Silvertone foot switch

tseangrif · September 12, 2004, 11:14:56 PM

I just bougt a '59 Silvertone 1432. It sounds great but does not have the foot switch. The tremolo is not working and I think I need a foot switch to use it. Any thoughts on where to buy one or how to build one?

Lonestarjohnny · September 12, 2004, 11:53:38 PM

All you need is a stomp switch wired to a 1/4 in' jack, tip of jack to 1 side of switch and the sleeve wired to the other side of the switch,
for a temporary switch to see if your tremelo work's is just take a 1/4 in." jack and a jumper wire to go from grd. to tip of jack, that should turn it on.
Johnny

vanhansen · September 14, 2004, 02:00:25 PM

I ran in to the same problem when I bought my Marshall head, no footswitch for the channels. I went to a Hoover vacuum cleaner store and bought some vacuum cleaner switches (look like stombox switches but with wires attached already). I wired that switch up to a jack, boxed it up and was ready to go. That switch has lasted me 6-7 years without failure.

tseangrif · September 15, 2004, 02:32:35 PM

Thanks for the help. I tried jumping a patch cord to turn the tremolo on but had no success. Any other thoughts? I am thinking of getting new tubes but wonder if this is a good idea. The existing tubes are labeled Silvertone so they may be original. I don't want to take out a transformer but wonder if the tremolo may not work because of a bad tube. Plus new tubes may sound better.

vanhansen · September 15, 2004, 02:45:34 PM

Does the amp have more than one channel? Reverb? Multiple footswitch jacks?

If it has say reverb and the tremelo, with one footswitch jack, then you need two footswitches and one stereo jack (tip/ring/sleeve) and then cable used also needs to be tip/ring/sleeve, not just a normal guitar cable. This is because there would be two buttons in the box, one for the reverb, one for the tremelo, with the signal going down one cable. I'm not sure if the tremelo switching is on the tip or ring. Sleeve is ground (I think). It's been a while since I wired up a 2 button switch like that.

If you're not sure when it the last time it got new tubes was, it's not a bad idea. Get it biased too.

Lonestarjohnny · September 15, 2004, 03:27:26 PM

his amp is cathode bais, you just need a good matched set of power tube's for it, but his tremelo problem could be an optoisalator or a bad tube, and yes if it's got reverb it would be a 2 switch box, both signal's just need to be taken to ground for the effect to work,
Johnny

llamma · September 15, 2004, 04:04:31 PM

not all 2 button footswitches require a stereo (TRS) cable,

Fender comes to mind, their switches for channel and reverb use just a normal mono guitar cable, its quite a good idea coz then you don't need to worry about having a different cable in your bag.

vanhansen · September 15, 2004, 08:41:06 PM

Quote from: llammanot all 2 button footswitches require a stereo (TRS) cable,

Fender comes to mind, their switches for channel and reverb use just a normal mono guitar cable, its quite a good idea coz then you don't need to worry about having a different cable in your bag.

That's right. I forgot about eh fender switches. If I remember correctly, one switch works off the tip, the other off the sleeve. Like I said, it's been a while since a did anything with 2 buttom switches so I may be wrong (or close) :?: :?

tseangrif · September 16, 2004, 02:28:38 PM

The amp has 4 inputs. One mic jack, two instrument jacks and one footswitch jack. There are two adjustment knobs for the tremolo. One marked speed and the other marked stregnth. The instrument jacks have a volume and a tone knob and the mic has its own volume and tone knobs. There are no other controls and nothing marked reverb. I haven't tried the mic input yet. I appreciate all the help.

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Silvertone foot switch