| Of the passive expression pedals I have, none I would describe as "low profile & heavy duty":
Maudio MGear Exp - plastic, cheap price, cheaper feel. Definitely not 'heavy duty.. feels good beneath the feet.. etc' It is adjustable as mentioned above, which is a bonus.
Moog EP-1 - plastic, discontinued, cheap build but the physical sweep feels more confident and precise than the Maudio M-Gear. Non-adjustable.
Roland EV - plastic, adjustable, feels a bit better than the Moog and Maudio and is the smallest of the 3, but the not sturdiest around, though based on the available options it may well be sufficient. The Behringer, Bespeco, Foxrox, and others that look the same are basically all the same deal.
Alesis F2 - Discontinued, ok build quality and long sweep, adjustable, feels pretty solid, and can be found for about $40+ used. About the size of 3 boss pedals in a row, not the lowest of profiles. 1/2" longer and 1 1/2" wider than the Roland EV.
Yamaha FC-7 - Ok build quality, large size, long physical sweep, but not scaled well for most effects, ie Moog, EHX, Foxrox, Robot Factory, CopilotFX, etc. Starting at heel down position, as you rock the pedal forward 90% of the effected range occurs in only the first 15% of the pedals physical sweep, and therefor not suitable for most uses (if you use it as an on/off then its fine..)
Crybaby wah shell - This was a DIY job with two exp lines that came with my Moog phaser; when you click the wahs toe switch, it switches between two different expression parameters, pretty cool. It's great in theory and if you have a broken wah, i imagine it would be an easy project, but the treadles range is a bit limited and I found it to be too precise.. though it was extremely sturdy and felt great.. I just wish it was in a different wah shell with a longer sweep!
I haven't used the Moog EP-2, but it is their current offering and appears to be a small step up physically from the EP-1, as well as having adjustability that its predecessor did not. If I had to guess, I put it at or above the Roland EV in feel and range, but slightly larger.
I've never used an Ernie Ball Volume Pedal Jr, but from all accounts they're well-built, feel great, and reasonably sized, and the EB VPjr is probably as low-profile as its going to get unless you go cheap/plastic. I don't know the specifics, but there are companies out there that will modify them into expression pedals- another option (that has worked for me) is to place a WTB add in the wanted classifieds for that work to be done by an experienced TBer if you're not capable of it yourself. Unless you're using it with an effect that accepts volume pedals for expression, you'll need it modded.
Unfortunately there aren't many off-the-shelf options that are compact and solid construction. The Morley Little Alligator mentioned in the post above is probably as solid build/feel as it gets, though I don't think its very 'little'.. (id love to be wrong). Some of the plastic exp's are fine for many uses, like quickly switching between two pitches on a harmonizer, or a dry-wet with an effect that has an blend input, etc, though I found them to be inadequate for my needs, ie- as a replacement for a Wah pedal when used with a filter that has an exp input. If you want to buy something new and plug&play, you'll probably have to forgo either the 'solid, feels good' or 'low profile' requirement; if you don't want to do that, then I would recommend going the modded Ernie Ball route.
Last edited by fightthepower : 11-04-2009 at 04:18 AM.
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