Anyone use a Volume Pedal?

[Andy Will]

I checked out a possible volume pedal with the Sound Guy last night. No I wasn't allowed one.

In fact I was bollocked for using the volume knob on the bass without his direction, bollocked for using a foldback cab that hadn't been though a rehearsal set-up, and he "suggested" I have a switch on my SM58 which I should keep off most of the time. The guitarist got bollocked for bringing a new FenderTwin Valve amp and miking it up (not rehearsed), the keyboard player had a dodgy connection, and the drummer used a mixer the Sound Guy hadn't seen before. And the singers brother turned up at the gig to record the band with about as much equipment as we have - and promptly split all the feeds off to his recording software, thus reducing the normal feeds to the Sound Guy by 50%.

Perhaps asking about the volume Pedal last night had a teensy bit of bad timing about it. On the upside I think we should be writing a script for a TV Soap or videoing everything for a reality show. It's worse than being married.

Good God! They should fire that sound guy!
Just goes to prove the term 'Sound Engineer' is a very loose job description, when only about 1 in 100 of these guys actually know what they are doing. The remaining 99 normally just owned a microphone when they were younger so are instantly experts of all things P.A.-related as a result

The secret is to never give the sound engineer the option of saying yes or no to anything. Just set up your rig at the lowest volume possible that allows to hear yourself clearly, then leave a your volume pedab/knob a little bit back so you have an emergency boost if you really can't hear yourself once the gig starts. At this point the engineer should be behind his desk so can't tell you to turn down! haha!

The benefit of having a volume pedal at this point is, you can adjust the volume at any point during the song, even when engaged in some complicated two-handed tapping or straight 16ths passages when your hands can't get down to the bass's controls quick enough

 

[The BurgerMeister]

Good God! They should fire that sound guy!

+1!!!

Just goes to prove the term 'Sound Engineer' is a very loose job description, when only about 1 in 100 of these guys actually know what they are doing. The remaining 99 normally just owned a microphone when they were younger so are instantly experts of all things P.A.-related as a result

The secret is to never give the sound engineer the option of saying yes or no to anything. Just set up your rig at the lowest volume possible that allows to hear yourself clearly, then leave a your volume pedab/knob a little bit back so you have an emergency boost if you really can't hear yourself once the gig starts. At this point the engineer should be behind his desk so can't tell you to turn down! haha!

The benefit of having a volume pedal at this point is, you can adjust the volume at any point during the song, even when engaged in some complicated two-handed tapping or straight 16ths passages when your hands can't get down to the bass's controls quick enough

and +1 on all of that as well.

 

[Andy V.]

Well, I guess it's a well known thing, but...

Playing with the volume knob on the bass is not the same thing than playing with the volume pedal.

The volume knob lowers the output of the bass.

Let's say one is playing through a envelope filter:
tweaking the volume knob will cause alteration in the overall tone, will get a "weaker" effect; messing with the volume pedal will lower the overall volume - the sound will be the same but wiss less volume.

With a volume pedal you can do stuff you're not able to with the knob.

 

[40Hz_of_Love]

Yeah, exactly. I use volume knob on my bass *and* a volume pedal. They both have different sounds.

 

[Andy V.]

Yeah, exactly. I use volume knob on my bass *and* a volume pedal. They both have different sounds.

For sure.
This is the best way to go, IMO.