Do I have a 25k or 250k Ernie Ball VP Jr.?

circuitspore · #1 08-30-2010, 07:26 PM

I picked up a used VP Jr. at the local GC. Wasn't until later that I found out there were two versions of the pedal. I emailed EB customer service, they said to check the UPC number on the bottom of the pedal. The last digit corresponds to the type - 0 is 250k, 1 is 25k.

Well....just my luck, the previous owner attempted to get the UPC sticker off. They failed miserably, and only managed to tear off the last number of the UPC code. Grrrr......

So my question for the electronics-inclined folks here: Is there any way to tell (using a multimeter, for instance) whether the pot in my VP Jr. is 25k or 250k?

Ayliffe · #2 08-30-2010, 07:33 PM

May i ask what the difference is? Just out of curiosity.

circuitspore · #3 08-30-2010, 07:54 PM

Supposedly the 25k pedal is meant for keyboards and line-level signals, whereas the 250k is more for guitars/basses and instrument-level signals. Or so I hear.

Taylor Livingston · #4 08-30-2010, 08:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by circuitspore

Is there any way to tell (using a multimeter, for instance) whether the pot in my VP Jr. is 25k or 250k?

Yep, this is just the sort of thing multimeters are for. Set your MM to the 2M resistance setting, and put one probe on one outer lug, the other on the other. If you see something around .025, you have the 25k. If you see something around .250, well you get it.

Deepak · #5 08-30-2010, 09:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by circuitspore

Supposedly the 25k pedal is meant for keyboards and line-level signals, whereas the 250k is more for guitars/basses and instrument-level signals. Or so I hear.

Passive instruments use the 250k.

Active, or passive with a buffer in front of the volume pedal should use 25k.

judas jedermann · #6 08-31-2010, 01:20 AM

I have them both. My 25K pedal looks like this:
http://www.makenmusic.com/productImg...ll_VPJR25k.jpg

So I guess it should be quite easy to say if the pedal is 25K.

BillyIVbass · #7 08-31-2010, 01:41 AM

Yes, I'm almost certain all of the 25k say 25k like in the one pictured above. So if your's does not, it's a 250.

Same thing happened to me. If you take them apart (may need to, to change the string or pot someday) it says on the pot itself.

circuitspore · #8 08-31-2010, 05:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deepak

Active, or passive with a buffer in front of the volume pedal should use 25k.

So, if I'm interpreting this right, the 250k pedal should only be used before effects? And the 25k should only be used at any point in your signal chain that is after an effect?

Jonyak · #9 08-31-2010, 06:17 AM

or you could just look at the pot in the pedal, it should have its value written on it.

Deepak · #10 08-31-2010, 08:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by circuitspore

So, if I'm interpreting this right, the 250k pedal should only be used before effects? And the 25k should only be used at any point in your signal chain that is after an effect?

Not necessarily. If the pedal is true-bypass then there wouldn't be a buffer in the chain so a passive bass couldn't make use of the 25k. The 250k should still work fine after a buffer or with active bass, I haven't tried that personally so don't quote me on it, but the 250k pedal can't be used on anything that cannot drive a high impedance input.

Another consideration is that low impedance pedals often can be used as expression pedals while high impedance pedals usually lack this feature.

walterw · #11 08-31-2010, 08:11 PM

the 25k pedal must be sent an active signal or it will choke down the tone.

the 250k pedal might slightly darken a passive signal. it won't do that to an active signal, but the sweep will be uneven, acting more like an on-off switch.

(personally, i see little use for the 250k pedal; it can still affect the tone of passive signal, and will have a bad sweep with active signal. the 25k when used after an active buffer will have a more even sweep and shouldn't change the tone.)