Volume Pedals Redoux

[mesmithnm]

This is my first post - just recently joined talkbass and I've found tons of good info, but when I tried to follow the newbie link to volume pedals and DB, it was dead - so, I'll just ask again. Is it practical to use a volume pedal when my signal chain consists of either Underwood (on my carved German bass) or Realist (on my Kay) directly into the passive (1meg) input on my iAmp 600? Will the pedal mess with the input impedance in unpleasant ways? And, if it is practical, any suggestions for a good volume pedal? Thanks for any advice!

Mark

[Larry Holloway]

I'm still kicking myself for selling my old Ernie Ball 'Tank'. It was the only volume pedal I found that didn't effect the impedance match on any of the passive pickups. It weighed more than my amp! Not really, but it was an extra piece of heavy gear I didn't want to carry. I've tried all the new Ernie Ball pedals and most of the other brands. Even the the Ernie Ball Jr. designed for passive pickups (250 ohm pot) effects the send. I don't know if it's because of the 'tuner out', maybe different pots, or combination of, but they drop the send from the passive pickups drastically. My old tank had no 'tuner out' & a knob to adjust sensitivity. All on the right side. In & out said: 'amp' & 'instrument'. I'm not an electronics expert, but someone suggested to me that on several volume pedals the pot could easily be changed out to one that matches the impedance of passive pickups. I've been curious about that myself. Maybe someone with more electronics expertise could add some suggestions?
Welcome to TB.

[Bob Gollihur]

Originally Posted by mesmithnm

This is my first post - just recently joined talkbass and I've found tons of good info, but when I tried to follow the newbie link to volume pedals and DB, it was dead - so, I'll just ask again. Is it practical to use a volume pedal when my signal chain consists of either Underwood (on my carved German bass) or Realist (on my Kay) directly into the passive (1meg) input on my iAmp 600? Will the pedal mess with the input impedance in unpleasant ways? And, if it is practical, any suggestions for a good volume pedal? Thanks for any advice!

Mark

I have a Morley (http://www.morleypedals.com) that I bought specifically because of its high input impedance and good quality, it's large and durable. It's a few years old, a discontinued stereo model, but their current volume pedal may be a candidate, just check the specs.

However, consider putting a pedal in the series effects loop to avoid the issue altogether. That's what I do with a multieffects pedal on the occasional electric bass gigs with my iAMP 800.

[mesmithnm]

Bob,

That's way too obvious and simple! Thanks for helping me get my head out of you-know-where. This way, I'll be attenuating the line level signal between the preamp and the power amp and the input impedance of the pedal is relatively unimportant.

In fact, I could do that with the parallel effects loop and probably get just what I want, which is a way to sometimes punch up the volume just a little. By running parallel, I could run with the volume pedal all the way down for my baseline (no pun intended) volume level and then just step on the pedal when I feel like I need a little more. Then, when I go to back off, I don't have to worry about accidentally removing all my amplification.

Thanks,

Mark