Foot Controller Stuff

rm60

rm60

Member
I’m thinking of getting MFC midi foot controller for my AXEFX-II. I also want to get some expression pedals, external switches and something to house it all. I want to avoid ending up with a ‘spaghetti nightmare scenario’ and create all-in-one easy-to-setup solution if possible.

I’m curious about the solutions you guys have come up with for your various needs – perhaps you could share a bit about what works for you or point me to some threads that deal with this.

A few questions:
Is it better to use a dedicated pedal for master volume? Is it better to use an analog pedal or expression pedal for this purpose?
I’ll need something for controlling things like wahs, pitch-shift, etc. and have heard that there are various types of expression pedals. Dunno, my brain hurts LOL.
Anyway, any help you guys can give would be very much appreciated.
Something to house the whole shemozzle?

Over …
 
Definitely use an expression pedal for volume. You don't want to have to run audio all the way out to a pedalboard and back just for volume control. Mission expression pedals are popular choice. Linear taper pot with a max resistance of between 10k and 100k is what the manual recommends. I'd just cook up a DIY pedalboard to hold everything together. A bit of 1/4" or 3/8" plywood and some 1x2's. A bit of black paint. Or you could spring for something with a road case for the best protection.
 
Here's my setup:

2013-05-13123258_zps18fe9750.jpg



Four Roland EV-5's, and a Bright Onion 4-button swtich on a Pedal Train (3 I think? Not their largest one). I have one pedal always assigned to a volume block, which I prefer to keep as part of the patch, rather than use an analog volume pedal for two reasons: 1) fewer cables and 2) allows me to do volume swell effects with delay without affecting gain on the amp blocks. I usually have a second pedal assigned to wah, and the other two for effect levels or rates, per patch. The Bright Onion switch is for scenes 1-4.

Lots of control, only one cable to run, and it's not really very heavy. Pedaltrain boards weight very little, and the Roland and Bright Onion parts are also very lightweight.
 
rm60 said:
I’m curious about the solutions you guys have come up with for your various needs – perhaps you could share a bit about what works for you ...... Is it better to use a dedicated pedal for master volume? …
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What works for me is an FCB1010. It's cheap and reliable.

Ease of use is paramount for me. I program the FCB to have preset changes on the top row of foot switches, and the bottom row turn on/off effects. This doesn't mean single effect per switch. For example in one patch my "lead" switch changes amp, increases reverb level, and bypasses chorus. In another patch the same switch turns on the amp's boost, and a PEQ.

There are two integrated pedals, one of which I use exclusively for Volume, and the other for Wah.
 
Roland said:
What works for me is an FCB1010. It's cheap and reliable.
Click to expand...

Same here. MFC is nice, but expensive as hell. Plus you have to shell out more for expression pedals. You can buy a decent guitar with the money saved by going with the FCB1010. That funded most of my Active CLR cab. I personally don't need synced IA switches and tuner/preset name display that badly just yet.

My FCB1010 is stock (no mod chips). Banks 00 through 07, I have presets on the bottom row, scenes 1 - 4 on the top row plus tap tempo. Bank 08 is setup for looper controls. Bank 09 is setup for effect on/off switches. Works quite well actually.
 
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