line 6 foot pedal

[weshead]

i've got a line6 flextone 2 xl amp with the big footpedal. i forget the model, but it's the big one with volume and whah pedal, lots of buttons etc...
the pedal was basically a piece of garbage from day one. the number one problem is that the footswtches don't work consistently. a couple of them hardly ever work at all. it's only gotten worse over the years. i have thought the problem might be with the digital switches themselves, and maybe i should replace them? any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

also the volume pedal on it doesn't work anymore, it has a photo electric strip that makes it work. mine somehow got bent and i can't seem to get one from line 6. any ideas on what else might work?

[drewl]

hmmmm, i thought they used good metal switches?

Anyway, does it use a midi cable?
Not all midi cables use all the connections (pins) available, or the cable could be bad anyway.
Use an ohmmeter to check the pin to pin connections of the cable....or buy a new one. It has to be "midi active" which is a fancy term that means the cable uses all the pins.
I kid you not, they sell midi cables that only have a few of the 8 pins connected.

[Enzo]

The Floorboard? Or something like that?

The stomp switches look like big old steel Carling types, but that is just the stomp part. Underneath there is just a spring sticking out, and that pushes on a pc mount little microbutton. On the whole I find them fairly reliable. Are they the four legged ones about 12mm square? They are available from Mouser or most any other electronics parts supliers for under 50 cents.

Doesn't hat unit use an RJ cable - the snap in thing similar to the telephone connectors?

When you call Line 6 on the phone and ask if they can supply the opto strip for the pedal, what do they say? And if they cannot provide it directly, who do they refer you to for ordering?Ask them. Ask for a part number to be sure as well.

[weshead]

thanks for the responses guys,

it is an rj 45 type cable that connects it to the amp. after taking the whole thing apart the first time, i found that a lot of the screws were loose, and i figured that must be the problem. but it still acts up, and like i said it's got a lot worse even in the last year. it never really bothered me until the tap tempo quit working consistently.

i have tried a new cable too. no difference.

i thought about trying to replace those little square switches, but i also thought if they were so unreliable in the first place should i try and retrofit something better?

as i understand it line6 doesn't sell parts to the public. only a certified line 6 tech can get parts.

thanks again any more thoughts are welcome.

[Enzo]

The switches are generic, get them from Mouser or Allied or someone. Just because yours wore out, who says they are not reliable? Who knows what they might have suffered during their lives? Even the Rolls ROyce dealer has to replace a part now and then. Those little square buttons are the same thing that lies under the buttons on 8,000,000 synths and other pieces of gear. The springs that push on them prevent the actual force of the stomp switch from reaching them.

REplace any that are iffy, and it should work a long time.

[jobna]

Those inner screws and outer nuts get loose a lot. I added some thread tape to mine since I was having to tighten them up constantly.

[weshead]

solution

I have finally found the solution to this problem, after years of struggling with this issue.

if you look at the inside of this pedal board all of the metal buttons have a spring on the inside which rests on the little square switch mounted to the circuit board. these springs are the thing that actually pushes the button and also keeps from stressing the electronic switch.
after very much use these cheap little springs get compressed a bit and don't have enough length/pressure to actually push the switch.
i got mine working like brand new by just stretching the springs back out, but i was thinking about trying to come up with a more permanent fix. possibly a tiny pad glued to the button part of the switch...