Zoom FP-1 Expression Pedal

It does double duty as either a volume pedal or as an expression pedal that works best on Zoom products like the 505. This should be a "10," but nobody ever explained the little knob on the side. Turns out it's just like the knob on the side of my Ernie Ball Pan/Volume: it controls the volume of the full-back position. A cool feature. If the 505's manual had mentioned it, or if the FP-1 even had a manual of its own, this category would be a "10."

Sound? As a volume pedal it does not color my signal noticeably. (I have been playing guitar for 3 decades, gigging for 2 decades, recording for about the same amount of time, and I used to work for Lexicon, so I have some idea of what's good and what sucks. ;-)All the reviewers who slag the wah sound are, to put it politely, barking up the wrong tree. The wah sound is a function of whatever FX unit you plug this baby into. Personally, I think the 505's wah is surprisingly decent: it kicks the **** out of the wah on my Boss VF-1, which is surprising since the VF-1 is such a godlike unit. ANYWAY, we digress. And as an expression pedal for the 505, it has never given me any problem at all. Neither has the 505, and it's been 12 gig-filled years.

Absolutely dead reliable. Bought it in 1996 and it has never failed me once. It may not *feel* reliable or inspire confidence like my Ernie Ball, but in reality it's even more reliable than my 6-pound Ernie Ball and weighs about as much as a pack of smokes.

I'd give it a 10 but the price was out of control.

for some reason my fp-1 pedal didn't come with any manuals, i guess i have to go back to the stupid music shop again, but luckily there is some info about how to use this pedal with the 505 in the 505 manual, i didn't have any problems starting it so i think it was pretty easy to use once you know how to use your 505.

when it's used as a volume pedal it works pretty well cause that's what it is meant to be for,
the wah was shit at the start but i realised that it has nothing to do with the pedal itself, it was the settings for my patch on my 505, so i used this setting which made the wah show itself pretty strongly,
p9, Bl, 30, 9, off, d3, 30, this makes the wah work more than enough for me, don't expect a kirk wah, i think it's enough, although i would love to make it twice as strong,
the pitch is shit when used with this pedal it just doesn't sound right,
i guess the volume and the wah(when used with the right settings) are the best features, so it's a 2 out of 3 which makes it approximately 7 out of 10

i thought it's good cause it worked well but after 3 months i suddenly realised that my wah has stopped working, the stupid knob inside which is supposed to turn the wah on and off had fallen off, i had to unscrew the back and put it on again i just hope it stays on,
this made me unscrew the back of my pedal so that was pretty shit i will not use it on a gig at all

there are no good sites on how to fix it or how to make it work better and i have never had to contact them so i'll give it 5

i play heavy metal, i'm a lead player and so far the pedal has helped me make my pull offs stand out, i've been playing for a year now , and i've used a 505 since i first got my guitar, i have a washburn and i use a marshall amp, but i practise a lot like 4 hours a day on average, so i think i play pretty good for someone whose just been playing for a year, i don't have a band though,
i wouldn't buy it again if it got stolen but i'll look for another wah pedal, i like the wah, i hate the pitch and i hate it when the little thing inside comes off,
i can't compare it with other wahs cause i never used other wahs, and i chose it cause it was cheap,
i just wish thw wah was two times stronger,
it's helped me a lot to make better solos,
i'm also looking for a band to play heavy leadguitar for so if you're in brisbane australia, email me and i'll send you a couple of my solos,

Easy as could be...........

not bad

probably could depend on it, not sure yet though

Something I can't understand is all of these people below that talk about how the FP-1 pedal's wah sounds horrible with their 505........... The FP-1 doesn't make the wah sound, whatever you are controlling does (Zoom 505, 506, etc.)...... What a bunch of idiots

Getting it to work and using it are a before and after relationship. I had a horrible time trying to get it to work. Once getting it to work, it was so very easy to use. I don't believe zoom corp. has a manual for it. Its easy to get good sounds out of it.

I must explain my trials and tribulations on how I got this thing to work. I tried one setup where it only controlled the volume even when it should have controlled pitch or wah. That pissed me off.

Then I tried another setup where It controlled bank switching! Which is should not be able to do! That's what the FS01 pedal is for! I thought the pedal was broken or went haywire! But hey! Saved me some money now didn't I?!

Finally after using a stereo cable (instead of your standard guitar cable which is mono I guess) I got it to work.

The wah effect clearly sucks, In my opinion the wah effect on the zoom 505 itself sucks so the FP01 shouldn't help matters much.

The pitch up and pitch down are cool especially the 2 octave pitch down thing rocks.

What I like so much about it is that you can make your guitar sound like a bass guitar by carefully pressing on the pedal until you hear the octave between the guitar and the amp/headphones. Because the preset octave pitch on the zoom 505 mixes both the pitch down and the normal pitch, which is ok, but if you want just the bass, use the FP01 man.

The pitch thing on the 505 sucks because they have a 5th and a 4th pitch thing but in metal they use 3rds, and you can achieve that using the pedal up setting. Just slowly press the pedal until you hear it. Then rock on.

I've only had it for a while, it was barely used when I got it so I can't rate it. But judging from what everyone else here is saying, its extremely poorly made. So I will take extra care with the FP01.

I e-mailed them about getting it to work but found out myself.

Considering that I got the zoom 505 and the FP01 expression pedal for 66 bucks (5 S&H) in practically new conditions, I can't complain. But I pity those who shelled out much cash for the FP01 because its capabilities are very limited for the 505.

Very easy - but I needed some time to understand what's the sense of the knob on the left side - as already discovered, it is a volume control, if you use it as expr. pedal. As pedal for the e.g. 506 it has no effect. BUT: if you open the pedal, you can easily find out how it works. I have made a "redesign" and now I can control the borders, when I use it for pitch or wah-control. I also tried to apply a micro switch and to combine a foot switch into the pedal, but for a robust switch there is lack of space, so I couldn't integrate it.

In connection with the 506 I noticed, that the lower borders of the wah and pitch-effects are to low, little changes are needed. For the rest I didn't notice any noise caused by the pedal, because the 506 alone is very noisy (it's a shame with this compressor - the noise reduction is a simple noise-gate - what reduction??)

If you wan't to upgrade you have to find your own way.
"Nebenbei" (I'm Austrian, please forgive my "B"ad "S"imply "E"nglish)
you can use any expr. pedal as pedal for the zoom effects, you only have to build a small adapter from 2x Mono to 1 Stereo with some special wiring.

For Rock- or Funk-Profs I'm sure, that a Cry-Baby and a metal-made Expr.pedal would do better. For an amateur like me it is sufficient.

Well I guess it's easy enough to use.

Not very responsive. Made cheap!!

JUNK, JUNK, JUNK

The thing broke on the fifth gig.

JUNK, JUNK, JUNK

I play country music and I do not beat equipment. I am very dissapointed with this product. I bought it in conjuction with a 1010 to get some of the new country sounds. The 1010 is OK, a little noisy, but the pedal is junk.
Does any other expression pedal work with the 1010?

I'd give it a 6. It has a flat bit you stand on and a knob on the side. Easy. Took us a while to get the hang of the jack sockets on the back, though. Still have to think about it.

Looses points also for mid-gig adjustments. little knob, Dark stage... Hmmmmmm.

A 50 Series B.C.rich Warlock through the 3030, and into a park G10. Sounds Okay. Had it a couple of years now, and the pot's a tad noisy. No ammount of WD40 has shut it up. I'm going to have to strip it and re-solder it. Ah, well. (It is old, though).

It's pretty rugged. Fuck knows what kind of plastic mr. Zoom uses to make his stuff with, but it's like steel. Nice one. Expect to overhaul it after a couple of years, though. (It WILL last that long).

I haven't bothered them with the FP-01, but I have used the Customer Support for an old 1010. (Replacement instructions).

Was quietly impressed. No fuss, Friendly and didn't have to wait in a q for 6 hours listening to Mozart.

I like it.
+ It's strong
+ Light
+ bounces when you drop it.
+ Compatible with most ZOOM products.

- Comes with a stereo lead. Useless without. I lost mine and couldn't find anything in the manual about "This NEEDS a stereo lead to be anything but a volume pedal".
- Noisy pot,
- Fiddly knob. (You'll go blind).
- No mention on packaging this is NOT a standalone. A bit misleading, as for 150 quid, you may as well get a Marley waah waah, if that's what you think you're buying.
- overpriced.

If you already have a zoom MFX, I'd reccommend the FP01.

Well, it's an expression pedal. It's not so hard. I didn't give it a 10 cause of that stupid knob on the side

This is one of the worst expression pedals i have ever heard(not that they usually are good) but this thing sucks big time. The Wah wah is awful, especially if u got high volume on. Feedback like hell. And the octave settings are not good either. Do NOT buy this pedal, it's totally CRAP.

I wouldnt depend on it. Cause i havent had the chance to, i sold it pretty quick.

Ive never dealt with them.

Extremely easy. Wow it gets a 10 for easy to use.

Got what I paid for, a junky, cheap made piece of CR_ _ or SH_ _ (you fill in blanks) Wish I read the reviews before I bought it. Oh well, sold it on ebay for $40.00 so it cost me $20.00 out of pocket to try this MAJOR SUCKY PEDAL.

Went from totally OFF to totally ON nothing in between. Went from volume 1 directly to 10 nothing in the middle. Real nice.

Didn't even try to complain. I figure if a company will put their name on a piece of junk, they probably aren't to big on customer service. I assume Zoom makes some nice stuff but I won't ever find out cause I won't buy any Zoom product.

This gets a rating of 1 only because there is not - minus negative numbers lower to choose.

Umm... it's an expression pedal, how hard can it be? Although the stupid knob on the side is confusing.. I still haven't figured out its purpose

Ok, this thing SUCKS BAD! I play it through a ZOOM505 (shit-shed). Wah is so horrible, it makes you wanna fuck off and die! I mean really really bad! On high freqs especially. It's awfully noisy too

I would not use it on stage. It is not dependable, after a couple of months my ear noticed the sound getting even worse!

Have not dealt with them

I play mostly Heavy Metal and also exprimental Ambient stuff.. All I can say is.. NEVER BUY A 505 AND A EXP. PEDAL.. THESE THINGS SUCK BAD!