Which is a better Expression pedal, Mission Engineering or Boss EV-30?
I am a new Quad Cortex user and just got the Mission Engineering pedal because it is similar to a Dunlap Cry Baby. The pedal works smoothly and feels good but the clicking sound the pedal makes when it touches the switch is a little annoying. I play mainly at low volume in my room so it kinda stands out. I would probably get use to it but would like to know if the Boss is any better with no switch. I thought I would need a switch to turn on and off the Wah effect but it appears that it turns on automatically when you start using it.
All 3 of my Boss expression pedals have a dead zone in the first part of their travel from the heel down position. On the FV500L pedals it is 25% of the total travel, and on the EV30 it is 30%. Several other people have reported similar problems with Boss pedals. I had to buy 2 Fractal pedals to replace them, and they perform perfectly across the full range. I can’t imagine why your Mission pedal has a switch - switches are simply not necessary on expression pedals. However, I think you would find that an EV30 would be very disappointing.
I have both and prefer the Mission’s functionality but not its size. It’s so much bigger than the depth of the QC.
The switch is useful to me in that it cuts down on the need to tap dance between the QC switches and the XP- you can toggle between fx from the XP and not have to take your foot off it
I have the EV30 and this is a very frustrating problem. Even with the trim control, I feel like there is way too much of a dead zone and that when I have do to volume swells, my usable range is the last 30% of the sweep of the pedal. It makes for an unnecessarily precise action. I DO like the size of the EV30 though… I may look into dunlop’s mini expression pedal to see if it’s better than the EV30
I bought a Lehle dual expression pedal #1032 because it doesn’t use a potentiometer, instead it senses movement using a magnet and a Hall effect sensor.
Thanks for the replies. The Lehle sounds like a cool pedal and I will keep it in mind for the future. But for now after reading the replies I am going to keep the Mission Engineering.
I have the Boss EV 30 and it doesn’t work very well with the QC. The Dunlop isn’t much better. I bought the Lehle Dual Expression pedal and it works flawlessly. While it does use power I feel it’s well worth the trade off to never have to worry about changing strings or pots and also it’s the smoothest pedal I’ve ever used and I’ve been using volume pedals since my first Sho-Bud way back in the early 70’s.
After buying the Boss EV 30 I can say having an automatic engage pedal is kind of a game changer for me. At first, I was concerned at lacking a physical switch I can activate, that is until I became familiar with the pedal and the QC.
It is built like a tank and straight forward as it gets. Seperate min/max level controls for each expression and seems dead simple to use so far.
However how getting the second footswitch activated/engaged I haven’t done yet. I was only learning the CTR 1 first. Also very surprised at how affordable the EV 30 is. Very happy with it, and it calibrates very well. My only concern is the pedal does not engage at 1 to 1 below 20%. It’s a smooth transient, but activates when the pedal is 15% depressed.
I am surprised to read other people experience the dead zone before engaging as well on the EV30. Everything else about the pedal I adore, but this is kind of an issue. Like another user said, it makes for needing precise movements sometimes.
I have a VP JR I haven’t tried yet. I might return the EV 30 if something better I can find.
I have two EV 30’s that I use with my Boss Katana and it works great with those (of course, it’s Boss) but found that it didn’t work very well with the QC for pedal steel effects. Personally, I’d return it and get a Lehle Dual Expression. There’s nothing to wear out and it’s built like a tank. Super smooth and has full range on all the parameters I’ve tried it with. It also automatically knows if you’re using a TRS or TS cable.
I am going to return the EV 30. After playing a little more with it the dead zone below 20% is quite noticeable. Since ordering on Amazon returns are pretty straightforward, I’m going to order the Lahle. The automatic activation was a neat feature but the dead zone is a killer. Haven’t picked a power supply yet and hope the Cioks 7 has an available outlet after powering the QC.
My pedal board TA Solo 18 just came in I can’t wait to build it in 2 weeks when I get home.
I’m another EV30 user here and can confirm the dead zone is real. For simple utility stuff, merging in FX etc it’s fine, but I wouldn’t want it for exposed volume swells or detailed work.
The main advantage the EV30 has is its size - it is almost identical in height to the QC, which means you can fit both it and the QC on a Pedaltrain Metro 16 for a very neat, compact setup. Plus it’s relatively cheap.
Same here. Works perfectly. I even have it configured to activate wha block on pedal movement and never failed me so far - also it disconnects wha block when it stops moving… works great, it’s inexpensive and feels solid.
You can adjust the height of the switch on the Mission. You could also take one of those small round stick on silicone dots, flat ones not the bubble ones, and put on top of the switch or underneath the peddle where the top of the switch hits it to damping it a little. Mine has a white foam like thingy, can’t remember if it came with it or I put it there.
I use the midi-jumping hack and the toe-switch gives me a LOT of possibilities. It can open the tuner, looper, or gig view without interacting with any of the QC switches, leaving them free for the usual functions
I also use a Hotone Soul Press II but as a stand alone Wah-Vol. It’s a great pedal as that, the Wah has a classic and modern setting AND a “q” control with bandwidth so you can dial in about anything. My Mission uses the two controls so that heel down real clean then as pressed down more gain is added nd master vol reduced to from clean to dirty.
We are supposedly getting more midi implimentations in the coming update.