Volume pedals?

[martyn]

I've been looking at the various types for sale on the well known auction site as a guide to what's around and new prices can vary from £17 to well over £150 or so.
I'm no techie, but given they mostly appear to be a volume pot with a pivoting mechanical linkage pedal to operate it, I can't fathom why the prices can vary so massively. Some are metal and others plastic - I can see why the metal would be more logical from the wear/tear aspect and some require power whilst others don't and given I'd just want to increase/decrease levels smoothly, which I can't imagine is too technically challenging (unless I'm missing something ), I wondered why the huge price variations?

More importantly, do many of you own one and if so, which of them are considered the best and which should be avoided?

I know two past owners of the Fender shiny metal one (about £65) who experienced problems that required replacement parts or even entire units so this hasn't inspired me with much confidence in that product .

Help required here, methinks . . .

Cheers,
Martyn

[sheendigs]

Hi Martyn
I use to have a Schaller pedal..but the scratchyness I had with a mechanical potentiometer did not attract me.
I use a George Denis pedal and what a difference..!
It is an electro-optical design..so no noise at all, since there is not a potentiometer (GD20)..have a look at the following link, and they are not expensive as other companies..
www.europeanmusical.com/GD/effects/GD_pedals.html
You could also read on how to choose a volume pedal:
www.therealmusician.com/guitar-volume-pedal-1.html
Sheendigs

[26rednef]

Hi.

You are correct the price setting for products in this area is a not easy to understand but the correct price is what costumers are willing to pay and in most cases it seams to to be a lot.

I use a Vox 850 it is a passive pedal = just a pot, and it is OK. The price is average ~45 £ .

Kind Regards,
26rednef

[Rick]

Hi, ............ I have used a Morley volume for the last 20 years,I have it permanently powered up on my pedalboard along with a few effects pedals,I bought it new originally for around £50 something pounds i think.Of course they will be a touch more expensive now but,I have not had ONE problem with it,no raspiness,no noise or scratchy stuff and a nine volt battery if you dont use a power supply will last for months ! ............ one of the best purchases that i ever made. Best wishes, Rick.

[93strat]

Hi Martyn.
I use a Boss FV300H Great pedal. I also have a George Dennis Volume/Tremolo. Great tremolo but not real fussed on the volume.
If you can find a Boss FV300 H. I would personally recommend that.
Cheers alex

[DaveC]

Hi Martyn,

I've had a Morley PWF (that's Power-Wah-Fuzz) for almost 40 years and it still works perfectly. It's mains powered and uses something other than a carbon potentiometer (I think it may be optical or a Hall Effect transistor). The trouble is that it's not only built like a main battle tank, but it's nearly as big as one and weighs about the same.

Only this week I started looking around for something smaller and immediately ran into the same problems as you.

Firstly, build quality obviously adds to the price (and the size and weight) and a carbon potentiometer is a source of wear. This inclines me towards an optical system, which would be active.

Also reading around I find that any passive system can be a source of "tone suck" (no, I don't know what it means either).

The input impedance needs to match the guitar --- 25kOhms for active pickups and 250kOhms for passive pickups (I think I've got that the right way round) and I've been unable to find a passive unit that can cope with both.

So I've finally opted for this one:

www.morleypedals.com/dmmv.html

I'll let you know how it performs.

Regards
DaveC

[shadfan4]

I use the Boss FV-500H like a lot of people here. It's built like a tank and so far no probs after 3-4 years service.

Mike.

[martyn]

Thanks for the replies and with so many alternatives to choose from. I also see the Ernie Ball pedals quite highly rated on the net - bit of a price hike but it would appear some of the price issues are down to big name brands carrying an added premium.

I'll do some reading up on the pedals you've suggested.

Cheers,
Martyn

[Graylion]

I'm no expert but I know you're best using an active pedal because a passive, simple pot will cut the treble as you lower the volume. OK if that's what you want though. I guess that's what they mean by "tone suck". Guitars are the same if controls are passive.
Lionel

[martyn]

After a lot of debating this and that pedal, I started to think about how often I'm likely to use one. There really aren't too many tunes where I'll use it - just a few, so I decided it wasn't worth spending lots of money on something that would be used only occasionally.

So, working on the 'Cost Per Wearing' - as my little acid drop says when she's debating the merits of cheap or expensive shoes, I spotted a passive 'GuitarMan' volume pedal on the well known auction site and decided that a BuyItNow price of £16.50 incl. postage was worth a punt. The seller said he'd been using it on his own pedal board gigging setup and assured me it was smooth and quiet, which it is.

It doesn't look as though it's seen a hard life, its action is very smooth and there's no obvious loss of treble - to be honest I wouldn't have been too bothered if it did lose a little top end for the type of tunes I'd want to employ it on, but so far so good. If it falls to bits in a year's time it will still have been worth the small outlay, but although a mix of plastic and metal, it's compact and seems relatively sturdy so I'm not anticipating it self destructing soon. Only time will tell.

Regarding the tone suck thing, I gathered from various YouTube videos that this was generally an issue with pedals that also had a built-in tuner whereby that socket's workings drained some of the oomph from the innards. This one has no such luxurious fripperies so maybe that's why it doesn't suffer the same problem?
I know nothing of the make but as long as it works I'm not really bothered where it originated.

Cheers,
Martyn