Expression Pedal: Lehle Dual Expression vs Mission Engineering EP1-KP

1st Official Post

    I’ve got a Player on order. It will be my first foray into Profilers, but not into the Kemper-verse, as I’ve had an Access Virus TI2 for nearly a year and a half. If the KPP works out for me, it will be an upgrade from the Tonex pedal I already own.


    For reference, I’m primarily a keyboard player who has returned to the electric guitar in the last year, after not playing that for decades. I’ve never owned a wah pedal. I do own two Yamaha FC7 pedals, which I use with my Yamaha CP4 and YC61 keyboards. They are extremely well built and suitable for keyboard expression use.


    Using the modulation matrix on my Virus with the FC7 triggering MIDI CC 11 through a keyboard, I rigged up a wah effect. The FC7’s travel felt too long for an effective wah, which is why I don’t want to use it for wah on the KPP.


    Now that I’ve got the KPP on the way, I want an expression pedal for wah. My order from our in-country Kemper distributor includes a Mission Engineering EP1-KP, but now I found the Lehle Dual Expression. There are some significant pros and cons to the Lehle.


    Pros

    - Magnetic pot - should last forever

    - Dual TRS output - control 2 devices with a single pedal (I’ll never be playing both guitar and keyboard simultaneously, so this would work quite effectively)

    - MIDI port for easy interface to many devices

    - Configurable potentiometer range 5k - 100k

    - 10k output works as a latching or momentary switch in the toe position

    - Light (half the weight of the Mission Engineering pedal)

    - Very robust build quality


    Cons

    - Costly - $100 more than the Mission Engineering at Sweetwater

    - Requires power (maybe the biggest annoyance)

    - Light (yes, a pro and a con as a lighter device may move during aggressive use)

    - Not plug and play as a wah/volume controller and will require configuration


    I’m willing (even happy) to spend the extra money to invest in better quality and higher utility. But, will the Lehle feel like a wah pedal when controlling the KPP? Will the need for power be a real annoyance, when I hoped to have just one device to power for guitar - the KPP?


    Can anyone here who has used the Lehle Dual Expression with a Kemper comment on how well it works as a wah controller? Does the travel feel right? Does the light weight make it slide around (I don’t have a pedal board)?


    I don’t want to over-engineer my very mini guitar rig. I’m inclined to stay with the EP1, but other Kemper users’ perspective would be helpful.


    Thanks in advance!

    I own both the lehle and the mission.

    The lehle is lighter, but it won´t move around at all, and i like that it´s very flat compared to other pedals.

    The power requirement IS an annoyance. (at home i power it from an usb hub).

    The feel is of course different compared to the mission, but for me you can only use the mission for wah wah, that´s why i got the lehle in the first place.

    the build quality is excellent, as is the service, if you have any questions.

    i can recommand it.

    A friend has a Lehle and really likes it. It's significantly more expensive, yes. But the build quality is ridiculously good and there is apparently no way to wear it out.


    I've tried a Mission pedal and frankly hated it. I was coming from an Ernie ball VPjr. The fulcrum on the Mission is too close to the heel for my taste and just feels bad to me. I wanted a Lehle, but couldn't justify the cost at the time. I ended up with a full-size Dunlop Volume X and have been very pleased.


    When/if I have to do it again - I'd probably just throw down for the Lehle and be done with it.

    “Without music, life would be a mistake.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

    Like 1

    I really like the look of Lehle and have only ever heard good things about them. The only thing that kill it for me is the need for power at the front of stage. One of the reasons I love my head and remote is that I only have a single ethernet at front of stage. I used the Player on a gig on Hogmanay and it sounded great and did everything I needed but I doubt I’ll use it as a replacement for my head simply because it necessitates too many cables. I think the Lehle would be be a total no go for my needs but if I was already running a pedal board and power to front of stage it would be right at the top of my list.

    It sounds like if power isn’t an issue, the Lehle Dual Expression is a very good option.


    Still, it’s a tough decision. I complicate everything possible in my keyboards. My rig is built to do anything I could possibly want. Intuition says “with the guitar, keep it simple!”


    I’m inclined to stay with the Mission Engineering pedal, so it’s plug and play, no power required.

    Quote from Stoffifi

    You can power the Lehle via USB by using the USB socket on the Lehle instead of the power socket.


    I’m powering my Lehle from my Stage via USB and it works flawlessly

    the Lehle pedal should even work solely connecting a USB A-B cable and using USB MIDI (so with a single cable, without a TRS (!))

    Unfortunately it seems the pedal only sends USB MIDI 'expression' control messages, which is not received on the Player. The Lehle pedal would have to send other controller numbers to make it work purely over MIDI.

    Knowing what kpahuitsing posted above (thanks!) makes me feel smart for ordering the Mission Engineering pedal. I can understand the comments about the fulcrum being rather close to the heel, which I’ve had no problem with. It’s what I imagined a wah would feel like.


    So far, the Mission Engineering has been plug-and-play with my Player. The option for “Bypass @ Stop” seems quite effective, and the pedal smoothly switches from volume to wah when that is turned on.

    • Official Post

    Yes, currently the pedal can only be used for Morphing. Its MIDI control change #11 is yet fixed. However, the Player doesn't support Morphing and therefore completely ignores CC# 11.

    Hello everyone – LEHLE here.


    We have been in contact with Kemper's Burkhard and the support team and discussed a few things about MIDI, CC controller and so on.

    It is clear that we at LEHLE will of course enable to change the CC controller of the pedal in the near future.


    When we developed the DUAL EXPRESSION, we always dreamed of the clever idea to simply connect and power the expression pedal via USB. No more external power supply, no additional TRS cables and so on.

    Kemper offered the possibility to power devices and also receive MIDI via USB in one of their last OS updates (?) – unfortunately the CC11 controller, wich is obviously "expression", is ignored at the Player, as this is the Morphing, like Burkhard explained above.

    The other Kemper products should work well, although we haven't tried it until the last update.


    However, Kemper and we are in contact and hopefully will find an agreement in a smart solution for you guys.

    And as mentioned, it's in the making that customers will be able to customise a lot of stuff at the LEHLE. But since our resources are limited, it might take still time.


    Cheers

    Joki

    Hi Joki, awesome. i cant wait for the update on my Lehle 🫶🤘

    I’m weighing up Lehle versus Dunlop new dvp5 (having discounted the mission for now though I will A/B test it)


    Main need is for volume swells


    Obvious thing is having to power it front of stage which seems a real annoyance


    Any advice / recommendations ?


    I’m assuming the lehle will eventually come good on controlling more kemper functions as well for flexibility