Acoustic G100FX Foot Pedal

[jthree]

Hi, very new here so be gentle.

I bought an Acoustic G100FX from Music123.com ,for my son for Christmas. I have tried to contact Acoustic but their login does not allow for a Canadian address. The problem I am having is with the foot pedal connection. When I plug in the 1/4" Jack (Stereo connector that came with the pedal) the amp goes to rhythm mode but when I hit the #1 switch it does not go to Lead mode (Tried shorting the tip to the barrel of the plug and that doesn't work either). I have tested the switch and it is fine. The second switch does turn on the chorus, which it what it is supposed to do. Is there anything I can do or I am doing wrong?

[Jazz P Bass]

Where do you have the front panel Channel Select Switch set?
In or out?
Reverse it & see if that clears up the issue.

[jthree]

Unfortunately I tried that and it has no effect.

[Jazz P Bass]

Do you have an ohmeter?
The cable should be a 'stereo' type. Tip/ Ring/ Sleeve.
The footswitch should connect Tip/ Sleeve & Ring/ Sleeve.
If you have continuity & not, when toggling the switches, between these points, then the FSw is o/k.
Then it appears to be an amp problem.

[jthree]

Yep, all tests out as described.

I went one step further and connected the cable to the amp and placed a jumper between the ring/sleeve and the chorus comes on (as it should) and then jumped tip/sleeve and nothing changes. I'm guessing, since the pedal provides contact closure, there will be some kind of low voltage supplied by the amp and that is what I am missing. I am at work right now so cannot test that but will tonight.

[jthree]

Managed to talk my son through the test over the phone :-) Tested for voltage from sleeve to both ring and tip and gets 26.9 volts DC on both (I assume that is 24VDC nominal) so the voltage is there ans the switch is working. Looks like the voltage is not getting back to the amp from the tip.

I guess tonight I'll need to take it apart, hopefully it's something simple like a dry solder joint.

[Jazz P Bass]

I would go back & test the FSw itself.
No power.
No connection to the amp.
You will be looking for a yes/ no answer.
Does the FSw connect sleeve to tip.
Does it break it.
Does the FSw connect sleeve to ring.
Does it break it.

[jthree]

Does the FSw connect sleeve to tip. YES
Does it break it. YES
Does the FSw connect sleeve to ring. YES
Does it break it. YES

See responses above. I got a response from Acoustic saying that some foot-switches with LEDs may not be compatible so i'm wondering if the LEDs are the problem. Not sure why that would be as electronics is not my forte.

Wouldn't jumping the connections the way I did, take the footswitch out of the equation?

[Jazz P Bass]

The response from Acoustic makes no sense .
You tried connecting the tip directly to the sleeve.
(sorry, I missed that in your first post)
Quote: "Tried shorting the tip to the barrel of the plug and that doesn't work either."
Something goofy going on with the amp.
Ask them for a schematic.

[jthree]

Good idea.

I really hope it's as simple as a dry joint. I'm going to take the amp out of the cabinet tonight and see. I'll post results tomorrow. This thing is basically brand new but shipping it back and forth between Canada and California will cost more than I made for it :-(

Thanks for all your suggestions.

[jthree]

The response from Acoustic makes no sense...

Well it may not make sense but that was it

Snipped the LEDs and away she went. Must be related to the resistor/LED/circuit involved. Like I said, electronics ain't my thing.

What I don't get is why it didn't work when I jumped the plug. Must have done something screwy.

Thanks for all your help

[Jazz P Bass]

Good job.