HD500, switcher, Blackstar amp assistance

[GrampaBob]

HI I tried emailing support but no reply now for 3-4 days now so here I am.

I'd love to buy a controller switcher but I need to know if it will do this....

I want my midi on my HD500x patches to control my blackstar stage mkii amp channels via midi thru the voodoo switcher. Will this work, what cables do I need and where do they plug in?

The amp comes with a 2 button footswitch but I have bought the new FS-14 4 button footswitch because its a 3 channel amp but each channel has 2 voicings so button one clicks between each voice (or sub-channel) on channel one for example. The cable looks like a regular guitar patch cable with same looking tip and ring on the outside....one black ring. The back of the amp has an FX loop i use and has 2 inputs for which style of footswitch from blackstar you use (the default 2 button or the upgrade 4 button).

Any thoughts would be sweet so I can get this ordered and going. Thanks for the read.

[JohnClark]

Unfortunately on these amps, Blackstar cooked up a somewhat proprietary method for the footswitch to communicate with the amp. Our Control Switcher alone wouldn't control these amps without a secondary box.

I haven't yet had one of these amps on my bench to check out how it all works... If you want to send me your amp I'm sure I could figure something out

[GrampaBob]

lol perhaps eh. I contacted blackstar and they told me this so maybe there's hope?

External Switching mode applies to the same features controlled with a 2-way footswitch (channel and voice selection).

EXTERNAL SWITCHING MODE: This mode is intended for people who wish to control the same main features of the amp using an external switching device that connects via the TRS connection of the socket. To switch to External Switching Mode: simply press and hold the Clean Select and Clean Voice switches for 5 seconds. The green LEDs will then flash together to indicate the change of mode. The amplifier will retain this mode, even when switched off, until it is changed back to normal/footswitch mode. Once in External Switching Mode the following settings will apply when a suitable TRS connection is made:

TIP -------- RING ------Channel ---- voice
closed---- closed ----- clean ----- voice 1
closed ---- open ----- clean ----- voice 2
open ----- closed -----OD1 ----- voice 1 or 2 as selected
open ----- open ----- OD2 ----- voice 1 or 2 as selected

So I wonder your voodoo switcher, a midi cable, this external amp mode and the footswitch cable....might do the job? I can deal with the slightly less flexibility of being able to control all voicings. 4 is better then none.

Thoughts?

[JohnClark]

Oh!
Yes, we can do that!

With the Control Switcher you would only need an Insert Point Cable. This looks like a Y-Cable but has a TRS (stereo) end that breaks out to two TS (mono) ends. The TRS end will go to the amp footswitch jack and the two TS ends will go to two switch jacks on the Control Switcher.

I hope that helps!

[GrampaBob]

I'm just returning to confirm that everything worked out great and thnx. Blackstar HT Stage 60 MKII set to external switching mode and setup in 4CM with the insert cable, HD500X, midi cable and the voodoo control switcher now allows my HD500X patches to control the channels on the amp. Perfect!

[AJB1965]

I'm just returning to confirm that everything worked out great and thnx. Blackstar HT Stage 60 MKII set to external switching mode and setup in 4CM with the insert cable, HD500X, midi cable and the voodoo control switcher now allows my HD500X patches to control the channels on the amp. Perfect!

May I ask you a question about the MIDI side of things? When you are changing channels via your POD are you sending CC or PC messages? If CC are you just sending 0 for off and 127 for on? I have an HT Stage and a Control Switcher on the way and I'm not exactly sure what I need to set my Boss ES5 up for midi wise.

Thank you!

AJ

[GrampaBob]

I'm just returning to confirm that everything worked out great and thnx. Blackstar HT Stage 60 MKII set to external switching mode and setup in 4CM with the insert cable, HD500X, midi cable and the voodoo control switcher now allows my HD500X patches to control the channels on the amp. Perfect!

May I ask you a question about the MIDI side of things? When you are changing channels via your POD are you sending CC or PC messages? If CC are you just sending 0 for off and 127 for on? I have an HT Stage and a Control Switcher on the way and I'm not exactly sure what I need to set my Boss ES5 up for midi wise.

Thank you!

AJ

Hi on my POD I went into utility setup section and if I remember I had to set MIDI option 2 to "THRU" and I didn't really do anything else special on the POD. I'm not sure whether its CC or PC as I'm just a rookie but there were no numbers involved on my end. Just pressed the button sequence on the control switch after and it worked great. I also labelled my insert cable so I know which end goes where. It was a cinch to setup and I assume the POD was already to go as part of the factory setup.