Fatar VFP1-25

I've deliberately waited several months before reviewing this product. All-too-often reviews are written within days of purchase but as a gigging musician I not only need gear which does what it's designed to, but which is also well-built and reliable. Almost 6 months in, this pedal has performed very well indeed. Yes on the surface there's perhaps not too much to say about a sustain pedal - it only does one thing, after all. It's built well, especially for it's price; the pedal action is quiet and smooth with a pleasing depth of travel and weight to it and there is a very useful polarity switch on the underside. In fact it's very similar to the much more costly Yamaha FC-5 which I also use.

The additional weight of playing whilst stood up takes its toll on sustain pedals, especially piano-style ones. Even the premium-branded ones suffer over time. I'm pleased to say after 6 months use the Fatar VFP1 has been excellent - no glitches; squeaks or rattles. Will it survive as long as a Yamaha FC-5? Time will tell, but at less than half the price, the Fatar has unbeatable bang for your buck.

Some keyboards are able to sense pedal polarity (normally open or normally closed) upon boot-up., and adapt to whichever type of pedal is plugged in. (The Kurzweil K2600XS is one of these keyboards). There are however, still lots of keyboards that don't have this ability, and you need a specific type of polarity pedal (either normally open or normally closed) -in order for the pedal to work properly with your keyboard. For those who are constantly swapping keyboards (or pedals) and want one pedal that will work well with all the different keyboards, this pedal is just the ticket. It is made by Fatar in Italy, and has a polarity switch on the bottom so that you can easily switch the pedal between normally open and normally closed polarities, -depending on what your keyboard requires. Studiologic pedals are made by Fatar in Italy. They are ruggedly built and very durable and should last many years. I have had several Fatar pedals over the years and they are very high quality and have never let me down. Fatar are the pedals that are supplied O.E.M. with keyboards from manufacturers like Kurzweil.

At first I bought a very cheap Lead Foot sustain pedal for around 6 euros for my novation Impulse 49, since I wanted something temporary and just for a month or so.

However, as a professional pianist using a midi keyboard, it was almost impossible for me to use it for the needed sustain feel, since it was either full sustain or none.

After getting a very generous voucher from Thomann, I decided to buy the Fatar VFP1-25.

It turned-out to be a wonderful budget friendly sustain pedal since it almost gives you the exact piano pedal.

The reason I didn't give it a five star is because it is not a very solid piece of material since you can feel a little bit of a plastic feel in parts of it, although for the price, you can not ask more than that!

Long story short, I would definitely recommend it to those in need of a quality sustain pedal, while being on budget!

Rating : 4.5/5

Cheers