mark V footswitch troubleshooting.

[purpledc]

Ok guys Im having an issue with my 2009 mark 5 footswitch. I have done some searching and it appears there was a bug where the EQ would jump in and out. My issue is not the same. My issue is my whole amp actually drops in volume with the footswitch attached. Kinda odd. When I hit the FX button it would act as a mute. This all happened after a routine cleaning. It has happened before yet went away and hasnt been an issue till today. I noticed it because I raised the volume on my amp and it wasnt actually raising the volume at all but rather sweeping through the EQ with no change to volume. If I disengaged the fx button all is good and if I remove unplug the footswitch all works fine. I have also noticed that when I first turn my amp on my amp will make noises like its switching channels rapidly and will do this until I actually select a channel. Does anyone know if this is a simple connection problem and is there an easy fix?

 

[xevilchrisx]

The clicking channel-switching sound your amp makes when you turn it on, is probably the footswitch cable not being properly attached to the footswitch. Mine does it all the time.

 

[purpledc]

Well looks like my amp is suffering from two ailments. I fixed the footswitch issue which stopped the machine gunning. But my amp still cuts out all volume when the fx loop is engaged. I know its not the footswitch as it does it with it removed.

 

[search4tone]

I can't remember if it was a Mark V issue or another amp but I recall reading about an EFX loop having problems due to input jacks. The way I recall the story was to spray contact cleaner on the plug and run it in and out of the jacks. There was also mention of running a jumper from the input to output. While the contact cleaner is out the Eurotubes website mentions problems being solved or just improved by spraying all the tube contacts and running it in and out of the sockets a few times. The manual mentions V6 as part of the EFX return circuit. Sadly the MkV has a lot of circuitry that sounds great but when an issue arises there isn't much an owner can do. Hopefully it works out.

 

[purpledc]

So it appears its the jack for the fx return. This sucks man, closest repair place that will touch mesa is over an hour away and they always take at least a month with any gear I take to them. I would ship it to mesa but that would be over $50 to ship the amp when its a $30 repair. ARGGGHH!! You know I bought mesa to NOT have to deal with this stuff. Oddly enough its my two mesa amps that have given me the most fits

 

[purpledc]

Well It turns out im an idiot. I ended up breaking the jack for the amp with my constant wiggling trying to trouble shoot this issue. The jack was about to break anyhow I just helped it along. But at the end of the day the amp never failed. Turns out it was a faulty circuit breaker on one of my Planet waves cables. I never noticed that I had the CB end plugged into the effects loop. And It just so happens that when I took the effects out of the chain and ran a cable to both the in and out of the effects loop it just happened to be ANOTHER F'd up cable that I grabbed. So Now I sit here with a perfectly working Mark V that never actually let me down to begin with feeling like a total newb and poser. But hey, at least Ill admit my faults.