Boss FV-500H not working as wah

DC23

Experienced
Hello all,

I was wondering if you could all possibly give me a few pointers to check if there is something wrong with my Boss FV-500H. I am having some issues trying to use it as a wah pedal. I have a TRS cable connecting the EXP into Pedal 1 in the back of the Axe-FX. When I try to calibrate the Boss, nothing happens. When I rock back and forth on the pedal I do not get the MIDI IN flashing light going (it just stays dark).

The patch I am using has a bypassed wah in it. When I go into the 'freq' page, I select the source as EXTERNAL 1. I've put the autoeng as MED, and I've gone to the I/O CTRL page and put EXTERNAL 1 to PEDAL 1. I also went to the Pedal page and set Pedal 1 as continuous.

Do I also have to put WahWah 1 BYP to Pedal 1???

I am incredibly confused when it comes to all of the MIDI CCs and auto engages, bypasses, etc., so I'm just trying but it seems I cannot get anywhere. Sorry if this is a dumb question...I would greatly appreciate any guidance from all of you!!!

Thank you!

:)
 
OK, you've used the Utility menu to "calibrate" the pedal, right?
In the I/O Configuration menu, make sure you have assigned Pedal 1 (your FV-500H) as an External controller, for example:

External Controller 1 -----> Pedal 1

Start from scratch. Create a preset that consists of nothing but SHUNTs in one row from left to right. Replace one of these shunts with a WAH block. Navigate to the WAH's edit screen which allows you to assign a controller to the FREQ parameter. Select the FREQ parameter and Press ENTER (on the Axe-Fx) to get to the MODIFIER menu for that parameter. For SOURCE, select External Controller 1 (as assigned above). Use the default settings.

Now, for the time being, forget about bypass functions and the like. Confirm that the freq sweep is happening as you'd expect it to when rocking your pedal back and forth.

If you're good to go with this, you can set AUTOENGAGE to ON at that same modifier screen, medium is good setting. Not done yet...go to the Wah block's parameters and find the BYPASS function. This will set the bypass mode when the WAH block is not engaged, and should be set to THRU (not MUTE).

also, check you yek's how to's:

Yeks How Tos - Fractal Audio Systems Wiki

good luck.
 
Hey Jim,

Thank you for the reply. When I go to the I/O menu, I assign EXT 1 to Pedal 1. Then when I go to the pedal menu and try to calibrate...nothing happens. It takes me to the calibration screen and tells me to sweep and press 'enter'. After I do that, I don't see any change (and I do not see a midi in light flashing when I am sweeping). Does that mean that there is something wrong with either the pedal or the cable??
 
There won't be any message like "calibration complete", it just goes back to the menu when you press enter. MIDI in LED is for data to MIDI in port, not Pedal 1/2 movement.

After calibrating is there any movement of the modifier screen's dot when moving the pedal?
 
There is no movement after calibration. I made a patch with just a wah. After I select the source as external 1 in the frequency parameter, and made external 1->pedal 1 in the I/O menu, still nothing.
 
Hmmm. Got to be a simple answer here...just fishing with these questions:

- you are using a mono cable out of the Expression OUTPUT of the Boss FV-500H?
- As a check step, instead of assigning External 1 as the controller modifier, select LFO 1. Does the black dot on the Start/Mid/End curve graph move? Can you hear the freq sweep when set to LFO 1?

Is this the only pedal you have available to use as an expression pedal? I'm wondering if the fact that this pedal uses a MONO 1/4" cable has anything to do with the problem. Have you tried the other outputs, or tried using it with a TRS 1/4" cable? The Axe-Fx is a "1/4" stereo jack capable of supporting an expression pedal or a footswitch" (from the Manual). Perhaps that is the rub. I have a Yamaha FC7 expression pedal that has a stereo (TRS) 1/4" plug and It works fine.
 
Hey Jim, thank you for all of your help. I am currently using it with a TRS cable that was custom made for me. When I select LFO1 as a controller modifier I hear the sweep and the black dot moves. So at this point I think it is either the cable, the pedal, or the jacks on my axe fx. Unfortunately I don't have any other TRS cables or pedals though!
 
Any luck with a stock 1/4" mono cable? Yeah, I think this pretty much narrows it down between the pedal and cable. I doubt it is the Axe-Fx. You could always give the same process a shot on Pedal 2 input to see if anything changes.

Have you tried using this pedal successfully with a different piece of gear, as an expression pedal?
 
I did just try to set up the expression pedal for use with the MFC as this would tell me if there is an issue with the Axe-FX jacks. When I went into calibrating the minimum value (heel all the way down) it brought me to 000; however, when trying to set up the max value (toe all the way down), it would only take me to 001. Regardless of how many times I tried this, it always only changed the maximum value from 000 to 001. I'm going to go and try to see if a mono cable will change anything.
 
well, there's your answer. The pedal isn't transmitting a full range of values. Does the volume knob on the side of the unit have anything to do with this? I had a Boss EV5 pedal that was a dedicated expression pedal, TRS jack, with a volume pot on the side that controlled the range of expression. Just throwing it out there....
 
It says that the FV-500H works the same way. I've tried adjusting the volume knob on the side (setting it to max and putting it to the tow down position) and still nothing. :( Now, I'm really thinking it's either a pedal problem or the cable...except both are brand new!
 
Have you tried a Y cable? Trs plug in the Axe/MFC, the mono plugs into in and output of the FV.
 
Maybe borrow one to test with? I have à hunch this might be what You need.
Midi is basically à small current varying (by varying pot resistance in an exp pedal).
Chances are that the TRS cable you use now does not connect the pot's "input and output".
 
wait wait... don't give up just yet.
i am using a boss FV500H into pedal jack 1 as my volume controler and FV500L into pedal jack 2
for my wah. both are connected via seperate TRS cables pinned 1 to 1 (tip to tip, ring to ring, sleve to sleve).
be sure to roll the volume knob next to the 'tuner out' jack all the way to the minimum setting and re calibrate from the axe.

i breifly skimmed through the thread so forgive me for repeating anything. hit me up with a PM DC and
i will walk you through it over the phone if i have to.
 
Hey Larry,
I will give it a try tomorrow, but I was not having any luck last time. I may have to go pick up a separate TRS cable next week to see if the cable is the issue since atleast a couple others are using the FV500H.
 
I am having a lot of trouble on this pedal as well. At first I could not get it going then I found out I had to use a stereo TRS cable. DC23, you might make sure you are using one of those.
For me what happens is that the effect is very mild. On the higher notes you can't really listen to any effect at all.
If I let the frequency screen on on the Ultra I can see it is moving up the line as I suppose it should so I guess the pedal is working fine and sending the signal right. I have tried widening on the parameters but nothing seems to make it sound anything close to a real wah.
Any ideas?
 
I'm having the same issue with the FV-500H -
I purchased a used AXEFX Standard v10.01, and after noodling around with it for about 2 months ( with 2 FV-500H's - one for a global volume control and the secondary one as a controller for Wah/fx/drive/etc.. - as well as a Rocktron Midi mate and/or a tech 21 midi mouse working like a charm :D ) i decided i'd better get to work and set this thing up as my own, set up presets for songs and get gigging with this thing.

My first step was to reset the system parameters (Utility>reset>reset system parameters). After doing so, neither the Midi footswitches or the FV500H's work. i've tried 3 midi pedals, 3 midi cables, and 3 separate volume control pedals with 3 different TRS cables, all of which worked before I reset the system.

So - there must be something that is in the system reset that has caused it to change, but i can't figure out for the life of me what it is. been trying for the last few hours....

I've read through the manual and Yek's several times, calibrated the pedals with the dial on the side of the pedal once on full and once on minimum (just to try all options), and when i go to the wah page, or any page where i can change the controller from LFO1A to External 2, i can't get the dot to move, or the system to recognize any pedal changes....

any help, or even a call would be greatly appreciated.
 
My first step was to reset the system parameters (Utility>reset>reset system parameters).

That resets the I/O menu CTRL page to defaults. Any items that had been set to pedal 1 or 2 (like externals or in/out volume) will need to be set that way again.
 
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