Footswitch
The foot-operated switch that turns a pedal on and off, or changes a channel or preset, without the player using their hands.
The footswitch is the interface that makes pedals usable on stage, and its type matters: mechanical latching switches stay where they are pushed, while momentary switches only make contact while held, which is what tap tempo and some channel changes require. A failed switch is one of the most common pedal faults, and a clicking switch is one of the reasons players move to buffered or relay-based bypass. Large-format switches can also be wired to crash into a circuit rather than switch cleanly, which produces a click in the audio.
Example: The metal button a player steps on to engage an overdrive on the beat is the pedal's footswitch.
See also
Related
- PageChannel switching
- PageTap tempo switch
- PagePedal
- Page18-volt operation
- PageAnalogue delay
- PageAuto-wah
- PageAaron Dessner
- PageAce Frehley