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Expression Pedal Toe Switch apparently doesn't switch between Exp1 and Exp2


billbassler
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I as yet have been unable to get the Expression pedal to toggle between EXP1 and EXP2.

Page 6, Item 16 of the manual mentions "Expression Pedal Activate the hidden toe switch to toggle between EXP1 and EXP2. The scribble strip above tells you which one is active."

 

To test this, I created a test patch that contained a Wah assigned to controller Exp1 and Volume Control assigned to Exp2 (default volume assignment). The pedal scribble strip above the pedal has always shown EXP2 highlighted. So based on this, the pedal is correctly controlling EXP2/the volume control. No issue there. I assume that "activate the hidden toe switch" means that I should rock the pedal forward and when I reach the limit of travel the scribble strip it would highlight EXP1 and therefore toggle on control of the Wah assigned to EXP1. However, it does not. And I cannot toggle the pedal to EXP1 or highlight EXP1 in the scribble strip ... ever.

 

What am I missing. Is there something else that I need to do? Or should I contact service? I feel nor hear any switch when I press the pedal towards my toes. Something stupid I'm doing I assume.

 

Another question is with my volume and wah example, if I could toggle the expression pedal between EXP1 and EXP2 what will the setting of the device be that I toggled away from? e.g. If I press forward on the volume to switch to wah will the volume be at 100%? That would not be good.

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It takes some force to switch the switch. Don't JUMP on it, but put some weight on it. It will switch. The volume (Exp 2) will be at 100%, as you will be bypassing that block. I'm not fond of it like that, and don't use it that way. I do have an external pedal that I can use for Exp 2, but unless you uncouple the control from bypassing the volume pedal block, it will still bypass the volume pedal block for the external pedal. Not hard to uncouple.

 

Dave

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I always run at least two pedals. Wah and volume minimum. That way the volume is at what ever level you want it at. And if we "ever" get heel down wah off added for our Mission pedals, then you wouldn't have to worry about switching the wah on, because it can then be ready to use for every patch if needed!

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It seems the on board pedal is not suitable for wah uses. This seems like it might be able to be used if "fitted" with a spring load? http://missionengineering.com/?product=ep-1 I had a spring loaded Morley wah and it was great for live use.

 

It works fine for me for wah purposes. It does a good deal of force to switch the pedal, and it can be very hard if you're trying to do it with the Helix on carpet. But I've not had any problems switching mine on stage.

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Thanks for info on how much force it takes to change expression pedal. As far as being able to use the onboard expression pedal as a wah. Having to reach over to a Helix footswitch area to turn of the wah after using the pedal is generally an issue. Sometimes the delay is OK. Sometimes it'll be an issue. It seems the same for the volume issue mentioned above. I see that the spring option for the Mission pedal has an "auto-engage" feature. Not sure what that achieves. I would hope it could send a command to Helix to turn off for example a wah when it returns to the heel position. But I could see that behavior might not work too well for volume. So maybe a dedicated spring loaded expression for wah  ;)http://missionengineering.com/?product=spring-loaded-option AxeFX and Kemper mentioned as able to use auto engage.

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Thanks for info on how much force it takes to change expression pedal. As far as being able to use the onboard expression pedal as a wah. Having to reach over to a Helix footswitch area to turn of the wah after using the pedal is generally an issue. Sometimes the delay is OK. Sometimes it'll be an issue. It seems the same for the volume issue mentioned above. I see that the spring option for the Mission pedal has an "auto-engage" feature. Not sure what that achieves. I would hope it could send a command to Helix to turn off for example a wah when it returns to the heel position. But I could see that behavior might not work too well for volume. So maybe a dedicated spring loaded expression for wah  ;)http://missionengineering.com/?product=spring-loaded-option AxeFX and Kemper mentioned as able to use auto engage.

 

Huh? You don't have to reach over to hit a footswitch on the Helix to turn the wah off. You just push down on the expression toe switch and switch it off, assuming you have the wah block assigned to be turned on and off with this switch. But, yes, if you have it set up so wah and volume are sharing the on-board pedal, the volume will go to 100% when you toggle between the two. The solution for this is to get an external pedal.

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  • 5 months later...

I Know that Mission makes an EP-1 L6 pedal and new model they just came out with that has a toe switch just for the Helix.

I have a white Chris Brodrick EP-1 and I am confused if I can use it on the Helix. I asked Line 6 and they said it was compatible but as I understand the EP-1 is a TRS wired pedal and the Helix is a TS, does anyone know it will just compensate and use the TS points or it just does not work????

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The EP1-L6H will only work as intended on Helix Rack. It's just like the EP1-L6 (same jack - TS - and pot - 10K) with an extra jack (TS) for the toe switch. The pedal part of the EP1-L6H will work fine on Helix floor, but not the switch. I suppose you could plug the switch into EXP2 or EXP3 to see if it can toggle between a min and max value.

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Just to update on the issue of confusing expression pedals. My white EP-1 is a TRS config and I spoke to technical support at Line6 they said the Helix is wired to accept either a TR or a TRS wired expression pedal so they said it should work. Very cool indeed. Mission makes a new designed expression pedal for the Helix that has a toe switch which adds to the features of the Helix assign ability.

 

ON the dumb side of the tracks would you believe I had the Helix for a couple weeks before I even realized it had a hidden toe switch on the expression pedal and you do not have to turn the wah on via a scribble toe switch and can keep a volume pedal as well using EXP1 and EXP2. Felt like a complete nit. Just goes to show you the Helix is a special unit, best thing for guitar ever. I am a manual reader but just missed that whole issue, I guess because I had been without a wah and using an expression pedal for ages.

 

I would like to know what are some of the user's more fav wah models? I seem to go with the weeper a lot but seems any have their uses with different amp models and stuff. God what a cool guitar device! 

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I do not understand what the deal is with the SP1-L6H only for rack, or what the difference is suppose to be, L6 says the units are the same.

Might drop them a support ticket and ask what the deal is. You can read on many SP1-L6H sale sites and they say it works on the floor or rack unit, others like Sweetwater say the rack unit. I wish whoever is wrong would get their "shift" together! 

 

L6 has told me the Helix is designed to work with either a TRS or TS wired expression pedal. But they negated to say if you have a TRS pedal should you use a TRS cable into the Helix or a TS. I really have not needed to rig mine up yet as the dual capability in the Helix of EXP1 and EXP2 is enough for my uses. But seriously the confusion on all of it hurts my brain, or is it brian.

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I do not understand what the deal is with the SP1-L6H only for rack, or what the difference is suppose to be, L6 says the units are the same.

Might drop them a support ticket and ask what the deal is. You can read on many SP1-L6H sale sites and they say it works on the floor or rack unit, others like Sweetwater say the rack unit. I wish whoever is wrong would get their "shift" together! 

 

L6 has told me the Helix is designed to work with either a TRS or TS wired expression pedal. But they negated to say if you have a TRS pedal should you use a TRS cable into the Helix or a TS. I really have not needed to rig mine up yet as the dual capability in the Helix of EXP1 and EXP2 is enough for my uses. But seriously the confusion on all of it hurts my brain, or is it brian.

 

It could be that the floor unit lacks the jack for the toe switch, where the rack unit does not. The pedal itself will work with floor unit, but it's impossible for the switch part of it to control Helix's toe switch.

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  • 10 months later...

I do not understand what the deal is with the SP1-L6H only for rack, or what the difference is suppose to be, L6 says the units are the same. Might drop them a support ticket and ask what the deal is. 

did you drop that ticket? I'd be curious to know what Line6's response was. doesn't the SP1-L6H require a TRRS jack/cable to be able to transmit toe FS signals? I would like to conflate a Helix with three toe-switch equipped expressions pedals. 

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did you drop that ticket? I'd be curious to know what Line6's response was. doesn't the SP1-L6H require a TRRS jack/cable to be able to transmit toe FS signals? I would like to conflate a Helix with three toe-switch equipped expressions pedals. 

 

I'm not sure where you're getting the TRRS cable thing from... The SP1-L6H has two 1/4" jacks on it and they both are TS. It is for the Helix Rack only. Although, technically, it would work as expression only for the other Helix products - there would be nothing to plug the toe switch cable into.

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  • 1 year later...
  • 1 year later...

Back to the exp-pedal on the Helix Floor (3.0): I have the same issue with the toe-switch (doesn't engage). I get the Wah to function when i put it on exp-pedal2, but no way to run it in Exp1. I read attentively this thread, but all what i could deduce from it is that i have to use (brute) force: So i put the pedal on the floor, but nope, still the toe-switch isn't engaging; ...and i do not want to jump on the thing...

Perhaps the solution is in the presets of the pedal, but it seems that i am too stupid to find the trick.

 

With the pedal down, i see on the display "Exp1 Exp2" (whereby the letters "Exp2" seems to light brighter than "Exp1").

When i use the pedal, the letters "Exp1" disappear and are replaced by %(-indications), so "x%Exp2".

 

Theoretically, one would expect that after switching to Exp1, the display shows "x% Exp1", but not one time the display showed that.

 

There was a moment (while i was trying to work at the presets) that the wah went in bypass when the exp-pedal (on Exp2) was fully down, but as soon as i moved the pedal, it restarted to function on Exp2, but alas no toe-switch to Exp1.

 

Does somebody know what i have to do?

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On 12/12/2020 at 2:58 AM, AMountain said:

Back to the exp-pedal on the Helix Floor (3.0): I have the same issue with the toe-switch (doesn't engage). I get the Wah to function when i put it on exp-pedal2, but no way to run it in Exp1. I read attentively this thread, but all what i could deduce from it is that i have to use (brute) force: So i put the pedal on the floor, but nope, still the toe-switch isn't engaging; ...and i do not want to jump on the thing...

Perhaps the solution is in the presets of the pedal, but it seems that i am too stupid to find the trick.

 

With the pedal down, i see on the display "Exp1 Exp2" (whereby the letters "Exp2" seems to light brighter than "Exp1").

When i use the pedal, the letters "Exp1" disappear and are replaced by %(-indications), so "x%Exp2".

 

Theoretically, one would expect that after switching to Exp1, the display shows "x% Exp1", but not one time the display showed that.

 

There was a moment (while i was trying to work at the presets) that the wah went in bypass when the exp-pedal (on Exp2) was fully down, but as soon as i moved the pedal, it restarted to function on Exp2, but alas no toe-switch to Exp1.

 

Does somebody know what i have to do?

 

This may not be your issue but I have seen some folks have problems with switching to wah because they improperly select assignments that are contrary to the Helix defaults. Just want to make sure you are not having an assignment issue. By default the Helix assigns a volume block to EXP 2 and the wah block to EXP 1.

 

If you have not already try this simple experiment. Select a new/blank preset, add a volume block(don't assign anything), now add a wah block(don't assign anything). Now stand up and apply a fair amount of pressure to the expression pedal's switch in the toe-down position; press hard. You should see the highlight on the scribble strip above your expression pedal move from 'EXP 2' to 'EXP 1'.  If you watch the blocks they should be switching from activating the volume to activating the wah. If it does not you may have a problem with your latest firmware update or hardware.

 

Btw, on a preset with absolutely nothing in it you should be able to switch the highlight between 'EXP 1' and 'EXP 2' by pressing hard on the expression pedal's toeswitch.

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<<[...] If you have not already try this simple experiment. Select a new/blank preset, add a volume block(don't assign anything), now add a wah block(don't assign anything). Now stand up and apply a fair amount of pressure to the expression pedal's switch in the toe-down position; press hard. You should see the highlight on the scribble strip above your expression pedal move from 'EXP 2' to 'EXP 1'.  If you watch the blocks they should be switching from activating the volume to activating the wah. [...}>>

 

Thank you for the idea with the blank preset - there, it functioned and switched between Exp1 & Exp2. :) Perfect.

 

Don't know what i had done wrong before; however, i had to readjust some settings in Preferences (back to toe-switch) that i had changed in my quest, had to assign in the preset the wah back to Exp1, and now the switch functions too in this preset in which i had introduced the wah. <3

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8 hours ago, AMountain said:

<<[...] If you have not already try this simple experiment. Select a new/blank preset, add a volume block(don't assign anything), now add a wah block(don't assign anything). Now stand up and apply a fair amount of pressure to the expression pedal's switch in the toe-down position; press hard. You should see the highlight on the scribble strip above your expression pedal move from 'EXP 2' to 'EXP 1'.  If you watch the blocks they should be switching from activating the volume to activating the wah. [...}>>

 

Thank you for the idea with the blank preset - there, it functioned and switched between Exp1 & Exp2. :) Perfect.

 

Don't know what i had done wrong before; however, i had to readjust some settings in Preferences (back to toe-switch) that i had changed in my quest, had to assign in the preset the wah back to Exp1, and now the switch functions too in this preset in which i had introduced the wah. <3

 

Glad to see you got it worked out!

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