ft switchable drive?
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scienceguy
Well-known member
The drive switch, the loop switch and the reverb jack all work by connecting (or disconnecting) a wire to ground. That means you can use the reverb jack as it is for a single switch, or replace it with a stereo jack and control two switches (like drive and loop). To do all three you'll need another jack, unless you can find a 1/4" TRRS jack and plug.
I've now got all 4 switchable functions (Channel, Reverb, Solo and newly switchable Drive) hooked up to a MIDI controller. You can use an RJM Amp Gizmo for this or whatever - I'm using a Sound Sculpture Switchblade - and control your amp along with any other gear in your rig. I either have them all switch with presets, or keep them available on as 'instant access' buttons on my controller. FUN!
plan-x
Well-known member
Awesome! Now you're talkin'. How bout some pics.The Mink said:
Hey guys,
I did the footswitchable drive mod today. Love it!
I didn't install a new 1/4" female jack, i just used the existing reverb footswitch jack.
It is actually really easy to do this way as one of the wires (labelled wire B) goes to ground, so all i had to do was wire between A and the drive footswitch.
It didnt affect my reverb at all.
Also, a previous post stated that when footswitching between channel 2 clean and channel 2 drive the reverb would disppear for a second (as it does when switching between channels 1 and 2). when i footswitch between channel 2 clean and drive the reverb DOES NOT disappear for a second.
Science guy, you are the man! This has made my favourite amp even better
While i was in there i also did the mid mod, but couldnt notice any difference at a low betdroom volume (it was late at night).
Will check for difference on tuesday, and will also let u all know how my footswitchable drive goes in a band context
I did the footswitchable drive mod today. Love it!
I didn't install a new 1/4" female jack, i just used the existing reverb footswitch jack.
It is actually really easy to do this way as one of the wires (labelled wire B) goes to ground, so all i had to do was wire between A and the drive footswitch.
It didnt affect my reverb at all.
Also, a previous post stated that when footswitching between channel 2 clean and channel 2 drive the reverb would disppear for a second (as it does when switching between channels 1 and 2). when i footswitch between channel 2 clean and drive the reverb DOES NOT disappear for a second.
Science guy, you are the man! This has made my favourite amp even better
While i was in there i also did the mid mod, but couldnt notice any difference at a low betdroom volume (it was late at night).
Will check for difference on tuesday, and will also let u all know how my footswitchable drive goes in a band context
chmiel said:
Bottle rocket,
Just to be sure I understand you, you're saying that you didn't replace the reverb jack with a stereo jack, is that right?
And that you added a wire between A and the drive switch... right?
Did you leave the existing A wire for the reverb jack in place? If so, doesn't it toggle the reverb when you toggle the drive?
Sorry if I'm confused, but it looks like you've hit on the ideal way of doing this, and I'd like to copy it!
Can you provide pictures or even a simple drawing?
lol at Bottle Rocket (name is chmiel)
I did not replace the reverb jack, no,
The reverb switch had two wires - A and B. A was in charge of switching the reverb on and off, while B just went to ground.
So while keeping B intact, i detached the A wire (and taped it off with electrical tape and heat shrink) and then ran a wire from the drive switch to drive A
It does not switch the reverb on and off. Also, when switching between drive and clean ch2 the reverb does not disappear for a second.
If you have more trouble i'll try draw u a schematic, but i think its a pretty easy concept to grasp.
I did not replace the reverb jack, no,
The reverb switch had two wires - A and B. A was in charge of switching the reverb on and off, while B just went to ground.
So while keeping B intact, i detached the A wire (and taped it off with electrical tape and heat shrink) and then ran a wire from the drive switch to drive A
It does not switch the reverb on and off. Also, when switching between drive and clean ch2 the reverb does not disappear for a second.
If you have more trouble i'll try draw u a schematic, but i think its a pretty easy concept to grasp.
plan-x
Well-known member
I read here the complaint of the vol difference from switching gain to drive. That's why I haven't done the mod. It wouldn't be useful in a band situation especially if your like me and prefer the drive at 3:00. Is it possible to rig up a vol pot for this somehow?
I did both of the Reeder mods and the switchable Drive mods today on my LSS.
I'm not particularly adept at such things, but it was easy, much easier than I thought.
Details in case anyone's interested...
The Gain/Master pot switch for Channel 2 is a keeper. I always liked the sound of Channel 2, but it breathes more now. Very nice.
I only did the Middle pot modification to Channel 2. To me Channel 1 sounds fantastic, and I don't see any reason to change it.
For the foot-switchable Drive, I finally decided to go ahead and drill a new hole and put in a new jack. I was going to use the reverb jack as described by Chmiel, but I discovered that there isn't any reverb jack on a LSS! I thought about using the Slave jack, but decided that I might want to use it someday, so out came the drill. I use it with a Boss FS-5L single switch pedal with an LED, and it works perfectly. I can set Channel 2 to a fairly heavy crunch which cleans up nicely with the guitar volume control, and then bring in Drive with a foot tap for mucho sustain and all the feedback and harmonics I might want using a Les Paul R9. That's with Gain on about 1:30 and Drive on about 11:00. As somebody pointed out, you have to balance the Drive and Gain settings to get the volume balance like you want it; with the settings I've described, the volume increases a bit when Drive is engaged, but not too much.
Thanks to everyone on this thread for all the very useful posts! I never would have done this without you guys.
I'm not particularly adept at such things, but it was easy, much easier than I thought.
Details in case anyone's interested...
The Gain/Master pot switch for Channel 2 is a keeper. I always liked the sound of Channel 2, but it breathes more now. Very nice.
I only did the Middle pot modification to Channel 2. To me Channel 1 sounds fantastic, and I don't see any reason to change it.
For the foot-switchable Drive, I finally decided to go ahead and drill a new hole and put in a new jack. I was going to use the reverb jack as described by Chmiel, but I discovered that there isn't any reverb jack on a LSS! I thought about using the Slave jack, but decided that I might want to use it someday, so out came the drill. I use it with a Boss FS-5L single switch pedal with an LED, and it works perfectly. I can set Channel 2 to a fairly heavy crunch which cleans up nicely with the guitar volume control, and then bring in Drive with a foot tap for mucho sustain and all the feedback and harmonics I might want using a Les Paul R9. That's with Gain on about 1:30 and Drive on about 11:00. As somebody pointed out, you have to balance the Drive and Gain settings to get the volume balance like you want it; with the settings I've described, the volume increases a bit when Drive is engaged, but not too much.
Thanks to everyone on this thread for all the very useful posts! I never would have done this without you guys.
My LSS has a reverb Jack.
The reverb jack on Lonestars (both types) is actually inside the chassis by an inch or so, directly under the slave out jack.
It is a bit hard to reach, hence why i have a female extension lead going from the jack to the side of the amp, so i just plug straight into the extension.
If you still cant find it ill post pics of where the jack is
The reverb jack on Lonestars (both types) is actually inside the chassis by an inch or so, directly under the slave out jack.
It is a bit hard to reach, hence why i have a female extension lead going from the jack to the side of the amp, so i just plug straight into the extension.
If you still cant find it ill post pics of where the jack is
Chmiel,
Ah, so that's what that jack is!
At any rate, as I saw it the trade-off was between keeping all the functionality of the amp and keeping it in a condition where it could be put back to original condition for sale. On balance, I decided to keep all the functionality.
Ah, so that's what that jack is!
At any rate, as I saw it the trade-off was between keeping all the functionality of the amp and keeping it in a condition where it could be put back to original condition for sale. On balance, I decided to keep all the functionality.
Without any drilling to the chassis you can use a push/pull type of pot and put that in place of the current drive pot so you have 1 pot to control 2 things. But the real issue is there isn't a signal path where it makes sense to insert the pot. See the drive circuit comes before the channel gain pot and the gain pot is actually attenuates the output of the drive circuit which makes it essentially the volume pot already.plan-x said:
If you must you can use the solo control to balance the vol between drive/clean. I know stepping on 2 buttons is not ideal but better than walking back to the amp.
plan-x
Well-known member
Ah, lets build on this. It would be possible (?)to rig (wire) the solo FS with the Drive FS and actuate both simultaneously on the same switch.
interesting notion, i believe it would be possible.
However, then you lose the solo ability on channel 2 dirty and on channel 1
For me, perfection would be a way of rigging the drive to the slave out jack and knob, and being able to turn the volume of the drive up/down with the slave out knob.
If i did this, however, the maximum volume of the drive would still be the same (which is less than channel 2 dirty), so i need to find a way of increasing the maximum drive level, so i can then match it with the level of channel 2 dirty.
Is there any type of pot i could replace the slave pot with that would do that?
However, then you lose the solo ability on channel 2 dirty and on channel 1
For me, perfection would be a way of rigging the drive to the slave out jack and knob, and being able to turn the volume of the drive up/down with the slave out knob.
If i did this, however, the maximum volume of the drive would still be the same (which is less than channel 2 dirty), so i need to find a way of increasing the maximum drive level, so i can then match it with the level of channel 2 dirty.
Is there any type of pot i could replace the slave pot with that would do that?
I think I've found the solution:
I was looking at the signal path to insert a volume pot configured as the standard voltage divider (3 lugs) and it didn't make any sense as there already the gain pot for this. Basically I was just looking to attenuate the the output of the drive circuit. Then eureka, configure the pot like a volume pot on a guitar, using just 2 lugs or basically a variable resistor to ground.
The output of the drive tube is at V1 pin 1. I bench tested this by connecting the wiper of a pot to V1 pin 1 and one other leg of the pot to ground. I tried with a 1M and a 500K audio pots that I have laying around and they works fine but with one caveat, the taper of the pots I have makes the adjustment a little too sensitive. Meaning it goes from no sound to even level (with the pre-drive signal) in very small adjustment (7'oclock to 8'oclock). So I tried a 500K linear and I got a wider turn of the pot to get the same level. I measured this 'even level' and if you set your drive between 3'o and 12'o, the pot resistance reads roughly between 40k-50k. Basically you want to use a pot with a more gradual taper slop. The pot Mesa used on channel 1 gain would work just fine, the 'even level' should be between 10'o and 11'o.
I want to point out that by lowering the drive volume you will get less overall 'gain' as well since V2 will drive a much lower level signal.
BTW the slave pot can not be used as it's a 10k.
I plan to use a dual concentric pot but I think it will be too deep to fit in the existing drive pot and also I haven't found a 1M/1M or 1M/500K pot yet. So I think the way to do it is remove the slave pot and put in the new pot.
I was looking at the signal path to insert a volume pot configured as the standard voltage divider (3 lugs) and it didn't make any sense as there already the gain pot for this. Basically I was just looking to attenuate the the output of the drive circuit. Then eureka, configure the pot like a volume pot on a guitar, using just 2 lugs or basically a variable resistor to ground.
The output of the drive tube is at V1 pin 1. I bench tested this by connecting the wiper of a pot to V1 pin 1 and one other leg of the pot to ground. I tried with a 1M and a 500K audio pots that I have laying around and they works fine but with one caveat, the taper of the pots I have makes the adjustment a little too sensitive. Meaning it goes from no sound to even level (with the pre-drive signal) in very small adjustment (7'oclock to 8'oclock). So I tried a 500K linear and I got a wider turn of the pot to get the same level. I measured this 'even level' and if you set your drive between 3'o and 12'o, the pot resistance reads roughly between 40k-50k. Basically you want to use a pot with a more gradual taper slop. The pot Mesa used on channel 1 gain would work just fine, the 'even level' should be between 10'o and 11'o.
I want to point out that by lowering the drive volume you will get less overall 'gain' as well since V2 will drive a much lower level signal.
BTW the slave pot can not be used as it's a 10k.
I plan to use a dual concentric pot but I think it will be too deep to fit in the existing drive pot and also I haven't found a 1M/1M or 1M/500K pot yet. So I think the way to do it is remove the slave pot and put in the new pot.
