BadAssBluesDude Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 I asked this in my last mega-thread but I had so much going on it got overlooked. Is there any reason I can't put the C3 & C4 lift into two 1/4 inch jacks and run it via guitar cable(s) to a SPDT footswitch? TC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cGil Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 I'd test it loose and unmounted first, before I'd bother drilling a hole in the chassis panel for it. Theoretically, any insulated cable will have it's own inherent level of cable capacitance in the picofarad range. The problem is that two capacitances in series will result in a combined value lower than the lowest value (or just divided by half if the two capacitance values are of equal value) And I haven't even mentioned the footswitch cable's inherent resistance. Be sure to use a low impedance patch cord, not a guitar cable for your test. I've used 20' Rat Shack stereo phone plug cables for footswitches for years. Cheep, easy to find, and they work. Conversely, if it's single switch footswitch, and you only need a mono cable for a job like a reverb switch or the Blackheart gain switch which is just changing diffferent resistances to dump signal to ground anyway; even the crummiest, worst sounding, and most beat up old guitar cable will often still be useful for that job, inherent cable resistance and all. Look out. Here comes the math... http://www.aikenamps.com/AddingComponents.htm So anyway, if the cable capacitance and possibly cable resistance do come into play as major factors, the end result might be for a normally extra-phat sounding 5uF cathode bypass cap to wind up causing that gain stage to sound like a chipmunk barking. It's rumored that certain vintage trem circuits won't even work unless a footswitch cable is attached, because those particular tremolo circuits were designed to take advantage of the footswitch cable capacitance. I simply haven't played with an amp like that, so I can't say for sure. However, this is a guitar amp and bypass caps we're talking about, and guitar amps can throw even the best of theory right out the window. So try it first and drill later. If it works. Gil... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadAssBluesDude Posted December 7, 2008 Author Share Posted December 7, 2008 Thanks again Gil, I'll just leave it alone for now. TC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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