Anyone else had this problem...............

[sted]

Mid way through a gig last night the amp starts to stutter like the transformer is on its way out, turns out it was the footswitch trying to change channels from channel two to channel one on its own! My mate spotted it from the the front saying that the green Ch 1 light kept flickering.
May hve been vibration or something but in the end had to just rip out the cable and change the channels manually from the back, absolute pain in the *** I can tell you. Never had this before in all our rehearsals etc but I dont understand what it was, I checked and re-checked that the plug was home all the way but it was still happening.

Very disappointing, without the footswitch the mark v goes form very versatile to a pain in the butt! :lol:

 

[golfnguitarz]

I think several people have had problems with the footswitch cable. If there is a weak link in the MV, I think this cable would be it. Hanging off the back of the head puts downward pressure on the cable link and it sometimes would not make a good connection. If I accidently stepped on it, it would slightly pull out of the footswitch and cause problems as well.

 

[ESP123]

I had this problem with a Dual not to long ago and it kept doing the same thing even after I got a completely new foot switch. It makes sense that it would have been a bent wiring part of the cord because it did it with the newer foot switch.

 

[LPJunky]

I had a problem with the connection as well. Mine was working but when I stop playing you could hear this loud buzz from the channel switch relay going bezerk. I followed the suggestion from someone on this board to bend the ground clip on the back connector so the contact with the outer rim is improved. No more troubles since. Now I run my cable between the head and the cab to relieve the stress on the connector. By the way my MkV is a year old and it happened last month.

 

[pj1967]

Have you tried looping the cable around the top handle? I do this to prevent any accidental stepping or kicking of the cable from yanking it out out of the jack or otherwise damaging the connector or jack.

 

[golfnguitarz]

Have you tried looping the cable around the top handle? I do this to prevent any accidental stepping or kicking of the cable from yanking it out out of the jack or otherwise damaging the connector or jack.

+1
Doing relieves the pressure on the connection. I keep meaning to go shopping for some kind of a clip like they use for the power cord to hold the foot switch cable in one position, but in the meantime, I just loop it through the handle.

 

[sted]

I'll give it a go mate, its just always going to be on my mind now though, its an obvious design flaw which could have ruined the gig, I paid a lot of money for this amp so I wouldnt have quality issues, I could have a got a Marshall for a quarter of the price I paid for this and ive never had issues with Marshall's which are considered inferior quality. Seriously not happy.

 

[golfnguitarz]

I hear ya, I would be upset about the gig almost getting ruined as well. And I also have a Marshall(soon to be for sale) and it does one thing great - Crunch, but other than that, the Mark V blows it away on channels 1 and 3. Throw in that you can get a close approximation of that Crunch in channel 2, plus a vox'ish sound in Edge mode....

The footpedals that came with the TSL's were a load of crap - search Musician's friend and you'll find alot of pissed off people that had to pay over 100.00 US to get it replaced sometimes twice. All I am saying is nothing is perfect. I filled out my warranty page and bitched about the cable. Hopefully enough people will chime in and Mesa will address it at some point. I still think it is a great amp.

 

[jhhead]

i acually had the same problem. i took the footpedal and wire back to the store and tried them on another mark v. it was a bad midi connector in the pedal they swapped with me and gave me the one for the showroom amp. the connector wasnt even loose but the slightest vibration or click of a switch and it goes haywire.if i wiggled the wire at the pedal connection when it was plugged in it would switch too. but prob now solved. its all good

 

[sted]

So far Ive been unable to re-create the problem, even pulling the cable nearly all the way out and wiggling it. I'm starting to think its not even the cable but something else that caused it to go tits up, it did get very warm in there so Im wondering if it was a heat issue now, other than one of those RJM amp gizmo's is there any other means of changing the channels from a footswitch?

 

[MrMarkIII]

The external switching jacks accommodate any cheap latching foot switch.

 

[mightywarlock]

i just picked up my Mark V tonight, and have noticed this same exact issue within 2 minutes of turning it on.

at first i thought the pedal was broken, since it was not turning the EQ on. I touched the cable, and the eq turned on.

then later, after playing with ch3, i went to ch1, which was in fat mode. i put the switch into clean mode,and it started flipping out, so i quickly put it back on fat. no issues after that, but it makes me wonder if it was the footswitch or cable...

as i did have to have it at a certain angle for it to actually work...

but i couldnt tell tonight, whether it was the cable or the connection at the pedal.

I guess I should place a call to Mesa and find out what to do. or what they will do, for that matter.

 

[sted]

Im currently talking to the distributor about it, they want me to send the whole thing back (At my expense!) the thought of putting my amp in the hands of royal mail fills me with dread!!
Ive asked for a replacement lead to at least try it but its not looking likely i'll get it!

 

[scott7d]

I've had a couple little problems with mine. My main thing was the sound just cutting out, or not even getting sound to begin with. Strangely enough, tapping the "EQ" button on the footswitch magically cures this problem whenever it does happen to arise.

 

[masterbypass]

I pickdd up my MV yesterday after a 90 day wait cince ordering it. Very stoked now!. It sounds great!

i had a similar thing with the footswitch. i change channels a lot in the songs that i play, so i knocked the cable loose out of the footswitch once already. ive read all the posts here and i'm going to fix it up so it cant happen at a show.

But the big thing that i noticed is that the amp will pop when i change channels. it also has a slower response when i go from channel 2 to channel 3. i need it to be instant with some of the changes.

I'm asking if this is with other MV's or i should have it looked at?

 

[sted]

I pickdd up my MV yesterday after a 90 day wait cince ordering it. Very stoked now!. It sounds great!

i had a similar thing with the footswitch. i change channels a lot in the songs that i play, so i knocked the cable loose out of the footswitch once already. ive read all the posts here and i'm going to fix it up so it cant happen at a show.

But the big thing that i noticed is that the amp will pop when i change channels. it also has a slower response when i go from channel 2 to channel 3. i need it to be instant with some of the changes.

I'm asking if this is with other MV's or i should have it looked at?

Usually only get a significant pop when using 10w settings, it does say to expect thes ein the manual though, cant say ive experienced any difference in the channle chnge speeds, to me they feel instant!

 

[Mystic-Creations]

Hi Guys

I had the same problem with my Mark IV. I also thought it might be the footswitch/cable/jack, I brought it into my tech and he found a bad solder joint on the board with regards to the channel/F.S switch on the back of the amp.

Maybe it's something else but the symptoms described are identical, my channels would flutter occasionally and then finally it stayed on channel 1.

Definitely take in if it's on warranty, it cost me nothing to fix!!!!

Good Luck