How can I use the HX Effects "Ext Amp" jack to control the vibrato and reverb effect in my Fender Deluxe Reverb amp?

[markpaterson]

I just got a HX Effects (firmware 3.71) and was excited to use the Ext Amp jack to control the Vibrato and Reverb effects of my Fender Deluxe Reverb. The amp uses a standard Fender 1/4" TRS dual footswitch to control the Vibrato and Reverb, and the footswitch included with the amp works fine.

 

I actually have two Deluxe Reverbs, so I was hoping to get this going on both amps, one from each jack! However for the benefit of the first test, I tried a single amp, but had no luck!

 

I set both pedal jacks to Amp mode in Global Settings > Prefs . I then connected one of them to my amp's footswitch jack with a TRS cable.

 

The act of plugging in the TRS cable automatically turns on the Vibrato effect on the amp, and unplugging it turns the effect off. However there's just no way to program it to turn on and off with a command. There's also no way to control the reverb.  I tried all the various settings for tips, ring, latch, etc. Nothing worked. Is this not possible?!

 

[kduck]

Works on the blackface DR kit that I built.  Since your amp has a TRS footswitch jack, I'm assuming it's a modern DR reissue.  Looking at the schematic, sleeve = ground, tip = vib, ring = reverb.  You will need to set both tip and ring to latching.

 

Schematic for reference:  https://www.thetubestore.com/lib/thetubestore/schematics/Fender/Fender-65-Deluxe-Reverb-Schematic.pdf

[markpaterson]

Thanks for the reply. Yes it's a modern version of the amp. It's the '64 custom hand wired with a TRS footswitch jack.

 

After some more fiddling I've found that I can control the reverb, but OFF on the HX Effects footswitch turns the reverb ON, and vice versa – not a big deal I guess.

 

I was hoping to be able to send a signal out of both Ext Amp jacks from a single switch but that doesn't seem to be possible. I have to use two switches, and at the point there's not really an advantage over just using the two supplied Fender footswitches.

 

For simultaneous control, the best I can seem to do is set both to be OFF (ie, reverb ON) via the "Instant" setting, and then toggle the ON/OFF state via a Snapshot.

But to be honest it might be a dead end anyway because there's a loud pop when reverb is turned on via the HX Effects that isn't present when I just use the Fender footswitches. My guess is it's sending some kind of voltage down the line that the Fender switch doesn't.

 

And on top of all that, I can't get it to control the Vibrato no matter what I try. Oh well, it was worth the effort to try.