• From: St. Paul, Minnesota
  • Registered: 2009-04-08
  • Posts: 5

Topic: Volume Pedals

The effects box that I currently own is a Digitech somethingorother with a bunch of different effects settings - the volume of some effects can be adjusted by the connected pedal, the volume for other settings however are not affected by the pedal, the pedal only makes it do weird things like warp the sound or take a certain sound away from the effect (i.e. the surf sound is change from no reverb to high reverb when you press the connected pedal all the way down).

So, in order to be able to better control the volume of the ALL the effects – including the effect in which its volume cannot be controlled by the connected pedal - I picked up a volume pedal: first an Ernie Ball pedal than a Morley one (not the Little Alligator, they didn't have that one)…. And I found them both to be absolute crap.

No sound even comes through until the pedal is pressed at least half way down and there is no fading in or out – the sound cuts in jarringly once the pedal is pressed ~halfway down. They didn't even change an effects’ volume so much as just make the sound dull and muffled until you have the pedal pressed all of the way down where the effect sounds like it is supposed to.

The pedal connected to my Digitech effects box (that only controls the volume of some sounds, remember) controls the volume well: if I need the volume quiet but the sound still full and bright, I just don't have the pedal pressed down far - if I need it louder I press it to the appropriate spot. Why are these pedals not doing the same thing?

Sorry if this doesn't make sense, this wasn't as easy to describe as I thought but I gave it my best shot. Is there a good brand of volume pedal that controls the volume well or are volume pedals a fallacy and a waste of money? Thanks.

  • tandm3
  • Senior Member
  • Offline
  • From: Florida Panhandle
  • Registered: 2006-03-04
  • Posts: 421

Re: Volume Pedals

I've got a Digitech something or other and the "Pedal" controls several parameters. Normally, its a very effective volume pedal.  If you push the toe side all the way down, it changes to perform other functions, wah  and tremelo (wang bar) are the usual options.  This pedal is programmable so it can be set to do a number of things.  Pushing the toe side all the way down again, turns it back in to a volume pedal.. Is there a possibility that you don't need an extra volume pedal?

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  • Registered: 2008-10-02
  • Posts: 192

Re: Volume Pedals

Sometimes volume pedals have an adjustment. You should check your manual for one. Also my old DOD something or other had to calibrated. It had some mode that you went into and pressed it all the way to toe and then all the way to heel and then back to toe. It could also be something like that. I also have a Morley wah that stinks as a wah but is great as a volume pedal.