FOOTswitching Clean/Hi gain and Blues/Hi gain on TREMOVERB?

[fx2]

Hi!

I am owner of TREMOVERB. I am very happy with it but I lack some “controllability”. It has 4 excellent sounds Clean / Blues / Vintage Hi gain /Modern Hi gain but I would like to FOOTswitch between them.

Does any one has experience with footswitching between these channels? Especially FOOTswitching between Clean/Hi gain and Blues/Modern Hi gain?

I am making a mod in order to be able to control this via footswitch. This mod being done I will be able to select one of the 4 channels via my Rocktron Replifex.

Any tip?

 

[Monsta-Tone]

I think that it can be done, but the volume difference between settings would be unbearable.

You could switch some Series Resistance in with the louder settings to lower the Volume, but it would change your tone.



An easier, although less organic, way would be to use a good distortion pedal in front of the amp.

I have a Marshall Bluesbreaker II and a Carl Martin Hot Drive-N-Boost that I sometimes use in front of my amps. They sound very transparent when not in use, and are very quiet when they are being used.

 

[fx2]

Hi I have moded my tremoverb in order to be able to footswitch between Clean/Hi gain on the orange channel and to footswitch between Blues / modern Hi gain on the red Channel.

I have now 4 footswitchable channels directly available instead of 2.

Now I can better exploit the flexibility of this amp!

Some Technical details about the mod:

The mod is very small actually it consist of two transistors and one resistor. It has been designed in order to have very few components(3), and to avoid any impact on the sound (no impact at all) and to be safe (for the amp and for me ;-) )

The Tremoverb comes standard with one jack on the back panel for channel footswitching and one in the front panel for the same purpose. I have converted the one in the front for Clean and blues footswitching.

My Rocktron Replifex supports channel switching via stereo jack. I can store for each preset which channel I want to use (Clean/blues/Vintage hi gain/modern Hi gain)

The only drawback is the difference in volume of each channel but I can compensate for this difference with the Rockton’s volume control in each preset. This work greats!

The switches of the front panel can still be used when the jack is removed! 8)

(I will add some pics)

 

[Monsta-Tone]

I would like to see the pics. This sounds very interesting, I didn't think about using a Processor to control the Volume. Good Idea!!!

 

[4nkam]

That's pretty cool. I remember someone either here or on harmony central was thinking of modding his tverb to do this but with normal switches I think.

I like the blues mode with a pedal so if I could switch that, it would be cool. But if I need a clean tone, I can usually just flip from VHG to clean, turn the gain down and volume up a bit. I'm definitely interested in seeing your pix too

mJ

 

[jgventura]

+1 on seeing these pics. and did you do this mod yourself? or have a tech do it?

 

[4nkam]

I just tried it and it works, but there's a big *jump* in volume and then it goes back to normal levels. Not gig worthy regarding the way I did it

mJ

 

[fx2]

IMPORTANT REMARK!!! DON’T TRY THIS MOD IF YOU’RE NOT SURE ABOUT WHAT YOU’RE DOING!!! While not guitar tech I am electrical engineer and I spend quite some time to analyze the schematics of the tremoverb to be sure it is safe FOR ME and FOR THE MESA! It is not safe to just replace the front switch by a standard footswitch (although this will work) because neither of the wires are grounded! You have +3v on lead and -3V on the other one !
1) it is unsafe for you : it is small DC voltage but I am not sure about the maximum current! Be carefull for yourself!!!
2) it is unsafe for you amp: if you shortcut one of those leads to the ground (happen if your footswitch touch any grounded metal part : any metallic part of your guitar rig!!!!) you could blow up your amp!

The purpose of the two transistors and resistor is to make it SAFE!

I have the pics but I don't have a site to post them. Can someone upload them on a web site so I can insert the link in the message body? I can mail them.

 

[fx2]

I just tried it and it works, but there's a big *jump* in volume and then it goes back to normal levels. Not gig worthy regarding the way I did it

mJ

Indeed I have noticed this. It does not happen on all the channels. When it happen it is very short (maybe 0.3 sec). Actually you need to anticipate the switchover from one sound to another one. Let’s be more explicit : you may not push your footswitch right at the moment you attack the first chord of your chorus ( à la “smell like teens spirit”  no I don’t play Nirvana!!!! It just an example!) but you should press the Footswitch just before while muting your string with your hand.

You just need to get used to it. It tried it out with my band and its pretty good. I can live with this.

The biggest drawback in my opinion is that your share the controls (Gain and EQ) for clean and vintage Hi Gain, and the same applies for Blues and Modern Hi gain. Here is how I work it out:

Orange Channel : I set Gain to 12 'o clock so I have real clean sound and I have a perfect crunch for good rock rhythm in Hi Gain mode (presence around 12 ‘o clock)..

Red Channel : I clone Red to Vintage (I'm not fan of the modern hi gain on the tremoverb, I found it to harsh! although I like playing metal), and put the Gain to 3 'o clock. This give an excellent fat pushed blues sound in blues mode (I can decrease the gain by lowering the volume on my guitar) and I have full high gain for metal chording or soloing in Hi gain mode (presence around 9 ‘o clock).

My EQ settings are all around 12 ‘o clock, I love the sound of this amp with my guitar, I don’t like tweaking it too much!

Summary : I have 4 sound:
- Clean
- Rhythm (kind of sweet but tight Marshall JCM900 sound)
- Pushed Blues
- Hi gain

I play mainly with a Godin Artisan ST1 which is close to a standard US Start with quite higher output.

If anyone has experience with this, please share it !

 

[AMP-BLACKOUT]

ALL, you need to heed the warnings of FX2, I have done this mod for a few people and can tell you that unless you know exactly what you are doing, you don't want to do this mod... while +- 3v seems like a little, an ungrounded source on a different circuit "could" enter the ground path and ruin your amp!!!

I am working however on a "safe box" that would help people with this mod... not high on my priority list right now... so maybe around xmas

AA