trs cable wiring?

[kanakanaka77]

building a footswitch for my 15 watt vox pathfinder. I bought a little project box, a couple stsp switches, a stereo 1/4 " jack and some pro co  dynamike 223b crap cable that some guy at sam ash just gave me and although he said it would work I'm not so sure. It has the red and white wires in it which are encased in a white fluff. The white fluff is surrounded by criss-crossed copper wiring. If this isn't the wiring i need where do I get some?
thanks guys!

[jacobyjd]

Not all amp switches are the same.

That said, it sounds like you have the correct cable. You need 2 conductors for the T and the R, and the S is the copper braid

[kanakanaka77]

I would send pics but not sure how to upload them on this site. the wire is totally throwing me off. I think it's the white fluff that keeps making me think all is wrong. and the copper braiding around it is a pain to get into a point. Anyone know of any good sites that show the process of soldering it together?

[kanakanaka77]

what is the white rope like material surrounding the red and black cables? is it something i need to remove? I apologize but I'm not electronically sound and would rather ask dumb questions than start a fire.

Here's the only schematic I could find

http://www.vintagedesign.halmstad.net/schematics/Pathfinder15.pdf

It looks like the foot switch is just two mechanical switches. You need a stereo jack, and two switches (SPST, DPST, DPDT, SPDT, 3PDT, they all will work fine)

Each of the switches connects one of the stereo tips to ground., turning on or off the effect. One turns on/off a Jfet switch, it looks like, in the feedback path of an op-amp stage, changing the gain.... The other grounds the output of a oscillator, turning on or off the oscillations.

EDIT: You posted first XD

Yes, you are correct! Two SPST switches will do nicely. Each one connects/disconnects the stereo tips to ground. 

If you feel at all iffy about the whole thing (not that you should) you can test it by plugging in a stereo jack and using a piece of wire to short the tips to ground

I'm afraid I don't fully understand this? What am I soldering to the 2 posts on the spst button switches? or am I just soldering one conductor to each of them?

[kanakanaka77]

am i asking the wrong ?'s ? or am I too inexperienced to be attempting this?

[.Mike]

I think you're over-thinking this.

First, your cable. It sounds like it has two conductors and a shield. When you strip off some of the outer insulation, you reveal the two conductors (each with their own insulation around them), the shield (bare strands of wire), and the white cloth strands. The white cloth strands are just there for added strength. Cut it off.

To get the shield ready to be soldered, you have to carefully unwind/unbraid it from around the conductors and twist it together tightly to make a solderable wire. If it is the type I think it is-- braided around the two conductors, it will take some time. Grab a toothpick and unbraid it. I have done this hundreds of times. It is a slow process.

Second, a large percentage of amp footswitches are very simple, and most two button footswitches use a TRS connector. The Tip of the connector is connected to one conductor, the Ring of the connector is connected to the other conductor, and the Sleeve of the connector is connected to the shield.

When you step on one of the footswitches, it connects the Tip to the Sleeve. When you step on the switch again, it disconnects the Tip from the Sleeve. When you step on the other footswitch, it connects the Ring to the Sleeve. When you step on the switch again, it disconnects the Ring from the Sleeve.

A quick Google image search reveals this wiring diagram, which is most likely what you need to build.

Good luck!

Mike

[kanakanaka77]

you're right I definitely am overthinking this. I just don't want any electrical issues (been struck by lightning). anyhoo, thanks so much for the help. If I'm seeing this right I have to split the single strand of shielding into two separate strands and attach them to the spst switches, can I leave the wiring exposed like that or do I have to find some sort of tiny shrinkwrap.
thanks again

[.Mike]

In my Peavey two-channel footswitch, it is bare wire, and the two conductors are insulated right up to where they are soldered to the switch.

I could take a picture for you, but it would have to wait until tomorrow.

Mike

[kanakanaka77]

no worries on the pic  It's up and running beautifully! Thanks for all the help! I apologize in advance but i'll be looking for more of it now that I've got the building bug.
thanks again

[petemoore]

  Get them completely separated, insulated from one another, de-insulated enough to touch each conductor.
 Set DMM to beep when it's probes are touched, test each conductor for conduction, test cross-conductor style to ensure they're separated [usually optional, but if you've been soldering, with soft insulator material the heat runs up the wire and can cause cross-conductor shorting [quick with the heat/cooling there helps, duckbill mini-alligator clip makes good heatsink / ''oven mitt'' / conductor manager.

[kanakanaka77]

what's dmm? I don't know to test wires.  I have a multimeter that I just got, and am in the process of learning. any help would be appreciated.
thanks again

[theundeadelvis]

DMM=Digital MultiMeter

Many of these have a built-in continuity tester. When you use this setting you touch one probe to one end of a wire and the other probe to the other end of the wire. If you are touching the ends of the same wire the DMM will beep. If you are touching an end of a different wire, no beep.

[kanakanaka77]

I like tube amps and bacon.

well played sir!
thanks for the response!

I'll get on that!