Nord User Forum

Just wondering if anyone in Nordland is using this expession pedal? Looks very well made and it's a lovely gloss red!
It's £120 at Guitar Guitar in the UK, so pretty expensive. It's metal and the blurb says you can use it as an alternative to other pedals such as Roland EV-5 and Boss FV-500 or similar, so will work fine with the Stage 3.
Any users out there?

Yep. I bought one about three years ago, when my old Fatar pedal gave out (I recall it is electrically compatible to the Fatar mode in most Nords - Mission uses a 10k linear pot).

And what a pedal this is! 3.4 pounds without the cable, all-metal base, hinge, and footrest... this puppy is NOT going ANYWHERE. And there’s four grippy rubber feet on the bottom for insurance.

Then you have the finish: old-school, rock-hard, shiny enamel, with absolutely no blemishes. Drop-dead gorgeous and yes, it's a close enough match to Sweden that you'd almost think they were made for each other.

Even the internal rubber “stoppers” seem designed to impart a soft-yet-firm feel when bottoming the pedal out. No clunks in either direction.

Adjustments to both tension and calibration are available. Most of us nowadays think of calibration in electrical terms, but here, calibration is physical: if the range is off, simply shift the gearing by a tooth or two. (Mine was set up perfectly out-of-the-box.) There’s also an hex-wrench adjustment for tension, and Mission includes one with the pedal.

As Pablo opined in an older thread, these guys know their stuff.

But even after adjustments, something about it - perhaps its short throw, perhaps the hinge location - meant I had to really concentrate to use it as subtly as I wanted. Perhaps I just needed to practice with it more.

I also own a Boss FV-500L. Much bulkier in the gig bag, a lot plainer looking; but not quite as heavy - and the longer throw is a little more forgiving. It eventually replaced the EP1 as my "daily driver", but it still sees use in multipedal setups. Who knows, I may pull it back out and give it another shot as my primary, now that I've written this. Dat Red.

Note that about two years in, the mechanism began squeaking. A call to Mission's customer support revealed that its design requires occasional lubrication. I think I used lithium grease ("White Lube" here in the States), and it's been quiet ever since.

I don't consider that a deal killer, because with that occasional bit of TLC, I expect it will outlast the Boss by orders of magnitude.

Hi PScooter! Thank you very much for your reply and review on this pedal. Being made in the USA, I thought plenty of you guys would be using one!
Despite the possibility of squeaking a couple of years down the line, it's exactly what I'm looking for. Solid build and stays where you put it!
I'll use it mainly for Organ Swell. 80-90% of my Nord Stage 3 88 playing is Piano, with occasional Hammond and Synth. The Roland pedal I've been using feels a bit flimsy, as it's 100% plastic and tends to slide on wooden floors, which gets pretty annoying on stage.
The Mission is all metal, heavy and solid and shiny red. What more do you want?! - Gotta have one!

So here's a shot of my pedal, for color comparison. Note the reflection of the keys in the paint job, even after a couple of years of steady gigging. The off-white on the top surface indicates wear - it was originally pure white.

Almost too nice to put on the floor out of sight! Cheers mate!

£120!? To me it seems too expensive for what it has inside.

Think some of the money is in the solidity of the housing. Built like a tank! Agreed it is rather expensive-USA made stuff usually is in the UK unfortunately...
Most people probably using Roland and Boss here.

Mr_-G- wrote:£120!? To me it seems too expensive for what it has inside.

I found this incredibly funny. Citation: triple pedal, music desk, leg set... (Yes, I own two of those already.)

Mission is a boutique manufacturer: they are about high quality, not necessarily bang for the buck.

I agree, it is hilarious.

Well the alternatives seem to be the Yamaha, which is £60+ and made of plastic, or the £85 Boss one. The cheaper Roland (which is the one I have) to me doesn't feel very nice underfoot, is very light and moves around too easily. To me, perhaps paying a bit more to get a fully engineered and classy looking unit like the Mission is a price worth paying.
We pay a small fortune for the Nord brand, then fleeced quite a bit more for the music stand, soft case and triple pedal. Plus A good quality keyboard stand like the K&M (in red of course!) and high end cables, as cheap cables are not a risk worth taking. Then there are the high end monitors/PA to make them sound good.
My point is what's a few extra quid in the scheme of things for a quality piece of kit? You pays your money......