the output jack is a stereo plug. You use a low impediance mic cord with a stereo jack, at the other end the cord splits into two 1/4" jacks. The two pups are wired out seperately and go to either channel. You can put a mono switch or pot on the guitar which combines the two pups before the volumes. Each volume will adjust one of the amp channels. You just gave me some ideas. Damn you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted June 17, 2009 Members Share Posted June 17, 2009 You can check out Rickenbacker Ric O Sound wiring schemes for more details on how you can wire guitars for stereo and also have some blend options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Belva Posted June 18, 2009 Author Members Share Posted June 18, 2009 I've been meaning to comment on your new pup, CT. Total cutie, that one! Looks like maybe a Brittany and Aussie cross, or something along those lines. Definitely high frisbee catching potential. Do you have more pics? What's his/her name? You just gave me some ideas. Damn you. Red heeler. Her name is Dutchess. Hides her balls so I won't throw them (Don't go there, Kat). So frisbee potential is doubtful. Maybe canine agility. Lots of stamina & learns quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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