RM100 footswitch problems, help!! FIXED, thanks Bruce!

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m0jo

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Hey guys, a friend of mine bought an RM100, the amp works fine but footswitching doesn't work.

- The amp switching works fine (via the button)
- The amp supplies power to the footswitch
- The midi fuse is fine (zero resistance)
- The amp doesn't react to any footswitch (his RF3, my RF4 or my Gordius)
- The cable is fine (and we've tried other ones)
- We've tried nearly all midi-channel setting on the midi board (1 and 16 included)

Can anyone help us out here? Thanks!
 
Did you try re-programming the RF3 or RF4?

I think it's in the manual but you select the switch you want on the footswitch, select the channel you want on the amp and then press and hold the channel select on the amp.

This wouldn't really explain why it's not working with a regular midi switch though :-/
 
JKD said:
Did you try re-programming the RF3 or RF4?

I think it's in the manual but you select the switch you want on the footswitch, select the channel you want on the amp and then press and hold the channel select on the amp.

This wouldn't really explain why it's not working with a regular midi switch though :-/
Yes, I own an RM4 and know how to program it..
It doesn't seem to save the settings..
 
I've heard of Midi boards 'blowing' (not fuse related) or perhaps the PROM lost it's programming....but I'm a MIDIot so :-/

Maybe eedude, or RD/Steve or Mr Egnater will chime in...have seen good MIDI answers from all those guys.
 
JKD said:
I've heard of Midi boards 'blowing' (not fuse related) or perhaps the PROM lost it's programming....but I'm a MIDIot so :-/

Maybe eedude, or RD/Steve or Mr Egnater will chime in...have seen good MIDI answers from all those guys.
Yes, I'm afraid that might be the case.
I have e-mailes USMusiccorp about a new midi-board, I hope they will be reponsive..
 
I _think_ you can reset the MIDI by holding down the channel select button while powering the amp up. (that works on the MOD amps, at least, so it probably works on the RM's, too) Probably worth a shot, though you'd have to re-program the amp.

--B
 
bduersch said:
I _think_ you can reset the MIDI by holding down the channel select button while powering the amp up. (that works on the MOD amps, at least, so it probably works on the RM's, too) Probably worth a shot, though you'd have to re-program the amp.

--B
We'll try that! Thanks for the help!
 
bduersch said:
I _think_ you can reset the MIDI by holding down the channel select button while powering the amp up. (that works on the MOD amps, at least, so it probably works on the RM's, too) Probably worth a shot, though you'd have to re-program the amp.

--B
Nope, didn't help...
 
hi m0jo

hmm... seems you've tried most of the stuff we'd expect to be wrong..... since the front panel switch works and that switch uses the midi IC chip (it's a little PIC micro-controller) I don't think it has lost it's brains or is zapped. You know it may be damaged, I'm just saying my initial take is that it's not.

I'd try and test the physical interface as follows:
1) Connect a known good midi controller (not the Rm thing) to the MIDI IN
2) connect a known good midi effects box (or other midi device) to the RM midi thru.
3) Power up the Rm, the midi effects device, and the midi pedal.
4) See if you can control the midi effects box from the midi controller.

see what you find out... let us know and we'll go from there.
 
eedude said:
hi m0jo

hmm... seems you've tried most of the stuff we'd expect to be wrong..... since the front panel switch works and that switch uses the midi IC chip (it's a little PIC micro-controller) I don't think it has lost it's brains or is zapped. You know it may be damaged, I'm just saying my initial take is that it's not.

I'd try and test the physical interface as follows:
1) Connect a known good midi controller (not the Rm thing) to the MIDI IN
2) connect a known good midi effects box (or other midi device) to the RM midi thru.
3) Power up the Rm, the midi effects device, and the midi pedal.
4) See if you can control the midi effects box from the midi controller.

see what you find out... let us know and we'll go from there.
Thanks! We'll try that.

At first I thought it was set to the wrong midi-channel .. but the footswitch sends on all channels so that's irrelevant.
I have tried the RF3 on my own rig, and it does work fine there..

But ok, I'll let you know how it goes, thanks for helping out!
 
Ok so I have an update:

We've tried hooking my Gordius midi controller up to the midi-thru, no throughput.

Then I tried switching the amp with my Gordius .. works!
Then hooked up the RF3 to the midi-in of the Gordius, works!
RF3 straight to the amp ... doesn't work..

The amp is set to midi-channel 1, but it only reacted to midi channel 9.. :?
But the RF3 sends on all channels (including 9, I checked that on te midi-monitor of the Gordius) .. so it should work, but it didn't on it's own, only through the Gordius.

Later on we tried again and it didn't work at all anymore.. not from the Gordius or RF3 itself or RF3 throught the Gordius in..

So I think the midi chip is just being a buggy little *******.
We're gonna try to get a replacement for that and then try again ;)
 
bruce egnater said:
Does the midi thru work on the RM100?
Thanks for chipping in Bruce, the midi thru didn't work the last time we checked.

I don't remember if it did at first, but I don't think so..
 
bruce egnater said:
Possibly a bad optoisolstor on the midi board.
Randall did have a few issues with
that part.
Could you tell me which part we need for that?

We've contacted the dealer but they're being completely useless.

I think I'm proficient enough with a soldering iron to replace that part :)
Or is it not that easy?
 
This is the part you need.

http://media.digikey.com/pdf/Data%20Sheets/Sharp%20PDFs/PC900V0NSZXF.pdf

You could look on the midi circuit board in your amp to see what is involved in replacing that part. It is the only 6 pin DIP chip on the board so it should be obvious which part it is. Possibly could have a different part number (6N138 maybe?). Use the correct replacement. Of course there is not guarantee this is the problem If there is a bad component, this is the most likely one. Make sure it is not something silly like a broken MIDI in connection. You did mention it seemed intermittent which would point more towards a connection problem???
 
Thanks Bruce!

I'll try resoldering the midi-connector on the board, maybe that is one of the problems.
Then I can check the exact part we need and order it if that doesn't work.

In the mean while we'll stalk the dealer more, but they have been unresponsive for over a week now .. ridiculous.
 
I have had nearly same problem with my V2. It looked at last that there were 2 problems, midi in socket on the midi board, and most probably the footswitch itself.

At this time it works perfect with any midi board but the footswitch does not power up.
I wont look further since I am planning to sell the V2 (may buy a new footswitch to go with though) but the opto is an interesting point. I wondered if it could be involved too but I am not skilled enough concerning MIDI hardware...

BTW, the German tech support just plain sucks. I passed weeks to try to solve it with them, yes weeks... because that is the time they take to answer mails :evil: and after a few ... well the just STOPPED answering. For no reason.... :shock: :roll:
 
Ok this is freaking ridiculous!!

Mail reply from the dealer:
"the price isn't too bad, just ?100"

:shock: Are you kidding me? For a 2 inch PCB with 3 very standard chips (<$1 per piece to a consumer) and some midi ports?!? :|

So we're gonna try to fix it ourselves first.
But if we can't, could someone here maybe do me a favour and check the price in the US?
I refuse to be ripped off by the support line of a company. @#$&*#!!!
 
Yeah that just sux. At this price, just buy an entrey level midi controller as boss FC50 or behringer FCB1010....
 
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