Line6 FBV Express MKII

Using this for a few months now. This was recommended to me by one of Thomann's studio techs (kudos to them!), and i couldn't have been more happy.

Positive sides: first of all, the unit feels very sturdy and rugged, and looks like it could withstand fair amount of abuse. Also, the included software lets you map keys however you want - Hi/Lo values, CC's, notes, whatever. You can even save the mappings as presets if you use different mappings for different software. Works perfectly with DAWs and with Amplitube 3. Uses pretty standard USB connector (type B), no proprietary crap here (except for Line6 amp connector which looks like a regular Cat5 cable anyway), doesn't need any special drivers - works out of the box with Windows 7 x64. Top notch stuff, really love this thing.

There are a few small flaws with it, however. First of all, the USB cable is not included. As a IT guy i have loads of cables lying around so it wasn't a problem for me, but i think this should be clearly indicated on the product page.

The wah/volume switch takes a bit of time getting used to, but works quite well. The pedal itself, when pulled completely downwards, doesn't always rest on a zero value so if you're controlling a Whammy pedal emulation, you'd have to constantly press the pedal down to make the pedal value zero and thus NOT slightly pitch-shift the sound all the time. Not a big deal though, since you can just switch off the Whammy with a button :-)

Also, sometimes the unit stops sending MIDI signals without any apparent reason - although the problem usually solves itself after a minute or two.

Overall, a great product and well worth its asking price. I would give it five stars if it wasn't for a few small flaws.

I bought this footswitch to use as a midi controller with BiasFX 2 via Reaper to turn on and off virtual guitar pedals within the BiasFX program.

It worked straight out of the box without having to fiddle with any settings (only Reaper itself needed a couple of changes). The pedals all have a nice feel and a satisfying click. The wah pedal has just the right amount of resistance. You just assign the physical pedals to your virtual pedals and you're off.

Very happy with this product.

I use mine with an Amplifi 75, and it's a godsend for that, because otherwise you're fiddling around with the app. You can save your top 4 settings as A-D on the stomp buttons and then of course make any changes via the dials on the Amplifi.

The wah-wah volume pedal is good too. The action is a bit lighter than say a real Cry Baby pedal, but it's absolutely fine, in fact some may prefer the lighter action.

You've to do a little stomp on the pedal to flip between wah-wah and volume.

If I'm nit-picking, more stomp buttons and a second swell pedal would be nice, but I guess for the price, this is more than good enough.

The Line6 FBV Express MKII is the perfect accompniment to many Line6 products such as Spider IV amps and the POD.

Personally I have a Spider IV 150w Amp which is a great combo modelling amp, however it can be impractical when it comes to changing channels etc. In order to do this you need a dedicated footswitch or floorboard. I chose the FBV Express MKII because I was happy with the fact that it could change up to four channel settings and was far cheaper than the FBV Shortboard MKII. The one tap tuning is a breeze to use and the dual wah/volume pedal is faultless.

The price from Thomann was yet again superb, I had been searching the web for this product in the uk and whilst there were some reasonable deals to be had it was Thomann who were by far the cheapest, their price was within £10 or so of secondhand ones being sold on ebay. I was even tempted to go for the FBV Shortboard due to their price but managed to resist temptation.

The product was delivered to Scotland within 3 days of ordering so absolutely nothing to complain about there either.