Volume Pedal

[Azrehan]

Hey guys.

I am putting a deposit on a MarkV on Friday and need some advice on a volume pedal. I am looking at the Ernie Ball pedals and noticed that they do
25K and 250K resistance pedals. I want to run the vol pedal in the effects loop after the preamp if possible. I am just unsure on which one I need as I have both active and passive pickups in my guitar. I am upgrading from Ibanez V pickups to DiMarzio super distortion and PAFpro and have a ceramic piezo pickup in my bridge for acoustic sounds.

Any advice?

Here are the pedals...

http://www.ernieball.com/products/category-534-Volume-Pedals

 

[MrMarkIII]

If you are running the volume pedal in the effects loop, you want the low (25K) impedance pedal. Type of pickup shouldn't matter. I use the Morley Alligator and it's great having a foot-controllable master volume.

 

[Puerco-araña]

At the risk of sounding like a complete idiot...

Could someone please tell me what the cons would be in running a 250k resistance volume pedal in the loop of this amp? I have the 250k version of the pedal and plan to use it when my Mark V head arrives, but I wasn't aware there would be an issue in doing this.

Thanks.

 

[Octavarius]

At the risk of sounding like a complete idiot...

Could someone please tell me what the cons would be in running a 250k resistance volume pedal in the loop of this amp? I have the 250k version of the pedal and plan to use it when my Mark V head arrives, but I wasn't aware there would be an issue in doing this.

Thanks.

There isn't any issue, it's just that it won't function properly when mismatched (250k in the loop or 25k after passive pickups); the sweep of the pedal will be uneven. For instance, a 250k in the loop will have a very gradual sweep at the start of the travel from heel down and after 3/4 travel or so it'll suddenly boost extremely at the last part. As a volume pedal it just won't 'feel' right.

Active or passive pickups only matter when the volume pedal is right after the guitar. If you place it after a buffer (non-true bypass pedal, for instance), you'll want a 25k there as well as in the loop.

As for the difference between 250k infront of the amp and 25k in the loop, there's virtually none, except that when doing swells with high gain, the 250k infront will act the same way as your guitar volume; cleaning up the dirt when rolled off. The swells usually sound good when the pedal acts like a master volume, without changing the gain characteristics of the tone along it's travel. So for the Petrucci type swells a 25k in the loop is the key, with delay/reverb placed after the volume pedal (so that the pedal won't cut the effect trails when muting the guitar/input signal).

 

[Puerco-araña]

Dang... well, thank you very much for the explanation. Now I have to see if I can trade the one I have for one that's 25k, cuz now that you mention it, I have noticed how the volume doesn't increase gradually. I just figured it's how the pedal worked. I guess that's what I get for asking for advise at Guitar Center.

I saw that they sell the different Potentiometers on Ernie Ball's site... would swapping those out be fairly easy?

 

[mesadude]

Question here. Why would one want to use a volume pedal in the EFX loop, instead of between the guitar and amp input?

Sorry, just not familiar with this technique.
Thanks,
MeZadude 8)

 

[Puerco-araña]

The reason I use it in the loop is because when I do volume swells, I like the amount of gain to remain the same throughout the volume sweep... as opposed to the decrease in gain you get by only lowering the guitar signal being fed to the amp if you were to run it in front.

Also, and this might just be a mental thing, but I think the delay/reverb decays a bit nicer after you've completely lowered the volume –when the pedal is in the loop.

 

[mesadude]

The reason I use it in the loop is because when I do volume swells, I like the amount of gain to remain the same throughout the volume sweep... as opposed to the decrease in gain you get by only lowering the guitar signal being fed to the amp if you were to run it in front.

Also, and this might just be a mental thing, but I think the delay/reverb decays a bit nicer after you've completely lowered the volume –when the pedal is in the loop.

Interesting, thanks. I'd never thought about using a pedal in the loop. Good points. I'll have to try it sometime.

MeZa 8)

 

[Azrehan]

Dang... well, thank you very much for the explanation. Now I have to see if I can trade the one I have for one that's 25k, cuz now that you mention it, I have noticed how the volume doesn't increase gradually. I just figured it's how the pedal worked. I guess that's what I get for asking for advise at Guitar Center.

I saw that they sell the different Potentiometers on Ernie Ball's site... would swapping those out be fairly easy?

I think it would be a red wire to red wire, green wire to green wire sort of solder job. Just take a pic before you disconnect the wires so that you know where **** goes. I pull apart electronics a fair bit doing product design and guarantee it will save you a lot of hassles.

 

[Azrehan]

The reason I use it in the loop is because when I do volume swells, I like the amount of gain to remain the same throughout the volume sweep... as opposed to the decrease in gain you get by only lowering the guitar signal being fed to the amp if you were to run it in front.

Also, and this might just be a mental thing, but I think the delay/reverb decays a bit nicer after you've completely lowered the volume –when the pedal is in the loop.

Interesting, thanks. I'd never thought about using a pedal in the loop. Good points. I'll have to try it sometime.

MeZa 8)

This is why I want to put it in the loop,. That way you can fade out but stay high gain. Very good for creating dynamics in your music.

 

[iFreedom]

The reason I use it in the loop is because when I do volume swells, I like the amount of gain to remain the same throughout the volume sweep... as opposed to the decrease in gain you get by only lowering the guitar signal being fed to the amp if you were to run it in front.

Also, and this might just be a mental thing, but I think the delay/reverb decays a bit nicer after you've completely lowered the volume –when the pedal is in the loop.

Interesting, thanks. I'd never thought about using a pedal in the loop. Good points. I'll have to try it sometime.

MeZa 8)

This is why I want to put it in the loop,. That way you can fade out but stay high gain. Very good for creating dynamics in your music.

Too cool! I didn't know that either. Wholly leper messiah batman.