emagli Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 Hi all, and Happy 2020! I have run into an unexpected problem using the onboard exp pedal in conjunction with an external exp pedal on my Helix LT. The external pedal is an Ernie Ball VP JR 25k, with OUT connected to the Helix EXP PEDAL 2 input, and no other connections on the VP JR. More info on my setup at the end of this post. I have stumbled upon this while I was using a relatively complex patch, but I have set up a simple one to replicate the problem. The patch has just a Chrome Wah followed by any amp+cab block (WhoWatt in my case). The wah is assigned to EXP 1. The problem goes like this. First, I bring the external exp pedal in the heel down position (0%). As soon as I move it away from 0%, the onboard exp pedal gets assigned to EXP 2 (green indicator) and then immediately back to EXP 1. Is this switch occurring because of some exp pedal setting that I am not using correctly? My guess is that, in the heel down position, the external exp pedal turns itself off, and this is sensed by the Helix, which switches the assignment of the onboard exp pedal from EXP 1 to EXP 2. What I'd like to have is the onboard exp pedal always assigned to EXP 1, and the external pedal always assigned to EXP 2, irrespective of whether an external pedal is indeed connected or not, or what its position is. Along the same lines, I am afraid not, but do you know if it is possible to disable the toe switch? My setup goes like this: guitar --> digitech drop --> clyde wah --> velvet fuzz --> helix in. I use send 1 and return 1 to have the signal go through external compressor and mid boost pedals. Helix XLR out --> monitor. All output and send/return levels are instrument. In the global settings, EXP1/2 pedal position are both set to "global". Do you have any suggestions as to how I can either prevent the VP JR pedal from disconnecting in the heel down position (if that's the issue), or preventing the Helix from switching the assignment of the onboard exp pedal? Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil_m Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 With a pedal plugged into the EXP2 jack, the onboard expression pedal should always be EXP1, so this behavior you're explaining is pretty weird. Are you using a TS cable with the Ernie Ball pedal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emagli Posted January 2, 2020 Author Share Posted January 2, 2020 4 hours ago, phil_m said: With a pedal plugged into the EXP2 jack, the onboard expression pedal should always be EXP1, so this behavior you're explaining is pretty weird. Are you using a TS cable with the Ernie Ball pedal? Yes, that is also my understanding. I am using a TS cable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
codamedia Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 22 hours ago, emagli said: The problem goes like this. First, I bring the external exp pedal in the heel down position (0%). As soon as I move it away from 0%, the onboard exp pedal gets assigned to EXP 2 (green indicator) and then immediately back to EXP 1. If your external exp pedal has a dead spot on the pot it will fool the the Helix (momentarily) into thinking nothing is plugged into the EXP2 jack. That is causing the internal pedal to shift to EXP2.. .then back when it is passed the dead spot. I know this because I built a 2 jack toggle system with fixed values to use in the EXP2 jack. When NEITHER of my toggles are engaged, the helix does not think anything is plugged into that jack so it shifts the internal pedal to EXP2... at that point I can manually control the values with the internal EXP pedal. As described, I use this to my advantage in my setup... but I can see how it would just be a pain in your scenario. You might be able to fool the system... try this. (I have not tested this... so I don't know if it will work or not) Open your preset Rock the external pedal until it kicks the internal over to EXP2 Now press the toe switch to EXP1 and save the preset. In theory, that should store the internal to EXP1 and it shouldn't shift on you anymore. NOTE: If that works I suspect you would have to do this on every preset you use it on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emagli Posted January 3, 2020 Author Share Posted January 3, 2020 4 hours ago, codamedia said: You might be able to fool the system... try this. (I have not tested this... so I don't know if it will work or not) Tried this... The good news is that not only it works, but the assignment done and saved in one preset carries over to all presets; it seems to be a global setting. The bad news is that once I reboot the Helix, the setting is lost :-( Maybe Line6 could add an option to set the internal pedal to EXP1 no matter what, or an option to disable this switching mechanism? The other, admittedly less elegant solution, is to add a small thickness on the base plate of my exp pedal, so that it never reaches exactly 0%. It should get the job done pretty easily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
codamedia Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 42 minutes ago, emagli said: The other, admittedly less elegant solution, is to add a small thickness on the base plate of my exp pedal, so that it never reaches exactly 0%. It should get the job done pretty easily. Don't forget to try cleaning the POT in the EXP. If it's just a dead point, you might be able to free it from the debris causing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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