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Xotic volume pedals.


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Looks cool surfergirl. I used a volume pedal for a while when I had the Gibson Les Paul and the Gibson SG, Only because of the control placement on those two guitars. When I sold those I had no use for a volume pedal so I took it out of my pedal-board. I only used it for those Roy Buchanan volume swells with the LP and SG since I could not reach the volume controls on those guitars well enough to do the volume swells. The Strat clone, the homemade parts-caster, and the Ibanez RG321 all have reachable volume controls so I no longer need the volume pedal (It is around here in the house or shed somewhere). Mine is a JIm Dunlop Volume pedal, probably an older model from 10 years ago or so.
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Those Volume pedals look very nice SurferGirl...I don't use volume pedals anymore. They are not bad when sitting but I don't care to work them standing up. I use a clean boost instead (Boss CP1x Compressor) if I use a pedal. Thus I can set my guitar volumes where I want it. Mellow in the up position, blend of mellow and bright in the middle and lots of twang in the down position of the 3-way. Then my rhythm guitar is set the way I want it and I kick in the boost for lead and then kick it back to my normal setting without having to adjust my guitar volumes. I can also just use the volume controls on the guitar if I decide to leave the pedal at home. Having the on/off volume works well for me as I never get back to where I want my setting as quick and accurate when using a volume pedal. For volume swells they can come in very handy...I just never practiced enough with mine and gave up on it. Hope you have good luck with the one you are looking at. :cool:
Take care, Larryz
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$150 is a little high for a Volume Pedal,, but Xotic makes very good gear. Boss and Ernie Ball also make good Volume Pedals, with metal enclosures, for slightly less, and they're more likely to be available at your nearest GC.

 

Quick word of warning: place your Volume Pedal after your Compressor in the signal chain, otherwise, the Compressor will try to boost any little noise that it hears from the Volume Pedal. Imagine pressing down on your Volume Pedal, and hearing a "creaky door" sound that belongs in a horror movie.

 

Couple of optimum placements for a Volume Pedal -

 

First up, right after your Guitar, before any other effects. Good for overall Volume control, and "Swell" effects. (Pull back on the Volume Pedal, hit a note, then push down.)

 

Second is right before your Delay and Reverb effects, but after your Modulation effects. This is nice for the end of a tune, or even a lead riff, where the Guitar signal dies back, but the echoes trail off.

 

Third, between your effects and your Amp. In this position, it works for overall Volume, but it also doubles as an emergency Shut-Up! control, in case of feedback or runaway effects.

 

 

"Monsters are real, and Ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Stephen King

 

http://www.novparolo.com

 

https://thewinstonpsmithproject.bandcamp.com

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If you get one of those get the 250 unless you are sure you will put it in the effects loop and keep it there. The 25k model won"t work well before the amp.

 

250 K is good on typical Fender single coil guitars. Sometimes 250k don"t work so well on hot humbucker loaded guitars. 250K Ernie Ball pedal kill the highs on humbuckers when you pull back on the volume but ... I have played the cheap 250k Fender volume pedal and it works great. It probably has a treble bleed circuit or something.

 

Learning to restring a Ernie Ball or Goodrich volume is a pain. I think the Exotic would be cool.

 

At $150 it may be worth looking at optical volume pedals. There is no pot to go scratchy on the optical pedals. Other than Hiltons I don"t know what is available in optical volume pedals. You do not want (need) to spend the money for a Hilton or Goodrich if you aren"t a steel player. For convenience on my small board I use the 500K DOD mini.

"It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne

 

"A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!!

So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt

 

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Whichever volume-pedal you go with, try your fuzzes after it and before it; some fuzzes and other 'vintage-style' pedals don't work well with some volume-pedals in front of their inputs, particularly active, powered volume-pedals. Experiment!

 

Also, volume-swells before echo and reverb can be really, REALLY cool. :cool: You can also make seagull sounds that way. Lots of potential, lots of fun!

 

Now, I have tried- and own, and have been completely delighted with for a good decade now (ESPECIALLY for TEN BUCKS used!) an old Rockman RV-1 Volume (Michalik design/Czech republic, nothing to do with Tom Scholz' co. or products), which uses an optical circuit instead of a potentiometer. I have used it to clean-up and kick-up tube-amps for that dynamic "play the amp" approach to varying from clean to mean to scream to "beam me up, Scotty". It's my favorite volume-pedal and unless I find a need for a passive volume-pedal, I don't imagine ever looking for another.

 

Note- optical based designs will NOT get scratchy or static-y the way designs with potentiometers, "pots", can, do, and will...

It is a VERY smooth, clean, quiet, transparent, unobtrusive volume-pedal, and it is fairly compact, as well, particularly for a volume-pedal.

 

They are no longer in production as far as I know; but the good news is that they can be found dirt cheap; I believe their going-rate averaged around $35 when I got mine one Summer years ago for a ten-spot. I believe that George Dennis is the current incarnation of the brand and should be of very high quality...

 

_____________ (Here's one wrapped in plastic) http://files.effectsdatabase.com/gear/thumbs/rockman_rv-1_001.jpg

 

The bad news (that's really not so bad) is that it uses an oddball sized jack for external 9v power-supplies, which is also pin-positive. It wouldn't be too hard to replace the jack and reverse its polarity by one means or 'nother, but I simply used a 9v battery snap-cap adapter with a standard PS jack on the other end, fed through the hole where the oddball jack was, which is now taped-off and secured inside the case.

 

 

 

$150 is a little high for a Volume Pedal,, but Xotic makes very good gear. Boss and Ernie Ball also make good Volume Pedals, with metal enclosures, for slightly less, and they're more likely to be available at your nearest GC.

 

Quick word of warning: place your Volume Pedal after your Compressor in the signal chain, otherwise, the Compressor will try to boost any little noise that it hears from the Volume Pedal. Imagine pressing down on your Volume Pedal, and hearing a "creaky door" sound that belongs in a horror movie.

 

Ya make that sound like a bad thing, Winston... ;) Might be fun! :rawk::eek::freak::D

 

Couple of optimum placements for a Volume Pedal -

 

First up, right after your Guitar, before any other effects. Good for overall Volume control, and "Swell" effects. (Pull back on the Volume Pedal, hit a note, then push down.)

 

Second is right before your Delay and Reverb effects, but after your Modulation effects. This is nice for the end of a tune, or even a lead riff, where the Guitar signal dies back, but the echoes trail off.

 

Third, between your effects and your Amp. In this position, it works for overall Volume, but it also doubles as an emergency Shut-Up! control, in case of feedback or runaway effects.

 

As usual and to be expected, all very, very solid, useful, and insightful observations, Sir.

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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I wasn't really looking for a volume pedal, this one showed up in my inbox. I've always just used the volume knob on my Strat, and that's worked for me. If I do decide to get one in the future I look at some of the recommendations. I have a few things that take priority over any music related purchases.
Jenny S.
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I use the volume knob a lot. It changes your tone from clean to dirty as it changes how your drive your dirt pedals. I use the volume pedal at the end of my board a lot. It changes the volume without changing your tone. That is the huge difference.

"It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne

 

"A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!!

So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt

 

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CEB speaks the truth about using the Volume Knob on your Guitar. Even with a clean signal chain, it can still alter your tone. A common trick for Gibson players is to dial the Volume just back to 9, to roll off some high end response. I do it with my SG's.

"Monsters are real, and Ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Stephen King

 

http://www.novparolo.com

 

https://thewinstonpsmithproject.bandcamp.com

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I roll my LP off to about 7 (along with all of my humbucker equipped guitars with the 2 volume 2 tone knob wiring). I usually use the tone knobs on full treble but I like to have volume on reserve especially on the front pup so I can dial it up when needed. The middle position is adjusted for blending with the bridge pup which can still stand on it's own if called upon. Joe Bonamassa does a cool little video on not neglecting to use the controls that the guitar provides without the pedals:

 

[video:youtube]

 

:cool:

Take care, Larryz
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I like to use my guitar's volume-controls to vary from cleaner to meaner overdrive and distortion rones with a cranked tube-amp. I actually like the bit of subtle treble roll-off that occurs that way; if for any reason I desire a brighter, clearer tone from volume roll-back, I'll use my volume pedal- the optical-circuit based one that I described above here- it certainly delivers on that front! It also allows me to sculpt volume-swells and gain-control with greater surgical precision than my guitar's volume-knobs or my VFE BumbleBee 'auto-swell' pedal.

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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  • 3 months later...

Update: I was incorrect above, regarding the George Dennis volume pedals being the current incarnation of the old Rockman RV-1 Volume (Michalík Design, made in the Czech republic, distributed years ago by Dunlop). The current incarnation of that pedal is the Michalík Volume Mono Pedal.

 

If it's anything like the old Rockman RV-1 Volume pedal that I have, I'd highly recommend it to anyone that could use an active/powered volume-pedal! (It may or may not work well in front of vintage-style fuzzes, treble boosters, and the like.) I apologize for any confusion and inconvenience!

 

volume_mono2.jpeg

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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