Rocktron Hex Mod

C

Cam

Inspired
I just searched and though there's talk of the mod to the Hex, I could not find any details... other than swapping the Tip/Ring on the Hex itself.... is this all that needs to be done??? Could you not accomplish the same thing with swapping the T/R on the TRS cable?? Thanks!

I've really not had too much of prob using it as a Wah, othere than it bouncing off the OFF (heel) position and engaging a CC... but using it as a volume pedal... SUCKS! So I've gotta get it fixed....hep me please!
 
Re: Rocktron Hex Mod FOUND IT !! Still could use some advice...

Well $HIT
Quote:
Be sure the pedal has only one pot I have started seeing many more Roland versions with two pots one extra wired on the side for a limit. These will not work properly. As for any other pedal with only one pot it just needs to have one side of the pot wired to ground from the sleeve, the other side wired to 5VDC from the tip and the ring sweeps on the pots wiper from this 0V ground to 5VDC giving you the 128 steps in between. If it does not go to 0 it is not reaching ground. There is no other sort of calibration within the All Access


I understand what this is saying but I have no idea HOW to do it... would someone mind giving me a clue how to do this a simple diagram maybe... voes????

xrist04 Any idea why the Utopia pedals work for you but the Hex pedals require this mod??
 
Re: Rocktron Hex Mod FOUND IT !! Still could use some advice...

Cam said:
xrist04 Any idea why the Utopia pedals work for you but the Hex pedals require this mod??
Click to expand...
No idea. :) I played the Hex for ten minutes at the store, to see if it would work for me live, and I didn't like the pedal travel or the the taper "feel".

If the Hex has two pots, it's possible that one might be for the Expression Pedal circuit (perhaps a 10Kohm linear-taper pot), and the other might be for the Volume Pedal circuit (maybe a 250Kohm audio-taper pot). If this is true, then don't worry about the Hex having two pots, because only one would be involved in the Expression Pedal circuit.

The circuit for an Expression Pedal is pretty simple. It's just a linear-taper pot, wired to Tip Ring and Sleeve:

zoom1.jpg
 
Thanks guys! Sorry I've never done any repair mod work so I'm pretty much a dummie with this.. bare with me?

Based on stilwel's pic, do I swap the Red and the Blue wire on the Pot?

Still wondering why the Utopia pedals seem to work but the Hex's don't... are they wired different? FWIW... using the Hex as a Wah seem to work just fine, BUT using the Hex as a volumes does not. Well it works but Heel position is full on volume ( delayed volume boost almost when coming back to the heel position ) Press the toe down just a bit and the volume is almost off and then increases the rest of the way to the Toe position.... still the volume level in the heel is louder than the Toe position. Hope that makes sense... So this MOD will correct this...yes???

One more???... the Boss/Roland pedals work as they should with the AFX.. even running to the Foot Controller ( mine is the All Access ) instead of the Pedal 1/2 Inputs of the AFX... correct???

Thanks again for your input!
 
Nice pic stilwel...

One question for you Stilwel...

From your experience... do you think the Hex pedal needs any mod ??? (If I remember correctly, in a post where you commented about the hex when you bought it... you said you manually calibrated the location where the rack gear hits the pinion gear... could you explain how you did this, please ??? )
 
Cam - try swapping the tip/ring on one end of your cable first - this should have the same effect as doing the mod inside the pedal.

I don't have any experience with the Hex but what you've described above with the volume is pretty much what I've seen before on other pedals where the tip/ring orientation needs to be changed.

(It's also easier to do/undo the change with the cable and I won't look like so much of an idiot for giving you crap advice if I'm wrong :))

If you've got any way on the All Access of seeing the movement from 0-127 (which is what should happen!), or even just looking at the bouncing ball display (modifier display for the volume or wah block) on the Axe you should see what it's currently doing, and you'll see the change when you change the cable orientation.

With the wah it will probably be doing the same thing, just that it's not quite as noticeable, or possibly that it gives a pretty cool sweep for the wah!

Chris
 
Well I swapped the Red and Blue wires on the Hex... it still sorta worked but was much more irratic. Swapped them back.. Here's the deal, I can use it as a Vol Pedal but in the Heel position there still is a delayed full volume... move the pedal slightly towards the Toe, the Volume cuts to almost nothing then increases normally to the Toe position. Move it back to the Heel position and there is a brief NO Volume, and after about 1 sec the Volume kicks on full with it in the Heel position. I've tightened the pedal and there is no pedal movement.... this is electrical as Cliff stated I think. I've tried to Offset it etc in the Modifier panel but no go. Auto Engage works best at Slow.. at Fast the delayed on and off effect in the Heel position is more exagerated or noticable.

Bottom line.. it works sorta and I can adapt and learn to work around this but obviously it doesn't work like it should. What pedals work normally when connecting directly to the All Access for Vol and Exp with the AFX?? Anyone know?
 
Benkenove said:
Nice pic stilwel...

One question for you Stilwel...

From your experience... do you think the Hex pedal needs any mod ??? (If I remember correctly, in a post where you commented about the hex when you bought it... you said you manually calibrated the location where the rack gear hits the pinion gear... could you explain how you did this, please ??? )
Click to expand...

It totally depends on what you are plugging the pedal into.

If using it with a Rocktron MIDI pedal or into the Axe-Fx rear panel, the exp jack should work as it is.
If using a GC Pro or Axess FX1 you'll have to swap the red and blue wires (tip/ring) on the exp jack.

Manual Calibration:
Loosen the black screw holding the white nylon tensioner. Loosen it, but don't remove it completely.
You have a rack gear (long stick-like gear) and a pinion gear (round gear attached to pot).
Pull the rack back from the pinion, and rotate the pinion ONE tooth either forwards or backwards.
Press the rack up against pinion and tighten the white nylon tensioner.

If that made it worse, then repeat but turn the Pinion gear TWO teeth back the OTHER direction.

General comment:
I get emails about this every single day...and it's the main reason I stopped doing the wah mods and custom exp pedal builds.
There are way too many possible applications for these pedals and because I only had an FX1 I couldn't possibly calibrate it for use with every MIDI application.

Someone...(Cliff maybe?) needs to make a dedicated MIDI expression pedal that is flexible enough to be used with many different MIDI pedals and rack gear. There's really nothing to these pedals, but everyone has problems with them...EVEN ME!!! I have a couple of Boss FV500L's that I have to mod before I can use them with my FX1.
 
Thank you SO MUCH !!! That's what I needed.

When I receive my Hex, I will try that ;) I hope I can make it with no problem... thank you so much :D
 
Hey, I modded my Hex for use with the G-System I used to own by swapping the pot out for a LINEAR TAPER pot @ 25 or 50 K (don't remmember).

Is this advisable for use with Midi controllers or the Axe FX??? Would this work better? Does it even matter?

Thanks!
 
aksman said:
Hey, I modded my Hex for use with the G-System I used to own by swapping the pot out for a LINEAR TAPER pot @ 25 or 50 K (don't remmember).

Is this advisable for use with Midi controllers or the Axe FX??? Would this work better? Does it even matter?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

May I ask what linear taper pot you used with the HEX?? I've never seen a linear pot that would fit in a Crybaby/Hex wah pedal housing.

Thanks.
 
stilwel said:
aksman said:
Hey, I modded my Hex for use with the G-System I used to own by swapping the pot out for a LINEAR TAPER pot @ 25 or 50 K (don't remmember).

Is this advisable for use with Midi controllers or the Axe FX??? Would this work better? Does it even matter?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

May I ask what linear taper pot you used with the HEX?? I've never seen a linear pot that would fit in a Crybaby/Hex wah pedal housing.

Thanks.
Click to expand...


My Hex came with an Alpha 250K installed in it. I replaced it with a linear knurled 50K Alpha 24mm carbon pot. Following how the original pot was assembled, I just add a little heat shrink tubing to the base of the shaft and put the Hex's pinion gear on it (used a little glue to make sure it stayed on if I remember correctly).

I had to set it a little stiff because I was using it for whammy effects and wanted the added control/stay-put-power.

I'm not really using it at the moment if you're downtown and wanna check it out/borrow it to see how it will work with the AXE (not having much luck into my M13 with any expression pedal lately).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom