Best expression pedal for whammy?

[Ted82]

I have my whammy housed in a rack, and want to be able to control it through my GCPro, but it doesn't track right with my Ernie Ball Volume Pedal. There is no inbetween, it's either effect all the way on or off. I've tried the calibration thing, and that didn't work. The pedal works perfectly, but not with midi thus far. This is driving me nuts seeing that Clint Lowery from Sevendust has the same exact setup(EB Vol, GCPro), and it seems to be working for him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgl4RiTO0eM

[JohnClark]

It could be that you need to flip the small taper switch on your volume pedal. I don't know exactly which model you have, but if equipped, this switch can be found underneath the treadle at the toe end, just behind the Tuner output.
Otherwise you should check how the pedal is connected to the Ground Control Pro. These pedals will require you to use an Insert Cable for proper operation.

Good Luck!

[Ted82]

I have the "EB VP JR 25K" for active pickup guitars. It does NOT have a taper switch, but it doesn't matter, because I wouldn't be using this for the whammy. It will continue to be my volume pedal.

So, my question is....What pedal has proven to work? It would be nice if the other Ernie Ball's (the one's with the taper switches, like the VP JR 250K) have proven to work nicely. That way I could match it up with my other EB VP.

[JohnClark]

The 250K VP Jr. would be a fine choice for this application.

Good Luck!

[vibratoking]

I have used the EB VPjr pedals with my GCPRO and they have the same problem that you describe. All of the action occurs in an impossibly narrow range of the sweep. I have changed the taper, but it only makes a slight difference. This is not the solution if you want a fully useable range.

[Ted82]

Hmmmm....that's not good news. Thought I had this one solved. Do you suggest any?

[JohnClark]

I have used the EB VPjr pedals with my GCPRO and they have the same problem that you describe. All of the action occurs in an impossibly narrow range of the sweep. I have changed the taper, but it only makes a slight difference. This is not the solution if you want a fully useable range.

Do tell more... what MIDI devices and parameters are you controlling? How have you connected the pedals to the Ground Control Pro? When you look at the "Pedal" screen within a Ground Control Pro preset do you see the numbers sweep from 0-127 smothly across the full range of the pedal?

I have the Ernie Ball VP Jr. 250K pedal connected to my Ground Control Pro that I have personally used with Whammy, TC Electronic G-Force, G-Major (1 and 2), System Mix Plus, Eleven Rack directly and into Pro Tools... and it should work with anything else that accepts sweepable Control Change data. The feel is often programmable within many of these devices so you can switch between controlling volume in one situation and something like wah in another without having to mess with the hard switch on the pedal itself.

[Ted82]

Well, I should first start out by saying I'm a moron!! Ok, now that's out of the way. Somehow I missed the part in the teeny tiny manual that Digitech gives you with your Whammy that you need to set your CC to 011. My EB Vol now works perfectly fine. I already bought the Mission Engineering EP-1 and I'm really liking the sweep on this one. I needed a pedal anyways. I'm just glad to get this problem out of the way.

[vibratoking]

Do tell more... what MIDI devices and parameters are you controlling? How have you connected the pedals to the Ground Control Pro? When you look at the "Pedal" screen within a Ground Control Pro preset do you see the numbers sweep from 0-127 smothly across the full range of the pedal?

I am controlling a TC Electronic M-One XL and using CC to control the effect level. When I look at the "Pedal' screen the numbers do not sweep smoothly across the full range of the pedal. Instead, the full sweep occurs through less than half of the pedal's range. I have swapped the cable connections, but there is no change. I see about the same behavior with an EB VPjr 250k and a DeArmond 500K pedal.

[JohnClark]

Are you connecting these pedals to the Ground Control Pro with an insert cable? This will have a TRS end that runs out to two mono ends. Do you se this same behavior with only one pedal connected at a time?