From bilyod@msn.com Mon May 05 17:12:25 2003
Subject:RE: EV-5 Expression Pedal PROBLEMS!

John, Here's something you can try. If the pot is the open kind then spray some contact cleaner into it and work the pedal all the way back and forth fast and see if that clears it up.

------ Original Message -----

From: b3burner@ca.astounditv.net
Sent: Sun, May 4, 2003 9:56pm
To: CLONE WHEEL
Subject: [CWSG] EV-5 Expression Pedal PROBLEMS!
Help!

It's 4th down and 10 to go, and I'm about ready to drop kick and punt that damned thing into the next county!

I use the Roland EV-5 Pedal with my Roland VK-7, and am currently having problems with it.

Hard to describe what it does...I'll call them "VOLUME SPIKES" for lack of a better term. I push about 30 to 50 percent of the way down on the pedal, and I'll get a sudden raise in volume that doesn't match the proper increase of volume with downward travel. Then I push a little further, and the volume cuts back down to where it SHOULD be, for the distance traveled on the pedal.

It's a very fast phenomenon-- so fast that unless I travel back and forth through that EXACT spot on the pedal repeatedly, I'll miss it at first. It almost sounds like a short in the wiring, but not quite. If I have someone else hold down a key on the VK-7, while I pick up the pedal and slowly adjust it up and down with my hands, I notice that signal NEVER completely cuts out. Just a volume spike that replicates full volume, but occurring at about 40% down. I move past that point, and travel from aprox. 50%-100% of the way down is normal again.

What do you think folks? This by the way is the second EV-5 I've owned. The first one which I got around 1999 or 2000, started acting up in the summer of 2001, AND DID THE SAME THING-- VOLUME SPIKING. I brought it back to Guitar Center (place I bought it from), and they sent it out for repairs. A few weeks later, I picked it up again...and it was doing the same darn thing.

This time I went back and asked for a new replacement. They were very hesitant, but agreed to swap.

The second one worked great from summer of '01 up till now, but now it's doing the same thing. I honestly doubt at this point Guitar Center is going to give me a third one.

So do you think it's something I'm doing to them, or is it a Roland design flaw?

I took it apart tonight, and fiddled a cotton swab around that hinged piston/pivot piece, and took every lubricant I have in the house and oiled the living hell out of it....Hammond Tone Wheel Generator Oil. Drawbar contact spray, and WD-40 (just to top it all off for good measure).

The VK-7 isn't here right now, so I have no way to test the pedal. It will have to wait till our next rehearsal when I bring it back to where the clone is.

In the meantime, do you think what I did helped, or did I seal it's fate? (By the may, mechanically inclined I'm not).

Would a step up to the Roland EV-7 be worth a consideration, or is that basically the same design, and would I therefore have the same problem?

Any other expression pedals on the market you could recommend that would perform better?

Can I in the meantime use the DeArmond "volume pedal" from my Hammond chop, or will a volume pedal not work in the VK-7's expression pedal jack?

Thank you,

John O'Flaherty (The B3 Burner)

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