r/GuitarAmps•
SludjNugget

ENGL Z-9 footswitch with ENGL Savage MKII: Possible to set it up to switch between amp settings AND external pedals simultaneously?

I am not very good with this kind of stuff, so bare with me in the replies due to lack of technical proficiency.

Basically, for live use and ease of use at home, I need to be able to go from a setting with a clean sound on the Clean channel with external reverb and delay pedals, then press one switch on the Z9 to go to a rhythm tone with all the pedals switching off and turning on either Channel 2 or Channel 4 on the amp for the gain, then have another switch on the Z9 set to a lead tone which goes to channel 4 with drive and fuzz pedals boosting it and maybe another setting for lead with the delay and reverb again for ambience. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like I can't do both of these things at the same time with my Z9, so it will EITHER switch between amp settings, OR set up MIDI patches for external MIDI switching and I can get the pedals to turn on and off using the Z9's footswitch capabilities.

Got this information from Google AI, because searching for the info on the Z9 just confused me:

"Connecting to Pedals

The Z-9 itself doesn't directly control individual pedals in the traditional sense; instead, it controls the amp's functions or sends MIDI messages to other devices that can then manage pedals. If you have a MIDI-controlled pedalboard, you would connect the Z-9's MIDI-out to your pedalboard's MIDI-in. If you are using the S.A.C. mode, you would use a stereo cable to the Z-9."

With this in mind, it seems I'll need an external MIDI switching device but I'm not sure what to get. Also, will this only work for MIDI/digital pedals? I have a bunch of analogue pedals... It seems pros can get it to work as I've seen midi switchers on their boards with a bunch of vintage pedals but maybe I'm mistaken?

Posted Sep 28, 2025, 1:32 PM UTC

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