expression factory etc.

[origami]

for most of this week i was on a quest. i was jonesin' for some bass whammy action.

i already have a Zoom B2. Love it. I could buy the other version of the B2 with the pedal connected but that'd be kind of a waste.

step 1. i bought a behringer super shift wanna-be. worked fine, but in the trem bar mode (sort of like a momentary mode) the pedal buffers/colors the signal too much. returned it.

step 2. bought a behringer expression pedal to use with zoom B2. it was not compatible with my zoom B2. returned it.

step 3. went to GC (with my B2) tried out the line 6 and roland expresion pedals. line 6 not compatable. the roland halfway almost worked.

step 3. got an digitech expression factory today. maybe it was a misprint but these are usualy $199, but the price sticker (on that kiosk island where they have all the pedals) at GC said $99 (that's half off!). Even the beat up non-working demo expression factory sitting at the clearance table said $149. So they gave me a new one in the box for $99 (power suply is included). so i took a chance.

got it home, mixed review. it works (much better on guitar than bass). the whammy is okay, not the world's best, but not the worst tracking either. the pedal's from heel to toe position is not the longest. the space station (xp 300 synth swell) is kind of cool. it reminds me of those Queen synth parts during slow parts of the Flash Gordon movie. the chorus part of the univibe is quite good the vibe is so-so, the rotary and the flanger are okay. the wahs are not too bad and more tweakable that a regualr wah. the distortions (heel setting) only work along with the effect, not by themselves, so they are kind of useless in most modes.

i am debating weather or not to put the expression factory on my pedal board to use as a whammy, wah and/or space station. regardless, i spent $99 for a pedal that does lots of nifty other things, so that's a good deal even if may just end up for guitar playing.

[stflbn]

I've been waffling back and forth between trying the Expression Factory or a Boss PW-10 V-wah

[bassman1185]

I just got the EX-7 and I like it a lot. The tracking on the Whammy does get a little iffy under about a low C (third fret, A string) but otherwise it's pretty solid. I haven't had much of a chance to use it with my band, but I think that it will stay on my board. Right now, my main setting is the Whammy octave up with the Big Muff model. If you use the Whammy, you can keep the heel down and just use the distortion model, so I've been using that.

[origami]

i haven't been using the EX-7 on my board because i let my guitarist borrow it because he really liked the space station sound, wah, whammy, etc.

...but it'll come in handy someday, maybe if i played guitar in a band.

i never did find a control pedal that always worked along with my zoom B2, someday i might just get the upgraded version of my B2 with the pedal.