Advice on volume pedal?? Morley

[mchchef1]

I am about to purchase a Morley Pro series Volume pedal PVO? I have recently learned the big difference between PVO and PLA is that the PLA(linear) is designed to go before Effect Pedals and PVO(audio)Should go directly into the amp?

 

I currently have Dan electro Surf and Turf compressor/sustain > Vox Wah > Tubescreamer > into amp (Fender Deluxe Reverb Twin) I always envisioned the volume pedal being the first pedal in the chain? This means I would want the PLA version? Or volume last in chain, PVO?

 

 

Any Advice??

 

Please!!

[a.miller]

I am about to purchase a Morley Pro series Volume pedal PVO? I have recently learned the big difference between PVO and PLA is that the PLA(linear) is designed to go before Effect Pedals and PVO(audio)Should go directly into the amp?

 

I currently have Dan electro Surf and Turf compressor/sustain > Vox Wah > Tubescreamer > into amp (Fender Deluxe Reverb Twin) I always envisioned the volume pedal being the first pedal in the chain? This means I would want the PLA version? Or volume last in chain, PVO?

Any Advice??

 

Please!!

I have an Ernie Ball Pedal -- it was around $100. It's been great. I have it first in my effects chain. Something I have found out -- volume pedals aren't really that good for modulating your volume in a "little up, little down" sense. They're better for on/off for switching guitars and for doing swells. Not really good for fine adjustments. Just my $.02

 

My board goes --> Volume Pedal --> Dan Electro OD --> Tubescreamer --> Tremolo --> Prunes and Custard --> Fender Blues Reissue Amp.

 

I think (possibly) the only advantage to having your volume at the end of the chain would be to provide your OD pedals with the fullest signal from the guitar; driving it more.

[mchchef1]

Hey, Thanks for your input, I agree with what you are saying. Maybe I should take a step backward. My concern comes from the volume pedal I was about to buy, the "booklet/PDF file" says in bold print not to be used in an effect loop! I have spent a lot of time today on-line looking into this, the first question I need to answer is the difference between an effect "Loop" and an Effect "Chain"? The series of effect boxes we described in a list IS NOT an effect loop, however it is an effect chain?

 

IF this is the case the volume pedal in question should be fine and as you pointed out, first or last would be a matter of choice

 

I know there are know rules for "order you hook your effects up, Conventional Wisdom?

 

 

I did think this was interesting!

 

 

http://www.guitarnoise.com/article.php?id=227

[Atticus]

although my pedals have been closeted for a few years now, I always understood "effects loop" to refer to the output/input jacks directly from the back of the amp, as opposed to the input for the guitar cable. In other words a chain would be guitar-->effects pedals--> amp, and a loop would be guitar-->amp(effects pedals)

[mchchef1]

I agree! therefore I got me my volume pedal!!

Thanks

 

Any more theory on the order you place your pedals and more importantly; Why?

 

Reading Material on the subject?

 

I found this in my "Quest" today

 

 

 

did not buy it but seemed cool

[squarewave]

IMO, the Ernie Ball is a much better built product than the Morley (and I also have owned several Morleys over the years).

 

Many pros mode their pedals (volume and wah) to limit their range. Having all that volume control is not as useful ad having more control (ie: greater resolution) of the range where you would actually use it.

 

There are tons of how-tos on modding pedals, use google.

 

You will find the vol pedal to be useful in modulating gain to a tube rig to get a little clean/dirty action (or dirty/filthy) from the same channel.

[a.miller]

I had a similar question in this thread. Personally, I have all of my pedals running through my pedal board. My guitar plugs into the pedal board and the board plugs into the amp input, where your guitar would go. A nice feature on those Ernie Ball volumed pedals is the tuner out jack. That way you can tune with or without any volume going to the amp, without rising bumping a tuner pedal and cutting your signal while playing.

[mchchef1]

DAMN! I wish you had posted that before I pulled the trigger on my purchase! That makes perfect sense to me (the tuner out jack, that is)

 

As for the effects loop question, again I don't much, but other post in your above mentioned thread seems to indicate the same as my link. Certain effects (delay, chorus, etc.) Good/ others (OD, Distortion, Etc.) Not good? Another good point made more cords= more $ and potential noise. Also, can you run both at the same time, I assume some sort of "splitter" would be involved? What if I wanted to use some effects from both i.e. Delay and OD?

 

MY question in the

[a.miller]

Honestly, I don't think it's that big of a deal. I guess you could run a chain to you amp input:

 

Guitar--> OD pedal --> Amp

 

Then run your other pedals through your effects loop. I assume these would work simultaneously.

 

In terms of having enough cords, I just bought a Boss pedal board that came with all the patch cables to hook all your pedals together and a power supply that will run all of them. It was one of the best $129 I have ever spent. It's the Boss BCB-60.

[Theobscureart]

Depending on how much of a purist or, tone snob, or how big of a liar you are (I'll explain in a sec) most "real players" find an amp's effects loop to be a useless tone sucker. Having said that, there are many fine, respectable, professional guitarists who use the fx loop without a second thought. I personally don't use amps with loops because its just another link in the circuit with the potential to fail or bleed gain or tone from the signal. There are a LOT of guitarists who claim to be able to hear things like fx in an amp's loop; the $50 cable as opposed to the $20 one; the difference in tone between a Duracell battery in a pedal vs an Eveready. While there are some who can tell, most can't. In fact, its been my experience that the bigger an asshole a guy is about things like this, the bigger a liar he is. If you're not making your living as a musician or collector/investor, buy the best that you can AFFORD. I used to run a retail music store and my customers were 15 year old beginners through well-known professionals. My routine was to always put them through a blind sound test (i.e. if a kid wanted to buy the $200 boutique od pedal but only needed the $30 digitech if they could tell the difference, cool. But they never - literally NEVER could.) My goal wasn't to put the store owner out of business. In fact, I usually had the customer for life because I was honest about the gear. Then there's the issue of what's COOL to play. I'm as guilty as anyone. You gotta play what you want and what you can afford, and not be an asshole about it.

 

Wow... I really went off there. Sorry to get so far off topic. I work for PRS and my fingers hurt from fretting and sanding a bunch the new West Street Santana necks today... I tried to type my way through the pain and I ended up ranting about my anger with gear-snobbish-assholes! My bad.

 

Anyhoo...

 

As far as placement, it depends on what you'll be using the volume pedal for: If you're using as a functional mute, you'll want it at the end of the chain. If you're using it for dynamics, put it at the beginning or before any time-based effects (delay, reverb, chorus.) I personally put mine after everything but my delay and reverb. This allows the wet (effected) signal to trail off while everything before the vol. pedal is muted/adjusted. This is what Nels does, for example when he's going for a pedal steel sound, and in my opinion, gives a very natural overall sound to your signal by not effecting everything at once by allowing you to smoothly transition between notes. Bottom line: Experiment with EVERYTHING when it comes to fx placement/order. You'd be amazed at how much your sound might change if you are, for example, overdriving your phaser rather than phasing your overdrive.

 

As for the volume pedal itself, Ernie Ball has become the gold standard because they seem to be more solidly built than many others. If you really wanna go for the gusto, go for what the old school pedal steel guys use- an old ShoBud or Chandler pedal. Expensive as nuts, but the range is very fine-adjustable and there is very little noise or tone sucking as associated with many (if not MOST) Vol pedals on the market. But, having said THAT, there are again many fine, respectable, professional players who use a $15 Bespeco pedal and sound just fine. Se la vie.