Volume Pedal

F

frank1985

Active member
I'm looking to purchase a volume pedal within the £70-110 range but am a little confused by all the options out there. I'm hoping that someone can help narrow things down a little.

My equipment:

Telecaster with passive pickups
Eleven Rack
Ditto X2 Looper

I'd preferably a mono pedal, which is passive and maintains the original tone. Should I be going for 25k, or something higher? Also, am i better off running direct or via fx loop?
 
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If you are using thr pedal to back off the gain of the guitar, like turning down the volume control on the guitar itself, it needs to be placed between the guitar and the amp.

If you want to turn the volume of the (probably distorted) sound of the preamp down, then it needs to be in the effects loop.

As far as which one to go for, I will defer to someone who has actually looked at one in the last 20 years.
 
25K is way too low for direct connection to a passive guitar. The fact is that any passive pedal plugged right into that guitar is going to suck some treble. Bigger pot values will suck less at Max, but the tapers can get weird and they can actual cause more loss of treble in the in-between settings.

If you really want to use it in place of the V pot on the guitar and have it sound as close to the "real thing" as possible, then you should get a pedal with a pot equal to the one in the guitar and then re-wire the guitar to take the internal pot completely out of the circuit. Swapping or modding the guitar's T pot for a No-Load variety might do about as well. Not exactly the same thing, but probably close enough.

Keep in mind that the total length of cable between your guitar and the first active stage also has an effect on tone. If you end up doubling that total length by plugging into the pedal and then from there to the amp... It's probably preferable to keep the run from the guitar to the pedal as short as possible/practical, and get most of your length on the other side. You have to reach the pedal to use it anyway, right?
 
More likely than not, that EB will work fine. Some people give a fuck about the subtleties, but it's only a problem if it's a problem. To be safe, you could either take your rig to your local store, or probably better buy one from a place with a decent return policy and try it.

The EBs feel really great, and will last for ever.
 
frank1985 said:
I'm looking to purchase a volume pedal within the £70-110 range but am a little confused by all the options out there. I'm hoping that someone can help narrow things down a little.

My equipment:

Telecaster with passive pickups
Eleven Rack
Ditto X2 Looper

I'd preferably a mono pedal, which is passive and maintains the original tone. Should I be going for 25k, or something higher? Also, am i better off running direct or via fx loop?
Click to expand...
You would get a lot more bang for the buck if you looked toward an expression pedal. Volume pedal is an option in the 11 rack signal chain, and it can be controlled with an expression pedal.This route would give you the option of controlling the parameters of other effects with the pedal when you need to.Mission pedals has some decent offerings and good product support.
 
SHEPPARDB. said:
You would get a lot more bang for the buck if you looked toward an expression pedal. Volume pedal is an option in the 11 rack signal chain, and it can be controlled with an expression pedal.This route would give you the option of controlling the parameters of other effects with the pedal when you need to.Mission pedals has some decent offerings and good product support.
Click to expand...
I had considered this myself, but it doesn't do quite the same as turning down the guitar volume. Again, kind of a subtle difference. If it works...

I think I'd still go with the EB. Pretty sure that a simple insert cable (TRS to dual TS) turns it into one of the nicest expression pedals you'll ever use.
 
Yeah, I noticed that he didn't list any sort of power section in his sig chain list, so not sure if he is using this set up into a P.A. for live performance, or as an interface for recording. IMO, the power section is a factor in volume roll off response. Personally, I have never met a volume pedal that served my needs as well as rolling off the guitar. I mod all of mine with a treble bleed so things clean up nicely. I have seen a few boards with EB's used as expression pedals, but not sure on specifics as far as cabling. I have a Rocktron Hex that does double duty. It features a trs out for use as an expression pedal, and a normal out for volume. I used it with my AXFXII, and had to reverse polarity on one end of a TRS cable for it to work with that. Pretty solid pedal, and I like the tension adjustment.
 
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