Move switch from guitar fx pedalboard to external switch

[RedW]

Hi, I have a Line 6 FBV MkII shortboard that has a number of footswitches to control the various patches. One of them turns a looper on and off but it is in a really difficult position to use so I’d like to move it to an external switch.

The switch is a 6mm tactile - This one.

Would it be possible to solder a wire to the existing solder points under the switch and then to the underside of a new switch in an external unit?

Thanks for your help.

Pete

 

[alec_t]

That should work ok. Make sure there is also good mechanical support for the cable ends, to provide strain relief, as someone is sure to trip over the cable .

 

[RedW]

Thanks, if I understand the wiring, I should be able to take the new internal wires to a new jack lead socket and then do the reverse on the new switch. I plan to use an existing switch that uses a similar mechanism for example - Footswitch, although I realise I might need to re wire the new pedal.

Does that sound right? Any help with making sure I understand the wiring correctly would also help.

Thanks

 

[alec_t]

Does that sound right?

Post a sketch of what you think is right.

 

[gophert]

Does that sound right?

Post a sketch of what you think is right.

To keep it easy, a photo of a hand drawn circuit is good enough.

 

[RedW]

Good news, I was struggling with the sketch! I’ll pull something together tomorrow and post it.

Thanks for the help.

 

[RedW]

So here are some photos to hopefully show what I want to do.

1 - Pedalboard is the outside of the pedalboard with the Loop switch highlighted.
2- The inside of the board with the reverse of the tactile switch highlighted
3 - The tactile switch turned over. You can also see the reverse of the individual switch that activates it
4 - The simple on off switch
5 - Enlarged image of the reverse of the tactile switch.

So my theory was that I could somehow solder wires to the reverse of the switch then to a jack socket that I could plug the on off switch into. Failing that, hard wire the new wires from the switch directly to the on-off switch.

If this is possible, i will need to understand which pints on the switch go to the 2 parts of a jack socket.

Thanks!

 

[alec_t]

Not all tact switches have the same pinout, so you would need to identify (with no power on the pedal board), using a multimeter set to a low Ohms range or set for a continuity test, which two pins get bridged when the switch is pressed.
It would probably be two diagonally opposite pins.

 

[RedW]

Thanks for the reply. If I work out which pins are which, how do i understand how they map to a jack plug? I'd definitely rather not hardwire it.

 

[alec_t]

Unless the jack plug has an external voltage source connected (which it shouldn't, because there should only be a foot-switch connected) you can treat the two pins as non-polarised.

 

[RedW]

Thanks. Does that mean that as long as I identify the 2 pairs of bridged pins I can join them and solder them to either point of the jack socket?

 

[alec_t]

Yes, although there may be only one pair. On some tact switches two of the pins are used only to provide mechanical support.

 

[RedW]

Thanks Alec, I’ll no doubt post either a successful update or a further question!