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K200A footswitch? [message #17158]

Mon, 11 June 2012 13:52

CBB0005
Messages: 2
Registered: June 2012

Junior Member

Howdy,
Well i have what I think is a 200A amp head with harmonic clipper and selective boost options on the right channel and to this day I still do not know what they sound like. I bought the amp many years ago on ebay with the hopes of getting it back to mint condition once again. I have had the tuck n roll replaced and i have the 4 prong footswitch adapter but i have yet to find anyone who knows how to wire it up. I have heard that some peavey footswitches may work? If anyone has any info on where to obtain an old footswitch or how to mod one up I would really appreciate it! also is there anyway to operate the effects without the use of a footswitch? (if there is i sure cant figure it out and havent been able to for years haha) Any help with getting this awesome amp to scream its effects again would be greatly appreciated!

thanks,

Cooper

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Re: K200A footswitch? [message #17160 is a reply to message #17158]

Mon, 11 June 2012 15:20

chicagobill
Messages: 2005
Registered: April 2003

Senior Member

Welcome to the place. All of the effects on a K200A series amp are turned on by connecting the pins of the footswitch jack to ground. There really is nothing that you can damage by trying this, so go ahead and give it a shot.

Take a metal paper clip and straighten it out enough to use as a jumper wire. Yes you can just use a short piece of wire as well. Touch one end of the wire to any exposed bit of metal, like one of the screw heads that holds the ftsw socket in place. Now take the other end of the wire and touch one of the pins in the socket. If that doesn't turn on one of the FX, try another pin. If the FX are working, they will turn on when the correct socket pin is grounded.

Once you know which pin turns on which effect, you can then use this info to create your own footswitch.

As far as I know, there are no other amps that use the same switches and xlr plug. You can find a used PV switch and then change the plug on the end, but PV uses a different plug than that of the Kustom.

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Re: K200A footswitch? [message #17161 is a reply to message #17158]

Mon, 11 June 2012 17:02

CBB0005
Messages: 2
Registered: June 2012

Junior Member

Thanks for the info! It looks as if they may not be working but im not sure as i have never heard them before. Ive heard the effects are not very prominet but i thought I would have at least been able to tell a little. When I ground the selective boost, really the only difference I hear is the turning of the knob is Extremely loud through the speaker. When the clipper is grounded there is a fuzzy reverb noise in the background that increases as the knob is increased yet not really any change of the sound of the music. So bad FX or am i still missing something?

-Coop

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Re: K200A footswitch? [message #17162 is a reply to message #17161]

Mon, 11 June 2012 18:18

chicagobill
Messages: 2005
Registered: April 2003

Senior Member

I think that both of those FX should have 2 controls, one a depth control and the other a volume. So the HC has a control that should fuzz up the sound and a volume to match the volume of the FX signal with that of the bypassed signal, just like a separate foot pedal would have. The Clipper takes the basic preamp signal from a point after the channel volume control. So try turning down the Clipper volume and turning up the Clipper depth control and the main volume control as well and see if the distortion is better. Watch out when you bypass the Clipper, cause if the main volume is set too high it will blast you out of the room.

If the SB pot makes a lot of noise when you turn it, the pot may be dirty and should be cleaned. Get yourself a can of Deoxit and spray a little into the back of the pot. That should fix that problem. Spraying the selector switch would probably be helpful as well. When you turn the switch do you hear any tone change?

If you can't get the FX to work, then there may be a problem with the circuits themselves. This could be transistors or capacitors. Do you have a schematic for the FX? Can you fix this yourself or do you have someone that can work on the circuit for you?

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Re: K200A footswitch? [message #17164 is a reply to message #17158]

Tue, 12 June 2012 06:35

stevem
Messages: 4733
Registered: June 2004
Location: NY

Senior Member

I just last month went thru and repaired for a guy a fully loaded A serise amp like yours, and there was a ton of shot caps, infact someone who had beeen into the amp to fix the problem tryed to work on it with the boards still stacked and melted right through 2 of the caps on a inner board with the soldering iron!
When the amp circiuts are working right and the reverb pan is good the effects are as good as any other amp be it Kustom or some other brand, your amp sounds like it atleast has the issues that Bill posted to you about.
The stacked circuit boards on these A serise amps make them a time consuming pain to work on!

[Updated on: Tue, 12 June 2012 06:37]

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Re: K200A footswitch? [message #17165 is a reply to message #17158]

Wed, 13 June 2012 13:02

Kustom_Bart
Messages: 601
Registered: October 2010
Location: Greenville, MichiGUN

Senior Member

For the nostalgia it is cool to have the harmonic clipper and selective boost, but as far as them being useful effects and sounding good, they aren't worth the powder to blow them up. They aren't useful and sound like crap. The best on board effect is the reverb. The tremolo works good, but who really uses it? I know I don't. I use a multi effect unit and use the effects from that, they work much better and are reliable too. To each their own, just my .02 cents worth.

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Re: K200A footswitch? [message #17168 is a reply to message #17158]

Wed, 13 June 2012 16:36

chicagobill
Messages: 2005
Registered: April 2003

Senior Member

I won't argue the point about you not liking the sound of the clipper or the boost because that is a personal judgment. One guy likes the sound of a Fuzz Face another likes the sound of a Tube Screamer.

When working correctly, the clipper is a nice sounding fuzz, but it is a fuzz and not a smooth distortion. It can be a bit much for some people's tastes.

And the boost can add enough tonal change to help make an instrument stand out a little from the norm.

I'm a big believer in trying everything that an amp or instrument can do, to see if it adds something that I can't get normally.

Just my 2 cents worth.

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Re: K200A footswitch? [message #17177 is a reply to message #17158]

Thu, 14 June 2012 06:52

stevem
Messages: 4733
Registered: June 2004
Location: NY

Senior Member

Yea, the fuzz is a bit much, I would not like to hear the distortion on if played thru a Kustom cabinet with a horn thats for sure!!!

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Re: K200A footswitch? [message #17179 is a reply to message #17177]

Thu, 14 June 2012 10:40

Kustom_Bart
Messages: 601
Registered: October 2010
Location: Greenville, MichiGUN

Senior Member

I agree Steve, at the konvention one was being used and it was brutal to listen to it. It just isn't a sound that fit any of the music being played. Now I am sure backin the day it had its place for sure, but not in anything from the mid seventies til now. It would be really cool if one of you techy guys took a phaser (by ross) distortion (by ross) pedal and installed the guts and made that work in the place of those other effects, now that would be usable and very cool!

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