Peavey Renown 400 footswitch pinout

[Mick Bailey]

The schematic shows the footswitch wiring, but not the pin connections to the 6 way DIN plug. I don't have the amp but need to make up a footswitch.

Has anyone got the pinouts?

[Jazz P Bass]

That drawing looks wrong.
The Combiner doesn't 'combine'.
Ans Lead & Normal will not do anything unless Combine is closed.

[Enzo]

No, that is right. The switch inputs are all "kills." The Lead select is really a Normal kill, and Normal select is really a Lead kill. The combiner opens the connection to both, so neither is killed, and thus both are selected or "combined."

You have a couple options. One is to look on the schematic layout page at the footswitch cable connections - the wires that go to the FS jack on the panel. They are labeled as normal, lead, and reverb. Follow the wires to the panel connector and see which goes where.

Visit this thread at Peavey, scroll down to the last post, and download the footswitch wiring guide. Look down that until you come to the Renown/Renown400. Note they have two separate ground returns, one for reverb and one for combiner. I assume they are wired together inside the chassis.
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Since all three control lines are grounded to activate, just ground a clip lead and probe the holes on the FS panel jack. Watch the channel lights as you ground each hole. The hole that turns off the Lead light is the normal select, and the one that kills the normal light is the lead selector. Note there is no pin for combiner, since it is just a break to the other two. Then find the reverb kill and wire it appropriately.

[Jazz P Bass]

[QUOTE=Enzo;313354]No, that is right. The switch inputs are all "kills." The Lead select is really a Normal kill, and Normal select is really a Lead kill. The combiner opens the connection to both, so neither is killed, and thus both are selected or "combined."QUOTE]
Reverse logic.
Got it.

[Mick Bailey]

Thanks, those wiring diagrams are very useful - Since the post I also need to make up a Deuce switch as well.

I don't have the amp so couldn't trace the cable connections. I usually like to test stuff before the customer gets it and demonstrate it working (and at least check myself that it works), but this is a telephone/mail out job.

[rocknroller]

I'll share a recent story if anyone here is still listening to this thread.

Just picked this amp up. Footswitch cable had electrical tape at the DIN plug, so I assumed a cable repair. Plugged it in and the footswitch did not do what is was supposed to do but did do something. Each switch was assigned to a different amp channel - 3 channels (yes three!) The lead w/eq channel, the clean w/eq channel, and the mysterious reverb no eq no actual reverb channel (aka direct to amp).

I was sure the amp internals had been rewired but after pulling the amp out, it looked complete stock, untouched. So I starting looking at the pedal and pedal cable closer and it appeared someone had been monkeying with connections.

Came across this thread and Enzo's helpful PV pedal links and confirmed indeed some had changed the pedal configuration internally. SPDT switch gone and replaced with another SPST. Wires didn't go to the expected pinouts etc. Pulled the pedal plug out of the amp and confirmed the reverb works just fine when pedal is not connected

So the mystery (to me) is there seems to be some undocumented use of the other pins, whereby you can turn the reverb control into a dedicated, no eq, no actual reverb, volume channel. I could see how that could be used possibly, if you had outboard pedals/amp simulators etc and just wanted it straight to an amp. Yet, there's nothing on the schematic that indicates this at all ( or even shows any other pin usages). Anyone aware of this?

[Enzo]

They didn't design secret functions in there, but it is easy to rewire amps for other functions.

There are two channels in the amp, I don't know where you would find a third. Each has a kill pin for the FS. Ground the pin to kill the channel. With the combiner switch closed, one or the other will be selected. SO the channels switching works by killing the channel you DON'T want. The combiner switch opens the ground connection, leaving BOTH channels active in parallel.

If one wired each channel switch directly to ground, then each is an on/off for that channel. You want both? Turn both on. That would free up the combiner switch for some other function.

There is a four-pin Molex connector on the board to handle the wires from the FS. They are lead, normal, reverb, and ground. The four pins, that is. You have any wires from the FS jack going anywhere other than that Molex connector?

[rocknroller]

Thx. I had seen your previous post regarding the footswitch configuration and I totally understand how that works and certainly intend to rewire correctly to match once my switch arrives. In it's current state, only 3 or the 4 wires are connected on the din plug (plus the ground) and not to where there are supposed to be. Verified nothing new connected inside the amp.

I am 100% certain that when I first tested the amp that the reverb control was simply acting as a master volume with absolutely no reverb effect. There was no mistaking that. Having said that, I had since cleaned the pots, pulled and cleaned the molex connectors (both inside and outside the amp) and (very possibly the culprit) found ground wire strands on the footswitch's din plug splayed out, so were possibly shorting to one or more other pins there. Perhaps one of those effectively disabled the reverb return and simply made that control act as a volume control, passing the original signal through it and thus acting like a 3rd channel, even when both lead and clean channels where disabled.

As tested today (so I could respond to this message with current results) it no longer works like that and the reverb is working perfect (albiet on the wrong switch) so something in my cleanup resolved it!

[Enzo]

In the FS itself, find the ground wire going back to the amp. Use an ohm meter. Now the three features all activate by grounding, so play some music through the amp - I use a CD player to keep my hands free. Just touch the ground wire to each other wire in the FS. One will kill the reverb, note its color. The amp should be playing through both preamp channels at this point. Turn the post control down on one channel, now probe your other wires with your ground wire to find the one that kills the channel you are hearing. Note the color. Now turn that channel post down and the other up, do the test again to find that channel killer, note the color.

You have now identified all the active wires, or at least you know what is missing.

That is all you need to wire the pedal. The combiner switch is all in the pedal, not in the amp.

[rocknroller]

yep I got it. I have the wiring diagram you provided in the original years old post and already confirmed with a simple shorting pin/wire at the amp jack that *if* the pedal were wired correctly, it would control all three features exactly as designed. Just waiting on the switch right now. Thanks!