Quality of Behringer FCB1010 expression pedals

  • Just got my FCB1010 today. Have the uno4kemper on the way. Only concern is that the expression pedals seem flimsy. I'm no so much worried about breaking the plastic, because I'm generally gentle with pedals and such. I'm concerned about the internal potentiometer and such that get wear and tear with every movement. However, have you users found the expression pedals to hold up to regular use? I suppose that if the thing lasts a couple years, I can always replace it if it goes, considering it's half the price of anything else with dual expression pedals.

    In general, once in a while I'm asked to do volume swell stuff, not often, and I seldom use wah or expression. However, I would like to mess around with some things using the expression pedal, perhaps I'd use them more if I had them, as I used to do back in days of owning the original floor Vox Tonelab. The main reason I am switching from the Rocktron midi mate is because the rocktron doesn't have dedicated bank switches. Banks must be accessed by hitting a second function button, then banking, then hitting the second function button again, then choosing a preset in a new bank. Very annoying and a pain to do between songs, forget doing it during a song. Plus, the behringer gives me one extra CC switch, since I no longer need to dedicate one to the tuner, as the Uno chip allows Heel down volume to enter tuner mode. That, and the fact that I can see the tuner and the programing is easier.

  • The expression pedals are optical so no worry about ware and if they feel a little loose they can be tighten up a little with the screw on the side

    I have not heard any complainants about them breaking.

    I'm having a little trouble with one switch led #6 going in and out and if i push on the deck next to it works again so looks like a loose connection inside.

  • A related question: I just sorted out two FCBs for the backline for a band I work with. They work fine but I think the expression pedals could behave a bit better.

    Actually one of them doesn't seem to work right - if it's used for wah it seems to do most of the work in the middle position while heel and toe areas seem kind of unpredictable. I have calibrated it but that didn't change much, and I have tried different wah settings. The other pedal works just fine, too. Is there something more I can try? Since I saw now that they're optical, can it be a dirty lens or something?

    The other thing is that the volume pedals feel a bit aggressive. Lots of change up to middle position and after that not much happening. This goes for both FCBs, and both have been calibrated. I tried changing the volume pedal range on the Kemper but that had the opposite effect. Is there something else I can try?

  • You could try altering the range on the expression pedal. Assuming it's set to sweep between 0 and 127, you might find it works better with a reduced range e.g. 20 to 105 or if it's not doing much at one end of the sweep, you could cut that e.g. 30 to 127.

    It's just a case of trying different settings, using your ears and seeing what works best for you.