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AMP volume with pedal volume

#4
Yeah, like @Dave W said: Set your amp to be at preferred volume. then set your pedals to be at what is called "unity" volume when you turn them on. "Cranking" the pedals and then setting amp volume may not only sound terrible, but if the pedals are "hot" enough you run the risk of possibly (note that I said possibly) damaging the pre-amp stage of your amplifier.
 
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#5
Thanks all.
Dave W said:
Get your volume from the amp and then set your pedal volume so it’s the same, or close if your looking for a solo boost.

Why would you want to do what your suggesting?
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el murdoque said:
What is the application?
Playing in rehearsal? Live? With FOH Support?
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I've heard for gain pedals you would get a better tone with the volume of the pedal all the way up and then control the overall volume with the amp . Guess it doesnt change anything.

The aplication is just playing in rehearsal.
 
#6
Dave W said:
Get your volume from the amp and then set your pedal volume so it’s the same, or close if your looking for a solo boost.
Click to expand...

^This because in an ideal world most pedals should operate at unity gain. But there is no "rule". You need to do what accomplishes what you need/want.

Who are these people you are listening to? And what is the reasoning behind what they say? Knowing that would be helpful to the discussion.
 
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#7
_sky_ said:
Thanks all.



I've heard for gain pedals you would get a better tone with the volume of the pedal all the way up and then control the overall volume with the amp . Guess it doesnt change anything.

The aplication is just playing in rehearsal.
Click to expand...
"Better tone" is subjective. If they aren't explaining why they think it's better, then stop listening to them and find out what "better tone" means to you by trying different things for yourself.
 
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#8
Usually, you want unity. The pedal on should not be louder than the pedal off (unless, of course it is a boost pedal). You can set the level either with your bass or with one of the pedals that are always on.

Some amps might appreciate it when you hit them with a stronger signal, but in general, bass amps are designed to receive instrument level at their input.
 
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#9
When you drive a higher output from your pedals into your amp the preamp section of your amp gets slammed. In some cases that's a good thing. Hammering the front of your amp is the biggest reason for the use of boost pedals.
It really comes down to the tone you prefer at your speakers. Might be no difference, might be more breakup with a higher input signal. It would vary by your gear. On my amps the input to the amp (output from pedal board) and the input/gain on my amp make a bigger difference in tone than the output/volume control of the amp because it's a Class D power side.

Write it down... There is NO best tone. If you like it, that's the best. Let your ears be the judge because nobody knows more than you what you like.
 
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#10
_sky_ said:
I've heard for gain pedals you would get a better tone with the volume of the pedal all the way up and then control the overall volume with the amp . Guess it doesnt change anything.
Click to expand...

On a guitar it certainly can, although most players wouldn’t be running the volume of the pedal all the way up. The idea is you get a little bit of grit from the amp and then “boost” it more with a pedal which can give it more distortion, or in the case of an already distorted amp it would tighten things up.

I believe Hendrix used to run everything in 10 all the time, on his amp and his fuzz face. Insanely loud…
 
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#12
I have a pretty nice George Dennis optical volume pedal. It does not have any sort of bypass switching (always on).

IMHO, The volume pedal maxed out is your solo level. Typically, the volume pedal is dialed back to your normal volume and when you want to be louder you max it out. IMHO a clean boost is probably better for this as it allows you to toggle between two clearly defined volume levels. It's not easy to dial a volume pedal back to the perfect level on the fly.

IMHO, a volume pedal is more useful if you want to create swells in the music.
 
#14
_sky_ said:
I've heard for gain pedals you would get a better tone with the volume of the pedal all the way up and then control the overall volume with the amp . Guess it doesnt change anything.
Click to expand...
It will drive your amp into more distortion than if you run a lower signal into it. This is primarily a guitar thing and almost exclusively a tube thing.
Unless you are going for a fairly distorted bass sound you probably don't want to do it
 
#15
crazyBassClown said:
It will drive your amp into more distortion than if you run a lower signal into it. This is primarily a guitar thing and almost exclusively a tube thing.
Unless you are going for a fairly distorted bass sound you probably don't want to do it
Click to expand...


Might be useful for atmospheric stuff as well. Do a swell into a wet reverb or delay with "X" effect applied.
 
#17
crazyBassClown said:
It seems a few people have read pedal volume as volume pedal...
Click to expand...
Guilty :bag:

As far as how to set pedal volume: I normally do unity, but there are valid reasons to make other choices.

For example if you have an effect that you only use when you solo, then you probably want to dial in a bit of boost.

Or maybe you have a pedal that does not have a volume or gain control, and it drops the signal a bit when engaged. You might use a clean boost or some other pedal to bump the signal back up to nominal. An example of pedal I have that sucks a little bit of volume is my MXR M117R flanger:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
#18
_sky_ said:
Hello there,

I've been told that you should control the overall volume or with the volume of the amp or with the pedal. My question is...is it good to cranck (or at least have a high volume) on the pedals and slowly increasing the volume in the amp?
Or is there another "rule"?
Click to expand...

By increasing the output of your pedals you are increasing gain into the preamp, making your preamp distort sooner. It really depends on what sound you're after.

Unless your pedal is being affected by its signal boost you shouldn't be gaining anything sound-wise except the beforementioned boosted preamp feed.

Gain staging is an important part of this process and to do it right, you must first understand it.
 
#19
I have changed my setup so that I can play my dual output bass+guitar (a la Charlie Hunter) thru my pedal board. I am using Source Audio pedals mostly all of which have a two inputs. I only have the volume pedal for the guitar because I do swells with it. It is passive pedal I have a setting on the EQ2 to boost the input of the guitar and it will definitely overdrive the tube guitar amp, it is just a hot but clean input so all the harmonic tube breakup happens in the guitar amp. I use pedal distortion for the bass. It is for the most part subtle especially in the mix.
 
#20
_sky_ said:
Hello there,

I've been told that you should control the overall volume or with the volume of the amp or with the pedal. My question is...is it good to cranck (or at least have a high volume) on the pedals and slowly increasing the volume in the amp?
Or is there another "rule"?
Click to expand...

I set my loudest “gain pedal” at just above unity - and at rehearsal then dial in my amp until everyone is happy with amp levels. The only pedal I have as lower than unity is my octave fuzz as I use that combined with a distortion so that it’s mainly the distortion sound with a layer of octave on top… and yes depending on the pedals it can be hard. Some pedals have unity at 9 o’clock position, others it may be closer to almost noon.
 

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