Volume pedal question...

[walterw]

Originally Posted by smeet

I have one of the new Dunlops (the huge one) and it works fine, taper is weird at the high end.

lemme guess, you get a big jump right at the top?

that's what happens with 250k pedals after buffered (active) signals, the sweep is compromised.

trouble is, before the buffer, the 250k pedal sucks tone.

that's why i recommend a 25k pedal, but only after the buffer.

(active pedals put the buffer right inside, so it's not a question anymore.)

[Gmclachlan]

Originally Posted by Bassist30

Sounds interesting. Im in the market of getting a good volume pedal. I myself always find that a looper ( The kind that switches pedals on and off) as the way to go with me. I dont worry about True By pass or whatever the pedals out functions. But with a volume pedal I am thinking it to be out of the loop (pun intended), so i am looking for the cleanest possible volume pedal i can get. I have an active bass but at times i do use passive. Would this pedal cause problems?

I don't think there is any issue from active vs. passive basses with any volume pedal, except the level difference you would get anyway. Maybe someone else has more info on that. Here's the link to Thru-Tone EB mod:
http://www.thru-tone.com/Ernie_Ball_Mod.html
and here's what has to say about the standard EB...
" The Ernie Ball Volume Pedal is the most simplistic, yet solid and smoothest volume pedal ever created. Though, it’s shortcomings arrive with the fact that it is completely passive. The design places a 250k volume pot at your foot, which is just like wiring another paralleled pot in your guitar, and naturally causes some high end loss. This is small compared to the damage you cause your sound if you use the Tuner Out jack. The Tuner Out is wired in parallel off the Input and because of this design being passive you are splitting your impedance load in half. What that means, audibly, is a major hit in clarity, fullness, and power in your original signal"
I was looking for a replacement for a Hilton optical pedal and really like the sweep of the EB's I've had in the past, but ultimately got a Goodrich. Expensive, but the modded EB is in that ballpark anyway. The guy I play with has the big Dunlop, and truthfully you get used to the steep taper at the end. But I could see it being a dealbreaker for some.

[Bob_Ross]

Originally Posted by Gmclachlan

I was looking for a replacement for a Hilton optical pedal and really like the sweep of the EB's I've had in the past, but ultimately got a Goodrich.

Best.
Volume pedal.
Ever.


Actually, I didn't realize Goodrich was still in business! But some 25 or 30 years ago I got turned on to them by the pedal steel players that would come into my studio, and at that time the Goodrich was so superior to anything else available it wasn't even funny.

Since then I've checked out nearly every volume pedal that's been brought to market, and even with the really swanky ones I always find myself thinking "...yeah, but it's not a Goodrich."

[Bassist30]

Originally Posted by walterw

tuner outs are evil, do not use them!

you want the 25k pedal, and you want to keep it after a buffered or always-on effect. 250k pedals will suck tone before any buffers and have a bad sweep after them.

(Gmclachlan beat me to thru-tone for modding Ernie ball pedals to active, so they work right no matter where you run them.)

The new ones have a blue light. I am taking it that if I did get a used one without the blue light, there would be no difference in quality and functions.

[smeet]

Originally Posted by walterw

lemme guess, you get a big jump right at the top?

that's what happens with 250k pedals after buffered (active) signals, the sweep is compromised.

trouble is, before the buffer, the 250k pedal sucks tone.

that's why i recommend a 25k pedal, but only after the buffer.

(active pedals put the buffer right inside, so it's not a question anymore.)

Yeah, it's the bump at the top.
Can I just replace the pot in the Dunlop with a 25k pot and all will be well? Or is it not that simple?

[Cloverfield]

After some further reading (and some great feedback from you guys as well, of course!), I'm definitely going to go either the Thru-Tone modded EB VP Jr. route or just splurge and get a Goodrich or a Hilton Electronics volume pedal. No tone loss is important to me.

I assume any and all of these options will function equally well whether I happen to be using an active or a passive bass? (I ask because I regularly use both, and I don't want to invest a hefty chunk of change in a top-of-the-line volume pedal if it doesn't work well with all my instruments.)

[blacklariat09]

I picked up a Morley - it's actually being shipped now - but I couldn't use the EBVP Jr with my active - the tone suck was brutal. Everything I have read on this Morley Optical is good though so I am going to give it a try.

No pot to wear out or suck tone.