FX II why only one expression pedal socket?

P

Peter Plectrum

Member
I have been on the waiting list for an Ultra (in Europe) since last November and of course it is good news that the FX II is now announced and I should get one of those instead when they finally arrive in a few weeks. Apart from the extra money which is difficult, I am wondering why have they removed the second expression pedal input jack?

I intend to use the FX II with a cheap midi controller for now as I can't afford the MFC 101 just now but my understanding is that the expression inputs are very useful for directly switching effects in and out of a patch. Does anyone feel the loss on one is a problem?

Thanks
 
I think they did the right thing. I think very very few users ever used both exp pedal jacks. Most people probably have a midiboard with expression pedal jacks.
 
Peter Plectrum said:
I intend to use the FX II with a cheap midi controller for now as I can't afford the MFC 101 just now but my understanding is that the expression inputs are very useful for directly switching effects in and out of a patch. Does anyone feel the loss on one is a problem?
Click to expand...

If you haven't already bought the midi controller, there are a number of inexpensive ones on the market that will have your Instant Access switches on them so you can do it right from the Midi board and not have to attach anything additional to the AxeFX. The Behringer FCB1010 w/ UnO upgrade (5 IA switches, 2 expression pedals) and the Rocktron Midimate (5 IA switches, 1 expression pedal expansion port) come to mind.
 
Thanks for the advice. I was considering to purchase the Behringer controller anyway so it looks like that is the way to go.


mwc2112 said:
If you haven't already bought the midi controller, there are a number of inexpensive ones on the market that will have your Instant Access switches on them so you can do it right from the Midi board and not have to attach anything additional to the AxeFX. The Behringer FCB1010 w/ UnO upgrade (5 IA switches, 2 expression pedals) and the Rocktron Midimate (5 IA switches, 1 expression pedal expansion port) come to mind.
Click to expand...
 
Peter Plectrum said:
I have been on the waiting list for an Ultra (in Europe) since last November and of course it is good news that the FX II is now announced and I should get one of those instead when they finally arrive in a few weeks. Apart from the extra money which is difficult, I am wondering why have they removed the second expression pedal input jack?

I intend to use the FX II with a cheap midi controller for now as I can't afford the MFC 101 just now but my understanding is that the expression inputs are very useful for directly switching effects in and out of a patch. Does anyone feel the loss on one is a problem?

Thanks
Click to expand...

The Axe-II Premium coming out in September will address this issue.

V.
 
but what about for wah applications?

I use the two jacks on my ultra for my Mission Engineering pedal. One jack for the button, and one jack for the travel of the pedal. How do I make that work now with only one jack? I hope I don't have to buy a new wah controller. It would also be impractical to have to press an instant access switch on my MFC and then start using the wah. I don't like using auto wah functions so would prefer not to have to go that route.
 
You plug both cables into the MFC jacks (one for the button and one for the travel). You don't have to push any instant access switch on the MFC before using a wah, just press down the toe switch like you would do when plugged into the Ultra :)
 
Secret80'sMan said:
I use the two jacks on my ultra for my Mission Engineering pedal. One jack for the button, and one jack for the travel of the pedal. How do I make that work now with only one jack? I hope I don't have to buy a new wah controller. It would also be impractical to have to press an instant access switch on my MFC and then start using the wah. I don't like using auto wah functions so would prefer not to have to go that route.
Click to expand...

If you have an MFC, why are you plugging the expression pedal into the Axe? Use the jacks on the MFC and you get the same results...
 
Secret80'sMan said:
I use the two jacks on my ultra for my Mission Engineering pedal. One jack for the button, and one jack for the travel of the pedal. How do I make that work now with only one jack? I hope I don't have to buy a new wah controller. It would also be impractical to have to press an instant access switch on my MFC and then start using the wah. I don't like using auto wah functions so would prefer not to have to go that route.
Click to expand...
I use my Mission for Wah with the MFC. Mission switch (TRS not TS) connection goes into SW1 and expression (TRS) is connected to EXP2 (EXP1 is used for Volume). Simple setup on MFC, tie EXP2 to EXTRN-2 on Wah block as frequency controller. Only challenge was setting up the switch backwards - as OFF is really ON, and vice versa, so had to change midi setting from 0 to 127 for OFF and 127 to 0 for ON.
Make sense?
 
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So does that mean that I'll be stuck having to buy a controller in order to keep my Mission Engineering Expression Pedal working because I won't have enough connectors behind the Axe 2 to wire it properly ?

If so then I'll be forced to buy an MFC-101 or get another Berhinger FSB
 
Avenyr said:
So does that mean that I'll be stuck having to buy a controller in order to keep my Mission Engineering Expression Pedal working because I won't have enough connectors behind the Axe 2 to wire it properly ?

If so then I'll be forced to buy an MFC-101 or get another Berhinger FSB
Click to expand...
Looks that way... I'm guessing Cliff took a lot of feedback into account on the use of the two jacks when removing one from the Axe2. My guess is that most folks use external controllers (MFC, GCP, FBC1010, Maxxess, etc.) for that purpose ??
I know I do. Never even used the ones on the back of my Ultra. All done via MFC.
 
I believe the loss of the second pedal jack may be a problem for me.

Am I the only person who is experiencing sluggishness when using midi instead of the pedal input for functions such as volume/wha/whammy?

My midi controller has a pedal input that converts to midi data, which is sent to the Axe. But for quick pedal movements, the response is always lagging. Trying to play something like Hendrix's Burning of the Midnight Lamp is futile. Same for fast volume control. The midi stream bogs down. The lag is noticeable even with moderate pedal speeds. Is this problem unique only to my controller? Does the midi out of the MFC respond as fast as the pedal input on the Axe?

The pedal input, however, has no problems at all keeping up. The omission of the second pedal input is the single step backward (IMOHO of course) for the Axe II. I have considered trying a midi processor to thin out the controller data, but that process itself would add some delay. I use two pedals in several of my presets. If I switch to the II, I'll just have to find the best compromise.
 
steadystate said:
Am I the only person who is experiencing sluggishness when using midi instead of the pedal input for functions such as volume/wha/whammy?
Click to expand...
Have not observed that with my MFC/Ultra combination. Sorry.
Guess is that if it works when connected directly and is sluggish when not, the problem is with your remote controller.. no ?
 
s0c9 said:
Have not observed that with my MFC/Ultra combination. Sorry.
Guess is that if it works when connected directly and is sluggish when not, the problem is with your remote controller.. no ?
Click to expand...
If the MFC midi has comparable performance to the pedal in jack, then yes, my foot controller must be the bottleneck.
 
steadystate said:
Am I the only person who is experiencing sluggishness when using midi instead of the pedal input for functions such as volume/wha/whammy?
Click to expand...

I know that pre-axe, i never had any problem with delay using any of my pedalboards (midi mate or gc pro) then with ultra, and gc pro, i had no delay with plugging into gc pro and not direct into Axe. Then with the MFC, i still had no issues.

What board are you using? Maybe someone can chime in with that board and what they do. and how they deal with it, if it's a common issue?

Also, what pedal are you using? it sounds to me like that could be the issue and not the axe....not sure though.
 
I'm also very disappointed about the loss of the second pedal input in Axe-FX II... I make extensive use of both pedal inputs on my Ultra, and I would hate to lose that capability. This is supposed to be an enhancement, not a regression...

For the record, I use a midi controller that has 10 IAs and two built-in expression pedals (one is usually assigned to delay in-level and the other varies from preset to preset but frequently serves to blend two different amp-cab-fx signal chains).

I use the two external pedal inputs for:
1-) Volume pedal
2-) tap temp (buttons on a floor controller are not very accurate for tapping tempos).
 
wake911 said:
I know that pre-axe, i never had any problem with delay using any of my pedalboards (midi mate or gc pro) then with ultra, and gc pro, i had no delay with plugging into gc pro and not direct into Axe. Then with the MFC, i still had no issues.

What board are you using? Maybe someone can chime in with that board and what they do. and how they deal with it, if it's a common issue?

Also, what pedal are you using? it sounds to me like that could be the issue and not the axe....not sure though.
Click to expand...
I am currently using a long-extinct Lake Butler RFC-1 with a Mission type pedal. Perhaps other pedal boards provide some type of controller-thinning function, either absolute, or depending on the rate of change of the pedal position. I just bought a Gordius LG2. I'll try that, even though I can't use it until the new firmware is released.

If I can get comparable performance via midi, I'm not at all concerned about the loss of a pedal in jack.
 
Avenyr said:
So does that mean that I'll be stuck having to buy a controller in order to keep my Mission Engineering Expression Pedal working because I won't have enough connectors behind the Axe 2 to wire it properly ?

If so then I'll be forced to buy an MFC-101 or get another Berhinger FSB
Click to expand...

I've found the Auto-engage to work much better than stomp-style switching for wah. Have you tried it? You may like it and not need the extra switch.
 
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