The AshBass Single Bank-Down Switch Mod II

The most common critisism of the otherwise terrrific AX1500G and AX1000G is that you have to press two buttons to move down in the list of program banks. Here is a fairly simple mod you can make to your KORG pedal which gives you one new button that works like pressing the two buttons for Bank-Down. This mod works for me and I make no guarantees that it will work for anyone else. Use it at your own risk.

If you'd like me to mod your pedal for you, visit the Guitar Store.

Click here for my first solution. The solution below uses a double pole double throw (DPDT) momentary switch which is ideal for this mod. These switches aren't easy to find unless you're willing to take something apart, however. So my first fix uses two mini switches from Radio Shack ($3). It works, but not as well as the method on this page.

  1. PARTS: You'll need a screwdriver, a drill, a soldering iron, some solder, and some appliance that you can get a double pole double throw (DPDT) switch out of. I got one out of my computer speakers and soldered the speaker circuit board so that it's on all the time if it is plugged in.
  1. Open your pedal by taking out the six screws on the bottom. Remove the bottom cover and put it off to one side.
  1. Locate the two sets of solder-points that are used by the bank-switching buttons.
  1. Solder four separate wires to the circuit board as shown. The color of the wires you use doesn't matter as long as you can keep track of where the wires are connected to the circuit board.
  1. Mark on the pedal where you will be drilling a hole for the switch. Drill the hole.

    Right in the middle is good because on the inside, the switch can rest against the screw that holds the circuit board to the chassis.

    [See the photos above for the screw next to the yellow annotations.]
  1. Open the case of your appliance (here a computer speaker) and locate the push-on/push-off switch. Remove the switch by unsoldering the connections on the back of the circuit board or by clipping the connections right under the switch.
  1. To make the switch 'momentary' instead of on/off, you need to remove a small wire from the top hole of the switch. The yellow arrow points to where this wire will be on your switch. When the wire is gone, you will have a momentary double pole double throw (DPDT) switch. Exactly what we need.
  1. The switch has six lugs on its underside, three on each side. Solder one set of wires from step 4 to the bottom two lugs of one side of the switch. Solder the remaining set of wires to the the bottom two lugs of the other side of the switch. When the switch is pressed, the two wires from each set are joined and Bank-Down is activated.
  1. Position the switch in its hole and adjust as needed for location. I found that I didn't even need to secure the switch inside the pedal as it butted up against a screw already there. This leaves a very slight side-to-side play in the new button but nothing that I'm worried about.
  1. All done. The extra plug you see next to my new button is there because I had to cover up the second hole from my first attempt at this mod.
A more fine solution from Mouser.com


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