Wah/volume pedal VS. Mission Engineering pedal

  • Hi,

    I have a Vox V847A wah-wah pedal and an Ernie Ball VP JR volume pedal. Can I use them with a Kemper head, like with a regular guitar amp? Can I connected them to the KPA input with a standard guitar cable, or does I need a special adapter?


    Does the Mission Engineer EP1-KP pedal pedal have any particular functions that I wouldn't have with my Vox and Ernie Ball pedals?


    Thanks a lot

  • Can I use them with a Kemper head, like with a regular guitar amp? Can I connected them to the KPA input with a standard guitar cable

    Yes, exactly like this. From that end the Kemper is an amp like every other. Not much to worry about.


    Nevertheless the Kemper can bring you amazing functionality and versatility also for Volume and Wah by using an expression pedal like the Mission Engineering (or any other - I use the Roland EV5). Those can do much more for you as you can control a lot of parameters in effects, different wahs, use it for morphing and so on... it's a universe on its own.

  • You can use volume and wah as normal but using an expression pedal offers much more flexibility.


    You can position the EXP pedal at various different points in the signal chain on a rig by rig basis. For example set it to control volume at the input (same as a regular volume pedal) which will increase and reduce gain but have less effect on volume. Or move it virtually to after the stack (like putting it in the FX loop of the amp) which will have no effect on gain but will have a significant effect on volume and will let the delay/reverb tails fade out naturally . OR put it after the delay and reverb effects which will have no effect on gain, significant effect on volume AND kill the delay tails. Each rig can have its own settings if necessary.


    With a virtual wah using the EXP pedal you can tweak the wah settings per rig. Or you can move the position of the way. Wah before OD/Fuzz for some rigs. wah after OD/Fuzz for others.


    Then you have the option of using morphing which is a whole other level.


    Plus you will have much less cable in the signal path.


    As for which exp pedal(s). The Mission is fantastic as a wah if you like the feel of a Crybaby or similar. Unfortunately, it is meh at best for everything else. I use a Mission dedicated to wah and other pedals for everything else. If I could only have one pedal though it wouldn’t be the Mission.

  • Agreed, the Mission Pedals are one trick ponies. Even the Mission Aero pedals don’t quite have the length of pedal travel that I prefer for volume. I currently use the Mission Aero for wah set to off at heel position. I hated the Mission Kemper pedal for wah because of the toe switch. Of course you don’t need to use the toe switch with that pedal if you don’t want to, it’s just an annoying feel when you go toe down and engage the switch whether you use it or not that bothered me. The Aero is a bit more travel than you need for wah but it works fine because you can customize the pedal range on the Kemper anyway to make it shorter if you want to. For me the best feeling volume pedal with the most travel is still the Ernie Ball. Fortunately Thru-Tone sells Ernie Ball pedals that have been modded into expression pedals. I have one and I love it. The only downside to running expression pedals for volume control is that you just cannot get it as fine tuned at the bottom of the range. I have tried and tried but in the lower range you go from having no sound, completely muted to an instant bit of volume, albeit with less gain. The taper is going to be more natural with an analog volume in front of the amp. If you can deal with that shortcoming expression pedals have more advantages particularly in not altering your tone and only needing one short patch cable to connect the pedal to the remote.