Ibanez UE400/405 connectors

[Leevibe]

I don't know if anyone here owns either of these rack units, but I was fortunate enough to have a UE400 given to me a couple years ago. It's a great analog piece of gear and I love every effect on it, particularly the flanger. I'm always checking craigslist for a 405 and have only seen one come up in two years. It has the analog delay and is more sought after.

Anyway, yesterday a guy posted on CL that he had acquired one but didn't have the footswitch and was wondering if there was anyone who would mod his. His solution was to drill the face plate and mount toggles. I don't think I would have the heart to do that but I offered to build him a footswitch and I'm awaiting his reply.

First off, has anyone built a switch for these yet? I'm thinking I may just build one for myself because I can build one more compact than the stock unit and that will help preserve the stock switch too. My understanding is that it can be done with DPDTs and that the effects are engaged by shorting different pins to a 15v power pin. If that's the case, it would be super easy to build.

Second, I did a bunch of searching and found these connectors. These look like dead ringers to me. I'm wondering if I shouldn't snag a few in case they dry up entirely. If I do decide to build one, I'll document it.

[haveyouseenhim]

Super weird. This thread was just bumped over at diysb.   

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=91971.0

[Leevibe]

No way! Thanks Mike. This will actually be helpful. I would prefer not to blow mine up experimenting.

[Leevibe]

Mike, that was the info I needed, including a legible schematic. I was able to jumper some pins on the back of the unit and get it to do what I wanted.

For anyone who's curious, pinout of the socket is as follows:

top to bottom, 1-4 on the left, 5-8 on the right
1 - compressor
2 - phaser
3 - OD
4 - flanger
5 - master
6 - +15v
7 - GND
8 - NC

To engage an effect, short its pin to pin 6. Effects are enabled/disabled this way, but in bypass until the master pin (5) is connected to pin 6.

Now I really want to build a compact footswitch for this. It ought to be simple to include LEDs run off the 15v supply. What cable to use? It would need to have 7 leads and be flexible. Hack a midi cable?

[rullywowr]

I used to have one back in the day.  Left it over a rehearsal space and it vanished.  Really liked the sounds, and the use of rotary switches to change effect order.  Glad you got the pinout figured out and are getting some tones out of that vintage unit.  The square-padded footswitch seemed to be the Achilles heel of those units for me.

[Leevibe]

I do still have the original switch and it's in great condition. I'm thinking it would just be cool to have a diy version that I wouldn't have to worry about breaking. Plus if I ever found a 405 for the right price I wouldn't have to worry if it had a switch and I'd be able to operate both units together.

The dude who wanted his modded never got back to me. He may not have understood the cost of parts. He was hoping someone had a complete ue400 with switch that someone would sell for $150 or just the footswitch for $50. Good luck with either of those. I told him I'd build a pedal for $50 + parts and that it would likely land in the $100 neighborhood. I felt that was conservative.