Amp Footswitch

[nero1985]

Hey Guys, it's been a while since i built stompboxes but now im way too busy with my band so i can't do it anymore, anyways....

I just bought a Marshall DSL401 and its great, the only problem is that it didn't come with the footswitch (i bought it on sale for half the price becuase the amps were discountinued) so now im about to build a footswitch and i have a question about...

the amp has 2 channels clean/distortion and also a footswitchable gain boost, so i can have 2 distortions an AC/DC tone and a Van Halen tone with the gain boost and you can also switch the reverb on an off (spring reverb) so my footswitch will have 4 switchs for all these operations, BUT i also need a volume boost in the effects loop for solos (which will the be fourth footswitch), so instead of adding a boost im going to add 2 volume controls in the same box, one for rhythm and one for lead i can keep the master all the way up and control my master volumes for distortion from my board, also these level control will be footswitchable and will only work when the amp is in distortion and not when the amp is clean and it will have its own LED so that when im using clean and i have to switch to distortion i know if i have the rhythm or lead setting on becuase the LED will be working all the time for the rhyhtm/lead footswitch, this section on the pedal will be thru the effects loop.

NOW.. my question is, would i have any problems mixing this two applications in one pedal? im mostly worried about ground problems because the pedal will have it's own DC jack that will power all the LEDs without using the power that comes from the amp to the footswitch (which normally powers the leds)

so what im thinking about doing is either using plastic TRS jacks for the footswitch lines and use regular switchcraft jacks for the volume switch which will be connected to the ground of the pedal which will have the ground from the DC jack,  or just using regular jacks for everything becuase the pedal is going to run thru the effects loop of the amp so its going to have the same ground of the amp anyways.

If you've done something like this before please give me a hand, i have the whole thing planned out already but its just a matter of do i insolate the footswitch ground or do i let it all connect. THANKS!!

[soulsonic]

Are you modding the amp itself, or are you making a simple channel footswitch with some additional circuits that are separate from the amp?

[Pushtone]

I'm not quite sure I understand but...

consider using a battery to power the pedal LEDs, if thats all it will be powering.
A battery will last a long time if you remember to turn the LEDs off with the footswitches and it solves your GL issue.


I'm a little worried when you say you'll turn the master vol up all the way
and switch between two volume controls in the effects loops.

There is a chance you'll turn a switch "pop" into a thunderus "boom" by going straight into the power amp section. Test it.

Good luck.

[nero1985]

hey guys thanks for the replys... yes its just a amp footswitch with an additional circuit for volume, what i meant was i'm gonna keep the distortion channel's volume all the way up and then i'll switch between the volume controls built into the pedal, i've done it before and never had POPs rarely i had a very suttle pop but nothing that was noticiable the only difference is that i didn't have LEDs on it....
the problem is that i really hate 9v batteries so i don't even wanna go there hehe

if anybody has any other suggestions let me know, thanks!