Recommended expression pedals for H90

[tomerz]

Hi, I’m thinking about getting an expression pedal for my H90. Are there any recommended models? Thanks

[joecozzi]

Hi tomerz,

Eventide recommends any TS or TRS expression pedal with a 10K – 25K potentiometer. Models I know work well:

Mission Engineering SP-H9, Dunlop DVP3/DVP4, Lehle Dual Expression, DOD Mini Expression, AMT Ex-50, Boss EV-30, Ernie Ball VP Jr 25K

[tomerz]

<p style=”text-align: left;”>Thanks joecozzi. The Ernie Ball VP Jr 25K is a volume pedal – am I understanding correctly that it works as an expression pedal using a ts cable without connecting the guitar to the input?</p>

[joecozzi]

That’s correct, but of all the ones mentioned, it’s the one I would least recommend because as a volume pedal, it has a logarithmic taper. A linear taper is preferred so that the majority of the reaction doesn’t happen on the ends of the range of expression. My personal recommendation is to invest in a dedicated expression pedal.

[rograt]

I have 3 x Boss EV30 pedals which I move around for a variety of uses. They actually have twin pots/outputs so they can fulfil a variety of functions on a pedalboard. Only downside is that they don’t have a grippy surface so I find in a home studio it pays to either wear something with soles or use them barefoot. Shiny socks don’t work well. Apart from this they work very well with the H90.

[cestlamort]

Random aside: I’d long used a Roland EV-5 for expression stuff (on H9, other effects), and it works fine, but I recently got a Dunlop Volume (X) Mini, and I was astounded that it actually stayed in place when you took your foot off the pedal, unlike the Roland one. Works great and nice and small (although almost too small for size 12 shoes). Plays very well with my H9, so I’d assume it’d do the same for an H90.

[mapgeek]

Making changes to the board and picked up an h90.  Would my source audio dual expression pedal work well with this or would I be better off getting the mission sp-h9?

[joecozzi]

Congrats on your new H90! Based on the documentation alone, Source’s dual expression pedal uses pots beyond the optimal range Eventide recommends, which is 10-25 Kohms. That does not mean the pedal will not work, it most likely will. But, you’ll experience a more linear range with the Mission.

[mapgeek]

Awesome, thanks for how fast you replied!  Snagging the mission it is then 🙂   This pedal is super sick and I’m only one weekend into it…

[brewjo]

Mission Engineering makes some of the pedal expression pedals out there.  The SP-H9 worked perfectly with the H9 and equally with the H90.  Plus, if you got questions, they get back with you in a timely manner.  Plus the white pedal looks good next to these Eventides.

[turretboard]

Forgive the bump, but could I have the schematic for an EXP pedal? I have the 25k Xotic volume pedal I hoped to modify for H90 EXP duties.

[brock]

It’s a straightforward modification.  This is an unofficial response, but the EV-5 will work.  And I don’t think Roland will mind …

That VR2 pot in the schematic below is just the maximum level trim-down pot.  It’s not only optional, and unnecessary with the H90’s calibration, but it’s also a PITA feature that I’ve removed from my expression pedals.  Too easy to get bumped & moved around.

[turretboard]

Thank you for posting this. I will be doing some testing tomorrow. I draw a new layout with the help of your diagram. I have added a function switch, too, to recall a preset I will associate with the expression. I have seen pictures of the internals of Mission SP-H9; it has a resistor somewhere in the circuit. I hope it’s unnecessary, and the diagram below will work just fine.

With all fairness, I’m a bit disappointed with Eventide. I asked the same question via email, and the diagram for EXP was refused to me. I would understand if Eventide sells an EXP/SW pedal dedicated to H90, but now I have an expensive unit with no info on an actual spec for the expression pedal.

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[joecozzi]

We simply don’t go by any official schematic for expression pedals. Since we don’t manufacture them we just recommend a 10 kohm to 25 kohm linear potentiometer. Keep in mind the EXP ports on the H90 are NOT able to provide expression and footswitch functionality on the same port the way H9 can. You’ll have to output expression to EXP1 and footswitch functionality to EXP2.

[turretboard]

joecozzi wrote:

We simply don’t go by any official schematic for expression pedals. Since we don’t manufacture them we just recommend a 10 kohm to 25 kohm linear potentiometer. Keep in mind the EXP ports on the H90 are NOT able to provide expression and footswitch functionality on the same port the way H9 can. You’ll have to output expression to EXP1 and footswitch functionality to EXP2.

 

Thx. Just for clarity: will CCW-Tip, Wiper-Ring, and CW-Sleeve work fine, or do I need to swap the tip and ring around? I often see the 1k resistor from the wiper in some EXP pedal layouts. Is there any benefit to this, Joe?

 

Lastly, I have both the 10k linear and 25k linear wah pot. Is there any benefit of using one instead of the other?

[joecozzi]

I wish I could help, but I’m not able to answer this question. I’ve never built my own or studied the schematics in depth. Perhaps this question is best suited for forums like The Gear Page. Maybe another forum user has the answer. From the research I’ve done, I’ve noticed expression pedals with pots wired as rheostats work best, as in the diagram which can be found in this video: https://youtu.be/SXTdMqAWu0o?feature=shared&t=632

[sled]

Hey guys. This might be a quick fix so I figured I’d post here instead of making a new topic. I’ve got a Boss EV-30 that I’m trying to use with my H90. It mostly works, but it doesn’t seem to travel to the maximum end of the sweep. So, if I assign the EV-30 to control, for example, a Preset HotKnob from 0-100, pressing the expression pedal all the way forward (toe down) only seems to travel to about 86 on the Hot Knob, rather than all the way to 100.

The EV-30 has a sensitivity knob, but it only adjusts the minimum sweep (heel down) and has no effect on the toe down position.

Any ideas?

[brock]

I’ve heard it’s 10K each side, so you should be good there.  It sounds to me like it hasn’t been calibrated (or it could use some re-calibration).

https://cdn.eventideaudio.com/manuals/h90/1.5.2/content/system-menu/io.html

[joecozzi]

Have you calibrated the pedal? Always connect the cable to your pedal first, then connect it to the H90. Then, go into the System menu to calibrate it to ensure the H90 is detecting the full sweep. If it is, you can be assured it’s working properly. If after doing all this you still experience a limited expression range make sure that the parameter’s expression range is not limited inside of the preset’s settings. It could be that a limited range was programmed on mpurpose.

[sled]

Yeah, it was the calibration! The problem was entirely user error in the sense that, A) I clearly skipped that part in the manual, and B) I’ve been almost entirely using my H90 via the Control App which does not seem to have the calibration option. Once I sat down on the floor and went into the settings on the unit itself I found it immediately and now my EV-30 works perfectly.

Thanks!

[turretboard]

For those DIY orientated, I made it work with wiring as below:

Pot Lug 1 (CCW) -> Ring

Pot Lug 2 (Wiper) -> 1k resistor -> Tip

Pot Lug 3 (CW) -> Sleeve

The same wiring as for Morningstar MC6 Pro. Works great

[paulmarshall]

Hi, I’ve seen a few other Mission expression models that looks quite cool – for example the MISSION SP25L PRO AERO has an LED base and dual 25k outputs. Will this work with the H90?

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[joecozzi]

As a straight expression pedal it is compatible with H90 but understand if you want to use the toe switch and the expression pedal at the same time each takes up its own port on the H90. The EXP inputs of the pedal can be configured for either an aux switch or expression, but not both. Also, this particular expression pedal requires a separate power supply for the LED functionality.

[paulmarshall]

Hi All,

I wonder if someone can help me as I am struggling to get my Mission SP-25L-PRO working with an Eventide H90. I have watched this video on the SP-H9 and Eventide H-90 using a TRS Y cable (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpfqKINai4w). Just like in the video, on the TRS Y I plug tip into Exp 1 and Ring into Exp 2 just like in the video. The problem I have each time is that when I go into System Global => IO on the H90 and try to use Exp 1 and then SW14 the test fails. The sweep is fine but on the heel position the dot comes on. I get no dot with the footswitch at all and it doesn’t seem to be registering. Can I just check if anyone else has got the  footswitch on the SP-25L-PRO to work with the H90? If so can you give me some tips?

Cheers,

[paulmarshall]

OK I’ve sorted out how to connect the Mission SP-25L-PRO to the H90. The footswitch is the TRS output on the right hand side. I used the Y-splitter I had spare and connected the tip to exp 2. Then I connected a standard TRS to exp 1 from the sockets on the left hand side. Go into System IO and select exp1 and sw45 and everything is fine!

[paulmarshall]

Correction, I connected the Ring (not the Tip) of the TRS Y splitter on the right hand side to exp 2 and it works fine.

[paulmarshall]

Good to know – thanks Joe. I was thinking that the ability to control both sides of an H90 via the two 25k pots was quite interesting but understand I’d be losing the toe switch. Thanks very much – I’ll ponder what I’m looking to achieve!

[RogueD3m1]

I plugged TRS into EV-30, then H90. When calibrating the full range it only hits 0 and 100 about half the time (seems to be a standard deviation of up to 3. Regardless of these figures (whether they hit their extremes or just shy of it at the last heel-to-toe sweep during calibration), the Polyphony doesn’t take the full range.

I set the expression control, through the preset parameter menu: start at unison, end at +1oct. At the bottom/heel position, the display reads +2m, but seems to sound like unison, and at toe down position, it reads and sounds like +7M.

If I extend the range to try and compensate it overshoots in both display and sound. Is there a way to babysit the input ranges so I have some extra room on either end to count as all the way down/up?

[RogueD3m1]

Re my last post:

With poly flex,which is what I should have been using for a whammy effect, the same thing was happening, but you don’t need to set the expression parameters in the preset, it’s built-in. It’s strange that the expression control wouldn’t be represented in the preset parameters, and means augmentation is still limited, but you can plug and play the flex presets in their natural state without touching the expression controls.

Still means that if you want to be able to change your harmony/retuning through polyphony, or do expressive slides in steps (it’s a vibe I guess), you may run into issues until an update corrects it.

Tangentially, I tested the Polyphony and poly flex against my Whammy DT and they sounded almost identical. The H90 sounded higher fidelity (dynamic range was well preserves), but also slightly worse because of it. Basically, the Whammy compresses and probably lightly EQs the signal to obscure some of the jankiness. Haven’t run extensive field tests yet, but various EQ/Comp factory presets (including “fuzz conditioning,” off the top of my head) after it seemed to solve the problem, while retaining the higher fidelity. In the long run I plan to use something external, like a Source Audio Ultrawave, to do that because I want that second slot for other proper H90 FX. You may find that signal processing you already have going on after it resolves the problem on its own, as higher drives compress and may even benefit from a little jankiness, and my guess is that the EQing is to the high end (which any tone control will have some power over).

[brock]

This seemed like an appropriate thread for a necro-update.  Nektar NX-P expression pedals.  They were among a pile of switching & pedal action units that I bought, with the sole intent of hacking them up for custom projects.  $20 USD, everywhere I’ve seen them.

It took a few tries at the H90 Calibration to get a consistently smooth travel.  Always with the side trim knob fully towards Toe.  At one point, NX-P SW1 position maxed at a 0-94 range, with SW2 0-100.  Yet SW2 position had about 50% of the parameter range confined to 1/4 to 1/3 of the treadle travel (+/-; parameter dependent average).  I settled back on ‘polarity’ switch position 1 in the NX-Ps.  Now it’s full range 0-100 (go figure).

Tighten the axis locking nut a bit for the loose travel.  I wouldn’t rely on this pedal to hold a fixed wah-type position.  Maybe a half-inch longer & narrower than an EV-5.  The rubber feet can peel off fairly easily for pedalboard mounting.  I like the grip feel on the treadles themselves.  The shell is plastic all around, understandably feeling / looking cheaper than an EV-5 build.  It’ll come apart easy enough to get at the guts, or swap the attached TRS cable.

No idea how these will hold up for longevity.  For roadworthiness & general live abuse, my EV-5s & Reflex will stay put.  But for home use, circuit-bending, or sheer cost considerations, NX-Ps function just fine.  I have no affiliation with anyone; just a PSA on one bargain option.  You can buy nearly 4 NX-Ps for the price of an EV-5, and you “need” a two pedal minimum for the H90.

[paulmarshall]

Quick update from me on the Mission SP-25L-Pro Aero. Basically the SP-25L has a latching toeswitch which doesn’t work with the H90 as the H90 requires a momentary toe-switch. It’s taken me the best part of a year to figure this out – and thanks to the Eventide support team! Now I have figured out that the SP-25L won’t work with the H90 I’m pleased to share my workaround. What I did was to unscreww the Mission baseplate, unscrew the latching footswitch and unplug it. Then I got my soldering iron out and installed a momentary footswitch inside the Mission Aero. It works a treat. In fact, I even kept a white LED and a 220 Ohm resistor in the circuit so that the baseplate lights up when the momentary switch is activated!

[tbskoglund]

Great tip! Thanks for the update and glad to hear that you were able to get this working.

[Guitargonaut]

The Mission Engineering EP-1 works perfectly.  Have used the Ernie Ball VP Jr 25K with no issues as well.

[Securb]

I have had an MOOG EP-2 running my Eventide gear for years with no problems. The EP 3 is now available and still inexpensive. Now that I have the H9 and H90 I now use Electro-Harmonix Dual Output Expression Pedal to control both. Great pedal and it doesn’t break the bank.

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