Zoom FP-1 Expression Pedal

Even a blonde can figure this out (no flames please... I'm blonde too, that's how I know :) You just plug it in and go.

I use a Fender Squier and an ESP LTD M-250 through a Zoom 505 into a Fender Priceton 112 Plus. This pedal can be used to control volume, wah, or pitch bending. The PEDAL wah is great once I figured out how to make the patch fit it. I can get a great Kenny Wayne Shepherd (who uses a Vox wah) sound, as well as a Steve Vai (Morley Bad Horsie) sound, and even a Joe Satriani (Dunlop 535Q) sound. A harmonizer can also be activated using this pedal, and I use that when playing Blue on Black by KWS Band.

This piece of garbage is made of plastic. The wheel that spins the pot when you rock the pedal fell off countless times, making me take off the back plate to fix it. Finally I had enough sense to super glue the damn wheel on the pot, but when I put the pedal all back together... something's grinding around in there. Hence, it's not very dependable.

Never dealt with the company, but from what I understand they have no e-mail or 800 number, which leads me to believe that they basically suck...

I play ALL kinds of music, and when this add-on pedal works, I'm really pleased with the sounds I can make. As far as it being stolen, I would not replace it becasue the quality is so poor.

It's an expression pedal. There aren't any knobs on it. Not too steep a learning curve here...

It's good for volume and whammys and such, but it just is not good for wah. Once you see this pedal, you know it's not. It's not shaped like it and certainly wasn't meant to act like one. There's plenty you can do with it, but wah isn't one of them.

I've heard good and bad things about this. Not sure what to think. I haven't had any problems with it. Although, it was cheap, and it feels cheap, so I would guess it'd go at one point or another.

Never dealt with them.

This expression pedal was obviously made only for Zoom products, so I wouldn't use it for anything else. I have the Zoom 505 and that's what I use this with. I actually have the FP-02, but there really is no difference, so I would say this review is legitimate. Only complaint I really have is the wah sucks. Other than that, it's a good expression pedal for Zoom products.

Easy to use... If you use it as a volume pedal, simply place the input and output jacks in their respective ports. If you use it as an expression pedal (applies only to specific ZOOM effect processors, i.e. 1010, 2020, 505, 506, etc.) just connect the stereo jack to the Exp port and your ready to go.

Works as a good volume pedal, terrible as a wah pedal though. It doesn't match the likes of a cry baby or a morley. I have been trying several configurations on my ZOOM 1010 to achieve a good wah sound but still I find it very limiting. I'll never recommend this if you're looking for a Kirk Hammett kind of wah sound. CRAPPY as it is.

Warning: In a few months or maybe a year the longest, this thing will break down. Your 'wah wah wah' would turn into 'wuh bzzz wa bzz wuh bzzz wa'. I even had to change the potentiometer inside it to fix the problem. The remedy is cheap though, because I brought a brand new 100K dual potentiometer for only PhP 27.00 (approx $ 0.80). Careful: do not do this if you're not experienced in soldering things like this.

Repairs are available, but I chose not because the service center people just rip people off. An $0.80 cost of repair (on my own) would be multiplied 10 times with them. Bad deal, huh?

This would be nice for a beginner, but I would never recommend this for the serious guitarist. It just won't withstand the tortures it would take from an aggressive guitar player. However, if you just want a little taste of a wah sound for a low price, then this is for you.

Very easy to use. The "IN" and "OUT" connections are for use as a volume pedal. There is a pot on the left side, which as far as I can tell, only effects the volume control. Turn the pot all the way counter-clockwise and the foot pedal controls the volume between 0-100%. Turn the pot control all the way clockwise and you get control between, say, 50-100%. I'm just guessing on that, as I don't remember that it came with a manual explaing that feature. But it does have some usefulness.
It also has an "EXP" connection for use with Zoom multi-effects boxes, such as the 505, 506, 510, etc. I have a 506 and a 510. Personally, I think the 506's pedal wah and pitch shift is substandard. (Although I have a couple of auto-wah devices, including the venerable Mutron-III, and I do feel that the 506 auto-wah features have some merit. [I can't believe I just said that. Oh well, that's how I feel.]) But the real use for the expression pedal seems to be with the Zoom 510. You can use it to dial in the distortion of the main drive module! Or use it to do distortion swells or de-swells. That's kind of fun! It can also adjust the balance of the Pre Drive Module with the Main Drive module when they are used in parallel.
Now here's a neat trick I found out by accident. If you connect up your FP-01 to your Zoom box in expression mode using a mono cord, it will function as as FS-01! Cool, now I don't have to pay the extra money. Of course, what I am telling you is probably not a supported feature by Samson/Zoom, so do it at your own risk, but I have experienced no difficulties by doing it. As soon as you rock all the way forward on the pedal, and then come off slightly, it will switch the Zoom. On the 506 it will serve to switch banks. On the 510 it turns the Pre Drive Module on/off, which is a feature I think is very helpful! For instance, let's say you set the Pre Drive to Boost Mids and the Main Drive to Overdrive. Now you can do some power cord G5/G6 stuff and then when you want to hit some bar chords you can flick off the Pre Drive and it will clean up the quality of your bar chords! Very cool!!!

It is made of plastic, so it's not going to be as durable as metal ones. (As a side note, I like the looks of foot pedals with chrome much better.)
I think you can only depend on it for light duty work.

As a volume pedal at least it's fairly low cost.
For Zoom 506 users I wouldn't spend the money, unless for some reason you really felt you needed foot-controlled bank switching.
For Zoom 510 users I think it is worth it because it allows you to do some cool effects by controlling the distortion with your foot.

No manual, but it's really easy. Just plug it in and it works. Whatever you are using it with probably came with instructions on this. (I used it with a Zoom 505, and the 505 told me how to use the FP-01.

Sounds pretty good, at first. See reliability.

I wouldn't trust this thing for anything. I had it for about 3 or 4 months and then suddenly it went haywire. Before, it sounded wonderfully. I really loved the wah with it. Then, one day, for no apparent reason, it started to skip around. You would push it slightly down, and it would suddenly be playing as if you had it all the way down. Continuing down, it would skip back to where it should be. It almost starts to sound like a double wah, but not enought that it was good.

Never dealt with them.

Really not a good idea. If you want a wah or whammy pedal, I would recommend buying a separate one. That is what I'm trying to do.

The level knob on the side doesn't make a whole lot of difference. NO INSTRUCTIONS! although it's not such a confusing thing, I wanted to make sure I wasn't fucking something up.

I was using an inexpensive les paul copy with the zoom 505(which I recomend, it is very dependable). It is hard to get a GOOD distorted wah. the high signal is very hard on ears. Couldn't find right sound, but it only worked for about an hour.for being so cheap it did something.

NO NO NO it started switching patches on me after the first ten minutes of a sessoin. VERY,VERY,VERY independable

I Just took it back to the store i bought it at, they gave me a more expensive pedal for getting screwed so bad

If interested in an expression pedal, I bought a keyboard volume pedal, and i still use it. its a piece of junk---DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY