Ernie Ball Volume Pedal Jr

[blastjv]

Hi,

If I wanted to get one of these to use at the END of my pedal chain, and I have an OD pedal ALWAYS ON at the START of my chain, would I want to use the 250k Passive, or the 25k Active one???

So, basically, does the buffer in other pedals before it mean that you'd want to use the active version if you're placing the volume pedal at the end of the chain?


-John

[Ba55Man1ac]

Yeah go the 25k, although either would do the job.

[blastjv]

What would be the disadvantage of either?

Also, how transparent are these? (both in theory and in reality)


-John

[blastjv]

Anyone?

[Mingus Addict]

I hesitated to answer this because I believe this is an issue of impedance and to TBH, impedance has always been a bit confusing to me. This is my understanding though, so someone smarter correct me if I'm wrong.

If you use the 25K volume pedal with a passive (high impedance) signal, you'll have problems with losing frequency range, particularly in the high end.

If you use the 250K volume pedal with an active (low impedance) signal, the sweep of the pedal will be negatively affected.

In your situation I would say definitely get the 25K pedal. The output of your activated OD pedal is most certainly low impedance.

If you want to understand more about the 'why' I would say google impedance matching/mismatching.

[osd]

In the OP's scenario, if he puts the OD pedal on bypass, will the 25k volume pedal still function correctly?

[blastjv]

That's my concern. Currently, I always have it on, but I wouldn't want to hamstring myself if I that changes down the road. Though, I guess I should get whatever's best for my current setup, and if that changes I'll sell that volume pedal and get whichever kind would work better with whatever changes I may make...I'd rather do that than compromise function with my current setup.

-John

[Mingus Addict]

It's hard for me to answer this for you. If you mismatch the impedance going into the pedal you're going to get some high end tone suck (which may or not be very noticeable in your case) and/or the sweep of the volume pedal will feel very abrupt. I'm basically repeating myself here. Depending on the situation these problems may not matter much.

Also, the always on OD pedal may not be the only buffer in your chain. If you have an active bass, or a pedal that is not true bypass, that should keep the impedance feeding the volume pedal low, and you should have ideal operation of the VP.

If you want to have one passive volume pedal, and you want to make sure it always works optimally, I think the best way to do that is to get the 25K model, and always make sure you have a buffer in before it. You can do this by always having your OD on, or you can get another buffer in the mix if you want the option of turning the OD off sometimes. You could use a simple clean boost pedal that's always on, or just use something like this, http://www.cmatmods.com/buffer.html

It's a good idea to have a quality always on buffer in your chain anyway.

[blastjv]

You're right. When I think about it, my main use would be with volume swells while using distortion.

Just learned that a dude that shares our practice space has a EB Volume pedal. Not sure which version (active or passive), but I'll mess with his and see what's what.


-John