Volume Pedal

[a.miller]

Hey everyone, I have some more pedal questions, this time involving volume pedals. I was wondering how necessary an active pedal is over a passive one. For instance, if I want to use it with my acoustic guitar live, using an active pickup, will the pedal still do the job if I use it for electric guitar (passive) / recording? I need versatility. I was thinking one of the "Jr" pedals that Ernie Ball makes. Suggestions would be great. Thanks in advance.

[Theobscureart]

I think the passive and active models are about the same price, but I've never had any problem with my passive stereo Ernie Ball volume pedals. All a volume pedal does is take a potentiometer (or knob - to oversimplify ALOT) and put it on the floor. The difference between the 2 is that the active unit has a lower impedence pot in it (25k as opposed to 250k ohm I believe) which supposedly allows for the hotter signal of active pickups and gear to get through more cleanly. But like I said, I've had the same pedal for over 10 years and I go in out of a lot of pedals, guitars, and rack stuff as the gig needs- the only constant is the Ernie Ball stereo volume pedal. I just hit it with some contact cleaner every 6 months when it gets a little noisy and thats it. Deffinately go with one of these or better - NOT cheaper. Anything less expensive than the JR. will not have enough play (meaning the sound jumps when you rock the pedal) Now go rock out with your cock out! (And then, to add some ambience, experiment with effect placement before and after your volume pedal) AND THEN ROCK OUT SOME MORE! (But this time, keep it in your pants, will ya?)

Edited April 5, 2006 by Theobscureart

[jhc]

Hey everyone, I have some more pedal questions, this time involving volume pedals. I was wondering how necessary an active pedal is over a passive one. For instance, if I want to use it with my acoustic guitar live, using an active pickup, will the pedal still do the job if I use it for electric guitar (passive) / recording? I need versatility. I was thinking one of the "Jr" pedals that Ernie Ball makes. Suggestions would be great. Thanks in advance.

 

Passive is fine, unless you need the pedal to boost, rather than cut, you volume. The VP Jr. works great - I have one. There is a difference in the resistances though - the 250K is meant for passive pickups, the 25K for active pickups. The EB website says this:

 

"Whenever there is a passive signal leading into an EB pedal, the 250K or 500K pedal is recommended (mono VP & VPJR 250K and stereo 500K VP pedals available). Whenever there is an active signal (powered preamp, powered pedal, effects loop, etc.) leading into an EB pedal, the 25K pot is recommended (stereo VP and mono VPJR pedals available). If an active signal is placed before a 250K or 500K EB pedal, or if a passive signal is placed before a 25K EB pedal, then the consequence may be that the swell of the pedal does not act as designed. Either way, as stated above, try whatever combination you desire, and determine if it works for you. All of our volume pedals are designed to be as transparent as possible in a signal chain. However, whenever you add any component to a signal chain, the signal will change whether it is audible or not. "

 

I've used the 250K version directly after my guitar with passive pickups, and also at the end of my pedal chain (where a 25K version should ideally go) with no problems. I would guess that a 250K version should work for both your acoustic and electric, though there might be something weird with the sweep when using the acoustic. If all you want it for is to mute the volume however, I don't think it would matter one bit,

[a.miller]

If all you want it for is to mute the volume however, I don't think it would matter one bit,

I was hoping to accomplish some swells, along with delay, etc. I was also hoping to accomplish some of the live applications that Jeff has in his solo shows, using the "fade in" of a really deep reverb. I also should have asked if stereo or mono was important. I don't anticipate needing stereo if it is just going into a guitar amp, or PA, or a recording unit. Thanks for the feedback.

[Theobscureart]

The simplest thing to do is to place all of your time-based effects (reverb, delay, et al) AFTER the volume pedal. This allows the effected signal to trail off while the signal from your guitar is muted. This can give you some cool pedal steel sounding tones as well. Other than that, you'll have to get a bit more ambitious... Jeff's rig has something like 3 expression pedals (I'm going by both speculation and from what i can recall from earlier posts and in the Book) that are essentially wired into his delay/reverb/pitch shiter pedals (whatever its needed for- I don't recall) to control a specific parameter. To get what I'm assuming you're talking about in his solo shows from a few years ago, you need to find a way to control the MIX and/or FEEDBACK parameters of an analog delay pedal. The best way to do that (or the best, cheapest way I've found; and what I DO) is to do one or both of these things:

 

1) Use a digital fx processor a la the POD. I use a Johnson J-Station. They don't make 'em anymore, but you can pick one up for about $80 now and the optional J-8 floorboard gives you tons of control. I use the expression pedal on the J-8 for delay feedback all the time. You can also get neat full-band Spiders kinda stuff by letting the pedal control the pitch shifter. Bottom line: there are tons of processors out there from cheap to high-octane. Just find one that lets you assign the expression pedal to the effect parameter you need.

 

2) Get a Tone In Progress (TIP) 3rd Hand pedal. These things are nuts. I now have 5 of 'em and I re-label and tinker til the cows come home. It's an expression pedal with a long tube coming out of it that connects to any knob of any effect and you can basically turn the knob as you rock the pedal. Its friggin' sweet. Check it out.

 

Hope this long-winded horseshit helped!