Troubleshooting > Floorboard issues

Floorboard issues

Many users have complained about FBV (Floorboard, Shortboard) starting to misbehave. This is often caused by a bad cable connection. The RJ45 connection between FBV and Amp is way too flimsy for these applications but we're stuck with it so the only thing to do is to try another cable. Many people have fixed FBV issues by replacing the cable.

Testing the floorboard

There are some undocumented features that may help in determining if the floorboard is OK.

Pressing BankDown+Stomp+Reverb initiates the display test followed by a SWITCH/LED test. After the LCD test, all LEDs come on and you can turn them off by pressing the associated switch. The name of the switch will appear in the display as you press it.

During this test, pressing BankDown+Delay+Reverb starts the comms/cable test. At the end it says PASSED and return the floorboard to normal operations. I don't know for sure, but I expect this should report any cable problems.

Calibration

There is an online manual. Here is the quick version (from the manual):
  1. Make sure your FBV is connected to your Line 6 product and that it is powered up.
  2. For the FBV Shortboard press BANK DOWN, MODULATION and DELAY switches and hold for about 3 seconds. There will be no indication that you have entered a special mode — pedal calibration is "invisible".
  3. With your foot on the Left pedal, press forward all the way until the pedal's toe switch clicks.
  4. Now pedal back toward the heel and apply pressure when you reach the heel position.
  5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for the Right pedal. This procedure only works for the internal pedal on the FBV Shortboard. The FBV Shortboard will automatically adjust itself to variations in expression pedals connected to the rear panel 1/4-inch jack.
  6. Your pedals are now calibrated.

But sometimes...

Even though pedal calibration is "invisible", as Line6 puts it, I have seen other things as well, but I can't reproduce them anymore.

When calibration was started by pressing BankDn+Mod+Delay, the display changed and showed calibration info. Something like "L 104 124 006 245".

Here's what I figured out about that:

  1. L stands for left pedal
  2. The 1st value appears to run from 0 to 255, which suggests the output of the AD converter or whatever, that translates the pedal position to a one-byte value. Typically a pedal will go down to a value near zero and up to a value near 255 (245, in my case).
  3. The 2nd value looks like a midi byte value, running from 0-127, which corresponds to the entire range of the pedal.
  4. The 3rd value looks like the lowest value found during calibration (ever?). Could be something else, though.
  5. The 4th value looks like the highest value found during calibration (ever?). Could be something else, though.
  6. When you do the calibration steps for the right (or outboard) pedal, the L changes to R.

So, it all looks like diagnostic values, helpful in determining the proper functioning of the volume pedal(s).

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