Bias Head footswitch
-
@sascha-ballweg said in Bias Head footswitch:
@danbieranowski Wow! That's a price-tag for a simple 4 channel footswitch :/
Takes batteries, too. Whatever for?
-
@tannhauser I'm not entirely sure. A standard footswitch obviously doesn't need power, so this must do something slightly different. I'm just gonna swap out a set of rechargeable batteries every so often to keep it running.
I'm curious how a TRS cable passes 4 channels of switching as well. It must use a combination of signal across the different conductors... I'm not well-versed in this, but maybe 1 is just Tip, 2 is Ring, 3 is Tip and Ring, 4 is Ring and Sleeve or something... I dunno.
-
@danbieranowski Does it work over bluetooth with the head too? If so the batteries could be for that
-
@liam It requires a TRS cable, so it doesn't appear to be wireless at all (I originally thought it was). But that makes sense, as a wired channel switcher would guarantee no latency.
-
@danbieranowski Not at all, it just removes Bluetooth latency. There are several more factors that latency could come from. Even analog only devices running on relays to switch can have latency
-
@pipelineaudio I've used a two channel (latching) footswitch with the head and there was zero latency switching then as well, so I assume it's the same technology, but I don't know for sure. Ultimately, I'm pretty confident that there won't be a latency issue, as I haven't had issues with latency when manually switching presets on the head using the knob, or with the latching footswitch.
-
Update: Received the footswitch last night. Assigned the 4 presets I wanted to use. Works like a dream. Instantaneous switching. I was all set within 5 minutes of opening the box.
I've already worked out pretty creative ways to use it:
Channel 1 - Standard gain amp set to my "Metal 1" head preset.
Channel 2 - Lower gain amp set to my "Crunch 1" head preset.
Channel 3 - Clean amp set to my "Clean 1" head preset.
Channel 4 - Clean amp with reverb set to my "Clean 2" head preset.If you clone your preset, one wet with reverb and one without, you can use the footswitch to swap between the two. The footswitch/preset functions as a reverb wet/dry at that point. Of course you could accommodate this with a MIDI footswitch as well, but this is great because A) it's plug and play, and B ) it's supported by the same company that makes the head.
Separately, it is built like a tank. Solid metal construction. The only thing I wish is that it had an AC adapter so I didn't have to worry about the batteries running out in it.
-
A traditional switch passes a very low current, so obviouly this one doesn't. Which means each channel is a signal variation - though I imagine this could be done through attentuation of a low, pass-through current. Then again, there's overall unit power considerations; and conceivably a constant current could be more susceptible to environmental factors.
-
@tannhauser Yeah, that's why I was wondering how it must receive 4 different commands across a TRS connector. Which my original assumption was something like, a signal across TR is switch 1, a signal across RS is switch 2, a signal across TS is switch 3, and maybe a signal across all 3 is switch 4? I dunno how it would work, but I'm just glad it does.
-
@danbieranowski : I'm saying it sends a specified signal. Yours would be a hardware solution.
-
@danbieranowski would be cool if they could set a general reverb in bias and assign that to one of the buttons, so you could cycle through presets on 1,2 and 3, then reverb on and off on 4
-
@liam Yeah a dedicated reverb on/off would be nice.
