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Help ... Need a switching Guru!


bassfan
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I am hoping that one of you pedal gurus out there can take a look at my predicament and help me out. 
 

I’m using a Mesa Boogie M6 Carbine amp. Great amp that I love. There’s 5 voicing options that I can choose from which I like. On the rear there’s the option to connect these to a switch and switch between the options. Mesa don’t make a pedal to do this. I don’t want to connect 6 switches (5 voice options and mute). 
 

Can anyone recommend a single pedal that could do this or someone who could make me one. 
 

Some blurb from the manual: 

These five 1⁄4” jacks are provided to allow control of the Front Panel VOICE feature and Tuner MUTE from a master switching device. In this scenario, all sounds and features are controlled from one source and usually these com- mands are stored in the master switcher under programs (usually midi) that can be recalled with one
footswitch keystroke.
The M6 CARBINE Function jacks respond to simple grounding type (tip-to-ground) latching (not mo-
mentary) logic and most switchers on the market offer several jacks that can be dedicated to this type of
 logic.
FX
LOOP
To trigger a VOICE mode remotely using the Function Switches: Select VOICE position 3/ EXT SWITCH (straight up). Con- nect a standard 1⁄4” unshielded (speaker type) cable to the VOICE jack(s) of your choice and “ground the tip to the ring” of the opposing end of the cable. The corresponding VOICE mode will be engaged and you will hear the sound change. In most master switchers this will be as easy as connecting the cable, choosing an available program number, hitting a key to ground that jack, and then pressing the Store or Enter key. If you find you only need to footswitch one of the voicings, you can use a simple one-button footswitch, which are readily available at most music stores. If you can’t locate one, call us and ask to speak to a Product Special- ist and we can make you one for a nominal charge.
 

    reAr PANeL CONTrOLS: (Continued)
  FUNCTION SWITCHES: (Continued)
of the Function Switch jacks as you gain access to alternate sounds without having to walk back to the amplifier or stop playing to
The live performance power of the M6 CARBINE is greatly expanded by the inclusion
adjust knobs.
NOTE: If the Front Panel VOICE select switch is set to any position other than 3/EXT SWITCH and you use a function switch jack to trigger another different VOICE mode, you will activate two VOICE modes at once. This will not hurt the amplifier and depend- ing on the combination, you may actually create a sound that is desirable. For example, you might like the mid scoop of position 2 blended with the mid bump of either position 4 or 5. Feel free to experiment as you might create a unique sound that is all yours. If you are in a VOICE mode and try to trigger that same mode with the Function Switches you will hear no change as the mode is already selected.
To trigger the Tuner MUTE feature: simply connect an unshielded 1⁄4” cable to the MUTE Function Switch jack and ground the tip to the ring of the opposing end of the cable with either a master switcher or a latching type (not momentary) grounding footswitch.
NOTE: The Front Panel PULL MUTE feature overrides the Function Switch jack. Once MUTE is engaged on the Front Panel by pulling the MASTER control out, MUTE can not be defeated via the Rear Panel Switch jacks.
 

any help anyone can give to a total switchophobe would be greatly appreciated! 👍🏻

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@bassfan

So here's my question:

I'm guessing that on any gig you'll have a favourite voice (e.g. voice 3 or 4) which is going to be your default, but you might want a different voice for slap (e.g. voice 1 or 2) 

If that's the case, I think what is needed is a single lead to a footswitch to switch the alternative voice on / off and when it's off you go back to your default voice.

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15 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

@bassfan

So here's my question:

I'm guessing that on any gig you'll have a favourite voice (e.g. voice 3 or 4) which is going to be your default, but you might want a different voice for slap (e.g. voice 1 or 2) 

If that's the case, I think what is needed is a single lead to a footswitch to switch the alternative voice on / off and when it's off you go back to your default voice.


Yes, in theory, but you have to have the voice knob set on 3 to engage a different voice mode as I understand it. So if I was on setting 4 and had the single lead in 2 if I engaged the switch I would get both 4 & 2 unless I was on setting 3 on the amp. Which is why it would be preferable to have a switch with the 5 jacks plugged in and some kind of display or 5 buttons (with LEDs to show which is engaged) 

  I would also like the mute on the same switch if possible. I’m not a fan of the push/pull mute on the master volume. 

Edited by bassfan
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This switching scheme was designed to be used with a variety of switcher boxes that are more common in the guitar side of the industry. There were a bunch of semi-custom products, but some stock ones too.

https://mesahollywood.com/products/voodoo-lab-control-switcher

Here's another, uses 2 x TRS that have to be broken out at the amp's end into 2 x TS:

Image result for ibanez ifs"

Here's another, I believe this breaks out to 4 x TS:

Image result for mesa 4 button footswitch carbine"

Here's an example of the kind of product that would be used at the amp end, and a programmable MIDI footswitch would go on the floor with a single MIDI cable between the two. The box would provide the contact closures upon command by the MIDI signal. The guitar world is full of such devices, we had some too, but things have changed considerably over the years and they are in fact fading away:

https://six4pix.net/product/midiswitcher/

We also made a 4 footswitch pedal with 4 outputs that could be connected through a single 4 pair snake terminated in 1/4"-TS plugs, I don't know much about the accessories, but customer service would know.

Hope this helps

 

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Great - thanks so much @agedhorse for jumping in.

Am I correct that the ability to footswitch voicing is unique to the M6 as the M3 doesn't have separate voicing and the M9 from what I can see from the rear doesn't have separate voicing footswitch options, but just a single footswitch port which controls the EQ but not the voicing?

M9:

Image result for mesa m9 carbine

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On 30/10/2019 at 03:05, Al Krow said:

Great - thanks so much @agedhorse for jumping in.

Am I correct that the ability to footswitch voicing is unique to the M6 as the M3 doesn't have separate voicing and the M9 from what I can see from the rear doesn't have separate voicing footswitch options, but just a single footswitch port which controls the EQ but not the voicing?

M9:

Image result for mesa m9 carbine

Correct, applies to the M-6 only. [edited for accuracy]

Edited by agedhorse
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On 30/10/2019 at 14:03, Al Krow said:

I'm kinda thinking you can't use a footswitch to cycle through the voices on the M9 though? 

Correct, I should have been clearer in my explanation. The footswitch operation on the M6 is different, individual contact closures for each voice (1, 2, 4, 5) with 3 being default. Sorry for the confusion.

The original concept of the switching on the M6 came from the guitar amp side of things where MIDI switchers and contact closures were commonplace. When a program change is sent via MIDI, it triggers the appropriate contact closure to enable that voice. 

With the M9, this was simplified and it kind of works in reverse, you set the voice you want to switch to on the voice knob, then the footswitch toggles between no voice and the selected voice. This is the tip contact, the ring contact is for mute.

Hope this helps.

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  • 2 weeks later...

My switch arrived today. A little over a week from first talking to James at Bright onions and I’m very happy. It was taken to tonight’s gig and does everything it should. Great price and quick delivery. Big shout out to James. 👍🏻👍🏻

EBF1F9D3-61CB-4976-832C-FA46AB32AA9A.jpeg

D72BBB65-BB02-4865-BE14-763F4C50C629.jpeg

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2 hours ago, Al Krow said:

It's crying out for some a-Mesa-ing art work on it, buddy! 

If I could find some decal/transfers/stickers for the Mesa engineering logo then I’d get them. The decal on the front of the carbine would fit exactly ... just need 2 sets! Who do we know that’s handy with that kind of thing? 

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It’s not actually as big as it looks in the picture and taking it all apart to do something would be a lot of unnecessary aggro. I’m all for a relatively simple life! 😂 a couple of nice Mesa engineering logos would suit me fine. @agedhorse do Mesa have any decals I could get my hands on or better still embossed style like on the front of the amps?? 

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On 10/11/2019 at 01:57, bassfan said:

It’s not actually as big as it looks in the picture and taking it all apart to do something would be a lot of unnecessary aggro. I’m all for a relatively simple life! 😂 a couple of nice Mesa engineering logos would suit me fine. @agedhorse do Mesa have any decals I could get my hands on or better still embossed style like on the front of the amps?? 

Your dealer would need to contact the distributor for your country. I do not know what the policy is for this kind of accessory

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