Peavey 6505+ Footswitch

[CommonCourtesy]

At last night's show I noticed my 6505+ footswitch wasn't working properly, on the channel switcher, it wouldn't change to the red channel and the LED light wasn't working. The effects and crunch lights and buttons are working fine, just the channel switch.
 
I have checked over and looked inside but can't think of what it is, its not common for the LED's to go on these footswitches?

Just wondering if I've missed something in the diagnosis.

[Dave Sloven]

The most common problem with these is a damaged cable

If you wind them up tight (my dad found mine laying about one day and then proceded to 'wind it up' for me around his fist) that completely stuffs them.  After that the loop switch on mine didn't work.  Could have happened to any of them though.  In your case it affected the channel switcher.

I ended up buying an aftermarket replacement because that was cheaper. I believe it was a Hosa ADA-725.  A guy named phantom48 sells them on ebay

[CommonCourtesy]

I always coil the cable up properly (same as I would with an instrument cable) so its never just bunched up and shoved in the pedal board.
When I first bought the amp second hand the seller actually said to me the original footswitch was a bit loose where the input connector was but still worked fine, he still ordered a new one under warranty, and ironically its the new one that's broken!

[Dave Sloven]

I'm still guessing it's the cable.  They are pretty fragile.  That one I mentioned is selling for $10 or something on ebay.  If it doesn't work you have a spare.  The footswitches themselves are quite expensive.  I actually have a spare (complete with factory cable) in a drawer here that I purchased in a sale for $75 in case I ever needed it one day and they were suddenly very difficult to find and over $200

[CommonCourtesy]

The only reason why the original one is loose on the input jack is cos the seller lost the screws to hold it in place. Still works fine though.

We'll find out tomorrow if the problem is the cable cos I'm taking it to a local repair place. I just want a spare in case one of them goes down, in this case the original might break so I get paranoid about these things and I always want two of everything!

[CommonCourtesy]

So the root of the problem was dodgy connections and sh*tty soldering inside the actual footswitch, and not the cable. Its been sorted though and all seems to be working again.

[Dave Sloven]

Good!  I'm glad to hear that it's been fixed

[CommonCourtesy]

Yeah saved me buying a new one!

Ironic thing was I didn't even need it for Saturday's show! For a few gigs I've been lending it to my mate in a metalcore band but he's got his own head back after repair.

I had my own nightmare though at the show (filling in on lead guitar) using the original guitarist's Pod Pro. The foot controller completely freaked out just before we were about to go on and I couldn't recover the presets (he used 3 sounds, main riffing sound, lead tone delay/reverb and tremolo). Had to plug straight into the amp and roll on with the show. I'm guessing my guitar must have fallen on the switch and reset everything.

[Dave Sloven]

I haven't used my footswitch live at all.  I never use the rhythm channel so I just leave it at home.  The loop is engaged when the footswitch is removed.  I used to take it to band practice but found that all I did was damage the cable and I never actually went off of the lead channel.

[CommonCourtesy]

I wish I was in a band that used one sound throughout the set live! I don't switch for every song but there's a few now that require me to go to a crunchy cleaner sound for sections.

I try to position my board away from everyone, esp the singer who usually ends up kicking my pedalboard haha. Esp tricky on small stages though.