>>In the manual however it says you must use
a Roland Ev5 or Boss FV300 or risk damage to the unit. Now this seems
like an empty scare tactic to make you buy roland gear but is there any
possibility that you could harm a device with an improper expression pedal?<<
kevin- didn't see anyone else reply to this yet.... there are some expression pedals that are different to other expression pedals.
to be honest, I don't even know what the accepted standard is for these things, despite being an engineer & despite having probably a dozen expression/volume pedals & a dozen devices that use them. but there's an "obvious" approach that's been pretty widely adopted, with line-6 & "moog music inc." (i.e. not bob) being the only dissidents.....
are you able to handle a stereo-jack with wires coming out of it, & a voltmeter? if so, you could work out whether the exp. socket on the vf-1 is wired like I expect it would be (knowing boss....). you'll probably find that the jack's sleeve is grounded (measure to the chassis of the vf-1) & that the tip is at 5V. whatever you send back to the unit on the third (ring) connection has to be between these two voltages.
but you need to make sure that the pedal isn't able to ground the 5V connection..... this could happen if you were to use a line-6 expression pedal where the tip & ring are reversed.
the other thing to bear in mind is that some devices are set up so that the full range of expression is obtained with a small change in voltage, while some pedals are actually volume pedals pressed into service as exp. pedals & their travel goes from nothing to full-on.
now, I can't believe that boss would manufacture something wherein either scenario would finish off the box completely.... but nonetheless, their imprecations are not to be taken lightly. & the fv300 will probably last longer than the cheap shit I buy (zoom, proel &c) simply because it's got "boss" written on it.
duncan.
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