fender style reverb footswitching

[eddie25]

... and it's not shielded. SIGH.

No worries, that's an easy fix, right? - just get a new switch. I'm sure you'll have a project down the road to use the other one. The Garnet book is interesting by the way, and Garnet comes off as being very humble and open minded in his writing. Cool to get his perspective. Wish Fender and Bran had written books...

Actually, no need cause I'm gonna stick with grounding the output of the recovery instead, it's almost dead quiet even with the unshielded footswitch cable and it makes a lot more sense with my layout. I'm slightly upset with myself for not checking the switch first thing, but I'm happy with the outcome, thanks for tip. I need to check out that book.

[FUCHSAUDIO]

Back in the day, you couldn't buy a micro relay like we can today. A simple relay arrangement (which I use in most of my amps) eliminates the need for shielded footswitch wires, and potenitally added noise, high frequency losses etc. Even doing the mute elsewhere, has it's limitations. Some companies muted the pan input (some Ampegs and others), which means still some clank and noise from other places. A simple relay and footswitch is easy to do, especially if you have relays or low voltage power in the unit doing other things.

[Wardy]

I know this is an old thread but I'm posting here as I searched for a long time for a way to quiet a buzzing reverb footswitch on a new build Blackface. Its a bit of a complex switch which is actually a 4 button thing that does channel, reverb, trem and boost. Anyhow a big thanks to Gaz for the suggestion of moving the switch wire on the reverb to the output. This not only eliminated the noise but also reduced footswitch pop to almost nothing and needs no further work. many thanks to all here.

[mr_hankey]

I'm just using standard DPDT switch to bypass the whole reverb circuit in my amp ('true bypass' like you would see in an effect pedal). It will soon be moved to a relay, using the exact same setup.

I see that type of switching seems to be uncommon and I'm not sure why. In commercial amps sure, simpler switches are cheaper, but that's not a concern in the types of amps we're talking about here.

[B Ingram]

I'm just using standard DPDT switch to bypass the whole reverb circuit in my amp ('true bypass' like you would see in an effect pedal). It will soon be moved to a relay ....

I see that type of switching seems to be uncommon and I'm not sure why. ...

You will have a good plan once you get it done with that relay.

But if the DPDT is a switch outside the amp at a footswitch, there still exists the problem of all that wiring being an antenna for noise (which we then hope to shield to prevent noise). That would mean a "more expensive switch style" without killing all the possible problems that could arise.

As I implied with the opening sentence, once you're using a relay inside the amp you're "reducing the loop area" of the "antenna" made by wiring, and housing all that within a likely well-shielded chassis.

[Wardy]

If you move the switch wire to the output side of the reverb circuit like Gaz said and use shielded wire you won't need to bother with the relay and all the associated circuitry. Its dead quiet then. It did act like an antenna before I did this though.