Sell me the idea of a volume pedal

[Raymond Lin]

I'm thinking it would be cool, but I am also thinking I can just use the knobs on my guitar.

For the advocates of volume pedals, sell it to me.

If you can

 

[omahaaudio]

For the advocates of volume pedals, sell it to me.

No.

 

[thkh]

I'm thinking it would be cool, but I am also thinking I can just use the knobs on my guitar.

For the advocates of volume pedals, sell it to me.

If you can

HAHA

I use my guitar's volume all the time but I needed to have a better/consistent way to do volume swells. Mine is placed after drives before delay and reverb. I also have a tuner plugged in the tuner out. This way I can tune any time w/o stepping on my tuner. I fear that if I step on my polytune mini it will break. I have huge feet.

 

[halfmanhalfgear]

Why not buy by far the largest pedal of your current collection to trip over if it doesn't (most likely) fit on your existing pedal board, or that requires a complete, extensive reorganisation of your existing board so that you can get your guitar lead more easily caught in it during operation or for accidentally knocking whilst playing to leave you wondering what happened to all your volume in a live situation?

Depending where you put it in your chain you could also need to buy a decent, expensive buffer to go before it to reduce the loading and muddying effect it could have on your signal thus requiring even more space on your pedal board.

Have I sold you it yet?!

 

[geetarplayer]

I can't live without it, but only because I do swells, and have breaks in the set where I need dead silence.

 

[gbeak]

A volume pedal can do many things however If placed at the end of the chain you can keep you tone intact and not blow your family out of the house (if you choose).....IMHO rolling back the volume on the guitar is not the answer for volume control

 

[jkeane22]

I got rid of mine. However, a volume pedal after dirt has a totally different effect on tone than volume knobs before dirt. It allows you to change volume without affecting the clipping / tone of the sound waves

 

[tremolo3]

Do it if you have an Ambient/Drone project.

 

[superdave2001]

Why not buy by far the largest pedal of your current collection to trip over if it doesn't (most likely) fit on your existing pedal board, or that requires a complete, extensive reorganisation of your existing board so that you can get your guitar lead more easily caught in it during operation or for accidentally knocking whilst playing to leave you wondering what happened to all your volume in a live situation?

Depending where you put it in your chain you could also need to buy a decent, expensive buffer to go before it to reduce the loading and muddying effect it could have on your signal thus requiring even more space on your pedal board.

Have I sold you it yet?!

+1 BUT I'll play devil's advocate.... agree completely with HMHG, but only for this form factor. I switched to a pedal enclosure-sized volume pedal that only has a single knob - to set the level - and a footswitch on it. So I set my entire right for a more up-front/lead level, and then set the volume pedal at a rhythm level. Put in the loop of my amp, and it gives me access to 2 volumes I need most. Also frees my guitar volume to do what it's supposed to do - control pre-amp grit.

If you really need swells, consider a multi-effect unit your loop instead that supports an expression pedal (Zoom G3 comes to mind). Set up a patch with an EQ model and set the expression pedal to control the Output Level of that model. This works great - can then put the expression pedal anywhere you want it (on your board, on the floor), it goes into your loop where it should go - not affecting your preamp volume, and you get a bunch of effects in the unit for your loop as well. Win - win - win.

 

[Dave Fox]

I can't live without it,....

Same here, I'd be hating the gig if I didn't have my volume pedal.

I do wedding receptions mostly. That means ballads, dance music, swing, r&b, and later in the night we rock. The level of the entire band goes up and down all night depending on the crowd and what song we're playing. Our bass player runs the PA and it's mostly vocals, so I don't have a guy bringing my level up and down when needed. There's no way I could control level from the amp without being too loud or too quiet half the time. My big-ass Ernie Ball volume pedal is essential!

 

[Chill_Billy]

If you place it first in your chain you can reduce the output to your dirt pedals to clean up your sound (if you do that kind of thing) without altering the tone of your pick ups which you would have to turn down in order to get the same effect without the the volume pedal.

..... but get one with a built in buffer if you decide to go for it.

 

[Yossi]

Jimmy Herring sold me on mine.

 

[jsytsma]

I trust my feet more than my fingers to control the volume. It's also an easier physical representation of where the volume is at, whereas my chrome barrels have no indication of where the volume is at.

That, and I haven't been able to accurately replicate proper swells with my volume knob.

 

[jordane93]

Buy one.

 

[Lucky Dog Guitars]

AGREE!... Volume knob for tone changes & very subtle volume changes. A volume pedal allows you to keep your tone in the range that you need it but ride the volume up/down with the song. I will not play a show without a volume pedal... My ability to keep levels/dynamics in good check from song to song is why I say no busy with bands... they are tired of the guy who is just wailing at full volume on every song

IMHO rolling back the volume on the guitar is not the answer for volume control

 

[Raymond Lin]

Thanks guys, I think I will get one. I have space on my board (26x16) so that is not a problem.

Thinking about the Ernie one with JHS mod for $149? Anything else better for the money?

 

[Bobby Wasabi]

When I used one, it was in the amp effects loop, after drives but before delay. When used like this, it is also handy for muting your signal.

 

[crxshdxmmy]

I got this idea, see. It's a real money maker. Sell it to ya's for five dollars. Whaddaya say?

 

[rumbletone]

Totally depends on the rest of the rig and how you would use it:

- after guitar in lieu of volume knob (sometimes necessary for swells if both hands are busy)
- between drive pedals and amp input (different from turning down guitar knob)
- before fx return of amp (in many cases this will sound similar to using the master volume, but in a handy foot controllable form)
- to balance wet signal or second amp
- to control level of parallel fx send (great with parallel delays)

I rarely don't have a footcontrollable volume in at least one place, often more.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Totally depends on the rest of the rig and how you would use it:

- after guitar in lieu of volume knob (sometimes necessary for swells if both hands are busy)
- between drive pedals and amp input (different from turning down guitar knob)
- before fx return of amp (in many cases this will sound similar to using the master volume, but in a handy foot controllable form)
- to balance wet signal or second amp
- to control level of parallel fx send (great with parallel delays)

I rarely don't have a footcontrollable volume in at least one place, often more.

I am thinking about after the drive pedals, before the amp.

or

before fx return of amp.

i guess it requires experimenting .