# Mesa Roadster DIY footswitch



## garrettdavis275 (May 30, 2014)

Hey everyone!

I have a Mesa Roadster with a gigantic footswitch that is impractical for my needs. I want to build or buy a footswitch that allows me to plug into a few of the "external switching" jacks on the back of the head to select the channels I use.

How the hell do I do this? I basically want an A/B/C switcher that can't have multiple channels selected at once. Like if A is selected and I press C, it needs to kill A. Everything I see on the market is A/B/Y.

This is probably the most basic thing but I'm a derp when it comes to this stuff.

*Also, if you can build this for me, I will pay you for it.*


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## Paul Running (Apr 12, 2020)

The selector switches on the vintage radios functioned like you describe.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

Is it possible to rehouse the one you have?


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## garrettdavis275 (May 30, 2014)

Paul Running said:


> The selector switches on the vintage radios functioned like you describe.
> 
> View attachment 387486


Good point! I'll look into how those were wired.


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## garrettdavis275 (May 30, 2014)

player99 said:


> Is it possible to rehouse the one you have?


I'm sure it's doable but I'm hoping there's something else available before it comes to that. It may end up being the solution though.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

garrettdavis275 said:


> I'm sure it's doable but I'm hoping there's something else available before it comes to that. It may end up being the solution though.


Which switch do you have? I saw a single row long one and a dual row shorter one.


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## jb welder (Sep 14, 2010)

You will have to run 4 separate cords into the 4 FS jacks (or a snake).
Then you will also need a mechanical arrangement like @Paul Running mentioned, that releases the switch previously selected.
It's designed for use with a midi foot controller that has many 1/4" outs.


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## garrettdavis275 (May 30, 2014)

player99 said:


> Which switch do you have? I saw a single row long one and a dual row shorter one.


The dual row one.


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## garrettdavis275 (May 30, 2014)

jb welder said:


> You will have to run 4 separate cords into the 4 FS jacks (or a snake).
> Then you will also need a mechanical arrangement like @Paul Running mentioned, that releases the switch previously selected.
> It's designed for use with a midi foot controller that has many 1/4" outs.


Right exactly. Maybe I should be looking into a proper switching setup like a Boss ES5 or similar.


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## jb welder (Sep 14, 2010)

Ask Saturnworks if one of their pedals would do the job or how much it would be to build what you want. Their prices look like it would be less than something like the Boss unit.



https://saturnworkspedals.com/product/multi-looper/


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

garrettdavis275 said:


> The dual row one.


That's 8 switches?


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## garrettdavis275 (May 30, 2014)

jb welder said:


> Ask Saturnworks if one of their pedals would do the job or how much it would be to build what you want. Their prices look like it would be less than something like the Boss unit.
> 
> 
> 
> https://saturnworkspedals.com/product/multi-looper/


Just emailed them. Thanks for the suggestion!


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## garrettdavis275 (May 30, 2014)

player99 said:


> That's 8 switches?


Yep that's the one.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

garrettdavis275 said:


> Yep that's the one.


How much smaller do you want it to be? How much is that worth to you?


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## garrettdavis275 (May 30, 2014)

player99 said:


> How much smaller do you want it to be? How much is that worth to you?


That's a legit point I need to consider. I'm not sure it's worth several hundred dollars. Some of those switching systems seems pretty great for quality of life but I don't particularly love menu diving and setting up presets.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

garrettdavis275 said:


> That's a legit point I need to consider. I'm not sure it's worth several hundred dollars. Some of those switching systems seems pretty great for quality of life but I don't particularly love menu diving and setting up presets.


Take the back off and show us a gut shot of the amp pedal. It might be easy to build one or even rehouse what you have.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

IS this yours?


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

Do you use all 8 switches? If you only really use 4 it could be easier to buy/make one smaller. But looking at what they do I would want all 8.


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## garrettdavis275 (May 30, 2014)

player99 said:


> Do you use all 8 switches? If you only really use 4 it could be easier to buy/make one smaller. But looking at what they do I would want all 8.


Nope I only use the channel selectors. 4 switches is all I want.


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## garrettdavis275 (May 30, 2014)

player99 said:


> IS this yours?


Yes that's the culprit. I'll get a picture tomorrow if I can get home long enough to do it.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

garrettdavis275 said:


> Yes that's the culprit. I'll get a picture tomorrow if I can get home long enough to do it.


The pedal is midi correct? Is the end that goes into the amp a standard midi plug? I am no midi expert, but I do have a bit of user experience.


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## garrettdavis275 (May 30, 2014)

It's got a 7 pin DIN connector. I'm a midi noob. Looks like a midi cable. Just more pins.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

garrettdavis275 said:


> It's got a 7 pin DIN connector. I'm a midi noob. Looks like a midi cable. Just more pins.


Once you post a pic of the guts and the end, @mhammer could tell you if it's midi or just a 7 pin switch cable. If it's the 7 pin cable then it is easier. Just figure out which pins go to which switch and then wire up a new small one with 4 switches. But by the time you buy 4 switches, the cable, leds, the box, etc, then you are not far off just getting one made?


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## garrettdavis275 (May 30, 2014)

player99 said:


> Once you post a pic of the guts and the end, @mhammer could tell you if it's midi or just a 7 pin switch cable. If it's the 7 pin cable then it is easier. Just figure out which pins go to which switch and then wire up a new small one with 4 switches. But by the time you buy 4 switches, the cable, leds, the box, etc, then you are not far off just getting one made?


Probably most of the way to having one made at that point. I scanned some forums and it seems like a few guys with Roadsters have used the Voodoo Labs Control Switcher. There's one available for 130$. I might go that route and dig out my old midi controller.

I will post back when I figure out what direction to go. Maybe Saturnworks will be able to rig something up as well.

Thanks for all the help!!!


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

garrettdavis275 said:


> Probably most of the way to having one made at that point. I scanned some forums and it seems like a few guys with Roadsters have used the Voodoo Labs Control Switcher. There's one available for 130$. I might go that route and dig out my old midi controller.
> 
> I will post back when I figure out what direction to go. Maybe Saturnworks will be able to rig something up as well.
> 
> Thanks for all the help!!!


Post that gut shot!


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## jb welder (Sep 14, 2010)

player99 said:


> Once you post a pic of the guts and the end, @mhammer could tell you if it's midi or just a 7 pin switch cable. If it's the 7 pin cable then it is easier. Just figure out which pins go to which switch and then wire up a new small one with 4 switches. But by the time you buy 4 switches, the cable, leds, the box, etc, then you are not far off just getting one made?


The DIN is just used as a connector and not midi. 4 of it's pins connect to the Ch. select 1/4" jacks so it could be used instead of 4 separate 1/4" cables.
But it is not a simple footswitch arrangement. As has been mentioned a few times, if you used regular switches, you would have to turn them all off except the one you choose. So that means hitting 2 separate switches with your foot, quick enough that there is no lag or mute. 
The mesa footswitch probably contains momentary footswitches and relays, maybe some kind of brain.

This shows how the DIN is connected to the 1/4" switch jacks for the RoadKingII. Pins 6 & 7 of the DIN are shown on another page.


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## garrettdavis275 (May 30, 2014)

[QUO


jb welder said:


> The DIN is just used as a connector and not midi. 4 of it's pins connect to the Ch. select 1/4" jacks so it could be used instead of 4 separate 1/4" cables.
> But it is not a simple footswitch arrangement. As has been mentioned a few times, if you used regular switches, you would have to turn them all off except the one you choose. So that means hitting 2 separate switches with your foot, quick enough that there is no lag or mute.
> The mesa footswitch probably contains momentary footswitches and relays, maybe some kind of brain.
> 
> ...


I just bought the Voodoo Lab Control Switcher. I'll use it with my small midi controller.

It came up at a good price and I've got the stuff to make it work. Plus I can use the midi controller to change rigs on my Waza TAE for each channel if I get ambitious.

Thanks you guys so much for the help and letting me figure my way thru this.

I'll post back once I get everything set up. Should be a cool excuse to show off my rig a bit.


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