Alctron PS-4 Dual-Channel Foot Switch
I recently bought a fancy Boss DB-90 metronome, and needed a dual channel momentary foot switch for hands-free control of both Memory selection and Start/Stop. My initial impulse was to buy one of the classic Boss FS-6 foot switches, but they're darn expensive, so I had a look at this Alctron PS-4, which seemed to have the same functionality at about 40% of the price. In short, it does the job — it's obviously been modelled exactly on the FS-6 in terms of looks, and switches, and options, and jacks, and even the manual. (In fact, quite amusingly, there's one section of the manual that Alctron has not only (apparently) cut-and-pasted from the FS-6 documentation, but they even accidentally neglected to change the wording from "FS-6" to "PS-4"! LOH) Anyway, it does exactly what I need, so it's a winner from the value standpoint. .......... One slight criticism which probably warrants a half-star reduction (if I could award 4.5 stars) — the battery cover design is such that, when a 9V battery is inserted, it's such a tight fit that the cover won't stay closed, no matter how much you fiddle with it. (I even removed the foam "cushion" to give more space, but the cover latch just doesn't clip in firmly. I solved it by using gaffer tape to hold the cover down, so no biggie, but they do need to re-work the design in that area. Apart from that, I'm very happy with the PS-4.
7 June 2023
