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James

I am the founder and CEO of Mission Engineering

Fake it ’til you make it

    [vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] There’s little the guitar gear forum community enjoys more than a good scandal. Top of the list for Pedalgate performances is the case of the altered identity: Unmasking a popular pedal, rated for its boutique tones, as a repainted Far Eastern bargain box available on Ebay for half the price, is guaranteed to turn the internet apoplectic. When it… Read More »Fake it ’til you make it

    Fix your tone with a dead battery

      Have you ever heard the story about how renowned tone magician Eric Johnson, keeps around a box of partially discharged 9 volt batteries, and can tell the state of charge from the sound of his fuzz pedal? There are plenty of people who are convinced their gear sounds better with different levels of battery charge. Some pedal board power supplies… Read More »Fix your tone with a dead battery

      Batteries Included

        I’m not sure of the reason the de-facto standard for effects pedal power became the 9V battery. Many low current pedals such as buffers, boosts, and distortions could easily be designed to run equally well on the more common AA battery type if we so desired.   I’ll hazard a guess that history has a lot to do with it.… Read More »Batteries Included

        More Pedal Power

          This is a follow on from a previous Pedal Power post on power supplies for effects pedals. In this article we are going to take a look at how to match power supply features with your pedals, and choose the right supply to meet your requirements.   1. Input Power First, you are going to need to check that the input power requirements… Read More »More Pedal Power

          Blueboard Expression Pedal

          Here’s a quick guide to configuring the iRig Blueboard wireless MIDI controller with a Mission SP-1 switching expression pedal.   We had a request recently via the Mission Customer Service queue about using the iRig Blueboard with a Mission SP-1. The Blueboard is a handy little battery operated MIDI controller that can send  MIDI Program Change and Continuous Controller messages… Read More »Blueboard Expression Pedal

          Multi Tap Tempo Hack

          Someone asked me recently if the Mission Expressionator could be used as a multi-tap tempo controller, so I created this little hack to do it. It will work with any Expressionator, so read on to see how you can try this for yourself.   Many modern digital effects pedals and multi-effects units include a tap tempo capability. By tapping on… Read More »Multi Tap Tempo Hack

          Give Me A Boost

            Boost pedals are a paradox, at once the simplest of devices, most with just a single knob, they can also be a challenge to integrate to achieve the desired effect. Much more than say a delay, chorus, or even many distortions, the heart of a good boost lies not in the boost pedal itself, but in the complex interactions between… Read More »Give Me A Boost

            Don’t Goop Me Bro

              Last quarters Gearphoria article is a look into gooping of effects pedals and it’s more legitimate parent, conformal coating. You can read the latest edition of Workbench Confidential at Gearphoria   I don’t read music gear forums much, but recently I did a little weekend surfing and saw fair bit of comment about the ‘gooping’ of components in guitar effects pedals. Indeed… Read More »Don’t Goop Me Bro

              Do I need a 192K Sampling Rate?

              Modern studio quality audio interfaces can support up to 192KHz sampling rates, more than 4 times CD quality. Can you hear the difference?   Recently at Mission I’ve been performing testing on the digital audio interface in the Gemini Amplifiers. Gemini are a series of powered amplifiers with a digital audio interface on board. You can connect up a computer via the… Read More »Do I need a 192K Sampling Rate?