SOLVED! EV-2 pedal polarity reversed?

C

Cromberger

New Member
Greetings, all,

This if my first post and I am a complete newbie to the FM-3. Yesterday I set up a preset with a wah block and plugged in and calibrated my new EV-2 pedal. The pedal works in reverse meaning that when I put the toe down, the frequecy goes down exactly the reverse of what I would expect with a wah pedal. I did reverse the polarity in the wah block setup and it works fine but I would not expect the EV-2 to have reversed polarity on the FM-3. I am using an old TRS cable from a Boss EV-10 expression pedal that came with a Roland GP-8 multi-efx unit. Could this cable be reverse polarity from what the EV-2 puts out? I can't think of anything else that would cause the polarity to be reversed. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Cromberger
 
What is you Off Value in the Wah Block set to?

5% = Heel Down

95% = Toe Down

Also, how do you have Auto-Engage set?
 
Hi, Habuman,

Like I said, I'm a total newbie with the FM3 and the EV-2. I honestly don't know how the Off value was set. Would the off value affect the polarity? Also, I don't know what Auto-Engage actually is or does.. I've only had these units for about a week or so. I've read the manual extensively but it seems pretty overwhelming to a newbie. I will check what you mention above and try again. I reset the block I was using so I could start again and see if I could get the pedal to work with proper polarity without having to set the polarity reversed in the settings so the settings I was using are gone.

Thanks for your reply,
Cromberger
 
In general, Roland expression pedals are reversed polarity compared to Fractal expression pedals. A TRS cable that works perfectly with an EV-2 would work backwards with a Boss pedal.
 
Cromberger said:
Hi, Habuman,

Like I said, I'm a total newbie with the FM3 and the EV-2. I honestly don't know how the Off value was set. Would the off value affect the polarity? Also, I don't know what Auto-Engage actually is or does.. I've only had these units for about a week or so. I've read the manual extensively but it seems pretty overwhelming to a newbie. I will check what you mention above and try again. I reset the block I was using so I could start again and see if I could get the pedal to work with proper polarity without having to set the polarity reversed in the settings so the settings I was using are gone.

Thanks for your reply,
Cromberger
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As @Rex wrote above it might be the cable but also check the Wah block settings. If you want Wah to activate when rocked forward set it to 5% (heel down is off) or when rocked back set to 95% (toe down is off). Set auto-engage as needed.
 

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Autoengage is not the issue if the entire wah sweep is backwards (trebly at heel down instead of toe down). Was the sweep of the pedal correct when you calibrated it? Toe down should be the highest value and heel down should be the lowest. If it was backwards during calibration as well, either the TRS cable is wired for reverse polarity or the pedal is maybe not wired correctly internally. You'll need a standard TRS to TRS cable with standard wiring (tip to tip, ring to ring, and sleeve to sleeve on each end).
 
mr_fender said:
Autoengage is not the issue if the entire wah sweep is backwards (trebly at heel down instead of toe down). Was the sweep of the pedal correct when you calibrated it? Toe down should be the highest value and heel down should be the lowest. If it was backwards during calibration as well, either the TRS cable is wired for reverse polarity or the pedal is maybe not wired correctly internally.
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Agreed.

mr_fender said:
You'll need a standard TRS to TRS cable with standard wiring (tip to tip, ring to ring, and sleeve to sleeve on each end).
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Actually, with a standard TRS cable, the Boss expression pedal will work backwards on Fractal gear. (However, the Boss pedal with a standard TRS cable will work just fine on Boss gear.)
 
Rex said:
Agreed.


Actually, with a standard TRS cable, the Boss expression pedal will work backwards on Fractal gear. (However, the Boss pedal with a standard TRS cable will work just fine on Boss gear.)
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True, but OP has a EV-2, so he'll need a standard TRS cable for it to work correctly.
 
Rex said:
Agreed.


Actually, with a standard TRS cable, the Boss expression pedal will work backwards on Fractal gear. (However, the Boss pedal with a standard TRS cable will work just fine on Boss gear.)
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Hi Rex, I don't think that that is true; I have used Boss pedals with AXFXII, AX8 and currently have one attached to my FM9 and they all worked fine with a standard cable.
 
blackmoreguitar said:
Hi Rex, I don't think that that is true; I have used Boss pedals with AXFXII, AX8 and currently have one attached to my FM9 and they all worked fine with a standard cable.
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I’m willing to be wrong here. I based my statement on available schematics for Boss expression pedals which show an opposite arrangement of tip and ring, compared to Fractal pedals. It’s possible that those schematics are wrong.
 
It's hard to find good info on pedal polarity and wiring. Companies rarely specify exactly how they are wired.

This is the correct wiring for Fractal devices:

1702830572239.png


If the wires for lugs 1 and 3 are swapped, the pedal will work fully, but you'll get the backwards sweep that the OP is experiencing.
 
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Wow, what a great forum. I am amazed at the number of people willing to help out a newbie. I thank all of you for your replies. It sounds to me like the cable must be the culprit. In any case, it's certainly worth trying a new cable.

Best regards to all of you,
Cromberger
 
OK, I got a new TRS cable and I still have to reverse the polarity to get the wah-wah to play the high freqs when the toe is down and lows when the pedal is heel down. Anybody have any ideas as to how to fix this? I'm using a EV-2 pedal which obviously should have the correct polarity to work with the FM 3.
 
I'd guess the pot or the jack got wired wrong by mistake. If you know how to solder, it's likely an easy fix in the pedal. Maybe open up the pedal and check the wiring to see if it matches the image posted above. You should be able to swap the Ring and Sleeve wires at the jack to reverse the sweep.

If you've got a multimeter or ohmmeter, you can verify the backwards sweep by measuring between the tip and sleeve of the TRS cable plugged into the pedal. The resistance should be the lowest between those two contacts at heel down. If the resistance is the highest at heel down, the pedal is wired backwards.
 
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Hi there, my 2 cents. The polarity seems reversed because you configured it wrong, you have to do heel then toe and keep it that way , if you step down again it keeps it reversed, so when pressing enter so have to go one way only from heel to toe and stop. That keeps polarity right hope it helps
 
That is not true. You can swipe the pedal back and forth and leave it wherever you want and it won't affect the direction of the action. Calibration only sees the control voltage going up and down. It only instructs to move the pedal through its range. Lowest reading is the bottom of the range and the highest reading is the top of the range and the controller gets adjusted accordingly so that equates to 0% to 100%..
 
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Hi, all,

Thanks for your replies. I'm afraid I'm not knowledgeable in the ways of electronics or soldering. I had started to wonder if it is possible that the pedal is wired wrong. That seems impossible but weird things do happen sometimes. I will try doing the configuration again per above. But "C" says that it won't matter. We shall see. I guess my next move if none of this works is to contact Fractal and see what they have to say.

Thanks to all of you for your replies.

Cromberger
 
Cromberger said:
Hi, all,

Thanks for your replies. I'm afraid I'm not knowledgeable in the ways of electronics or soldering. I had started to wonder if it is possible that the pedal is wired wrong. That seems impossible but weird things do happen sometimes. I will try doing the configuration again per above. But "C" says that it won't matter. We shall see. I guess my next move if none of this works is to contact Fractal and see what they have to say.

Thanks to all of you for your replies.

Cromberger
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Definitely contact Fractal support...
 
With the patient help from Ian at Fractal, the problem with my wah-wah polarity being reversed has been solved. We tried a variety of things, none of which worked, until Ian suggested that I try resetting the system parameters. That did the trick and all is well at last. Kudos to Ian for his patient assistance. Kudos to Fractal for providing excellent customer support.

Cromberger
 
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