Double Bass Foot Kill switch Vs. Volume Pedal?

[damonsmith]

Musically I don't use my pedal for swells, more like disruptions cutting between amp and acoustic. I do this a bit on each set with an amp.
Mainly, I use it to cut the amp when I don't need it. I have the Boss Fv50. it works great but cuts the volume and tone quite a bit.
I wouldn't want a kill switch that uses a battery, but, would a kill switch maintain the tone and volume better?

 

[Carl Hillman]

Musically I don't use my pedal for swells, more like disruptions cutting between amp and acoustic. I do this a bit on each set with an amp.
Mainly, I use it to cut the amp when I don't need it. I have the Boss Fv50. it works great but cuts the volume and tone quite a bit.
I wouldn't want a kill switch that uses a battery, but, would a kill switch maintain the tone and volume better?

I would think that a kill switch is going to be a lot cheaper than a good volume pedal that doesn't suck your tone.

I've tried a Morely pedal, different Boss's & Ernie Ball's, and they all either eventually broke or sounded suboptimal.

The Lehle mono volume 90 I use now is great (German engineering), but it costs around $300.

You can get a kill switch for much less. Kill Switch Pedal | Saturnworks Pedals | Handcrafted in the USA

 

[damonsmith]

I might look into the Lehle. It is expensive, but, I use it a lot, so it could be worthwhile choice. I was checking my pick up a few months ago and plugged straight without the volume pedal and I was shocked at the difference. $20 is a low investment for a kill switch so I'll try that first! Thanks!

I would think that a kill switch is going to be a lot cheaper than a good volume pedal that doesn't suck your tone.

I've tried a Morely pedal, different Boss's & Ernie Ball's, and they all either eventually broke or sounded suboptimal.

The Lehle mono volume 90 I use now is great (German engineering), but it costs around $300.

You can get a kill switch for much less. Kill Switch Pedal | Saturnworks Pedals | Handcrafted in the USA

 

[210superair]

I either kill my preamp volume, or sometimes I use a 1/4 cable with a kill switch on it. That's nice to have sometimes... And cheap.

 

[bherman]

My solution is easier. The tuner on my Fishman preamp, which sucks as a tuner, works great as a mute switch. I use a pedalboard since I have a few effects, so its easy for me to hit it when I need to go silent. I run a tuner in the effects loop of the preamp that's always on so that I can see how often my intonation is off

 

[charlie monroe]

I play BG, but also use a cable with a circuit breaker.

 

[DoubleMIDI]

A passive volume pedal (only a potentiometer inside) is a high load (= low impedance) to a passive piezo pickup.

Either put it behind a high impedance preamp or put it in the effect loop.

 

[Wasnex]

I use a Boss TU2 tuner. The current model is the TU3.

The TU3's Bypass output mutes when the tuner is engaged, so I should do what you want.

This is a buffered pedal with 1Meg input impedance, so if you use some sort of special buffer for a piezo pickup, make sure and run it before the tuner.

I also suggest using the optional power adapter instead of relying on a 9V battery. If the battery dies, the tuner will stop passing signal.

I prefer the tuners stream mode which is similar to a strobe tuner.

 

[Carl Hillman]

I might look into the Lehle. It is expensive, but, I use it a lot, so it could be worthwhile choice. I was checking my pick up a few months ago and plugged straight without the volume pedal and I was shocked at the difference. $20 is a low investment for a kill switch so I'll try that first! Thanks!

One caveat with the Lehle... It does require power and doesn't come with its own power supply. But, just about any DC adaptor will work with it. I'm using an old BOSS wall wart with mine.

From the owners manual:

"Connect your external power supply here (9 -15 V DC or 7 -12 V AC).
For the Lehle Mono Volume 90 an external power supply is required.

This should provide a minimum of 9 V and no more than 15 V DC, but alternatively you can also connect an AC voltage source with more than 7 or up to 12 V. The polarity is not relevant. The voltage supplied is internally rectified, filtered, stabilized and then brought to 18 V."​

It has an impedance input of 2Meg, so I think it's possible to plug a pickup directly into the pedal without it needing a preamp, but I've never tried this.

 

[Maple]

Decades ago, I used an Earnie ball volume pedal. Now I use the Turbo Tuner pedal by Sonic Research. The tuner acts as a mute and works great with the DB.

 

[Zbysek]

I run a tuner in the effects loop of the preamp that's always on so that I can see how often my intonation is off

Is your tuner in mute mode when tuning? How come that it does not mute your whole signal?

That's why I plug my tuner to parallel output of my preamp which is always active...

 

[Povl Carstensen]

Is it just me, or why would anyone need or want anything with a battery, power supply, impedance etc etc, to just cut a signal?

 

[Co.]

You could also use any guitar stompbox with either true bypass or a decent buffer circuit (needs battery!) and turn the volume down.
In bypass mode, it does nothing. Switched on, it mutes your signal.
I used a Digitech Bad Monkey in this way, when I played Hans-Joachim Hespos' "Splash". Worked out great.

 

[equill]

Decades ago, I used an Earnie ball volume pedal. Now I use the Turbo Tuner pedal by Sonic Research. The tuner acts as a mute and works great with the DB.

Slight digression, but do you find it struggles with arco?
My ST-200 is fantastic otherwise, but isn't much help with checking my intonation as I practice with a bow. Even if I pause between notes, it seems to either hang onto the last-recognised one, or pick up on one of the harmonics instead of the fundamental.

 

[bherman]

Is your tuner in mute mode when tuning? How come that it does not mute your whole signal?

That's why I plug my tuner to parallel output of my preamp which is always active...

No it’s in “always on” mode.

 

[Zbysek]

No it’s in “always on” mode.

I see. My tuner doesn't do that...

 

[Maple]

The turbo tuner is “true bypass” so it doesn’t affect the signal (that I’ve noticed).

Slight digression, but do you find it struggles with arco?
My ST-200 is fantastic otherwise, but isn't much help with checking my intonation as I practice with a bow. Even if I pause between notes, it seems to either hang onto the last-recognised one, or pick up on one of the harmonics instead of the fundamental.

I don’t use mine while playing. Just for tuning up. Arco gives a very reliable signal but I notice arco tends to be sharper than piz because it drives the strings much harder. I can hear it clearly and the tuner picks it up too.
The cool thing about the TT is I can see the harmonics in the round readout. And this tells me how clean the note is

 

[Zbysek]

This is a buffered pedal with 1Meg input impedance, so if you use some sort of special buffer for a piezo pickup, make sure and run it before the tuner.

There's one thing which I have learnt from reading Josh's posts in the Broughton megathread which is worth mentioning in this thread:

If you plug a tuner into paralel output of your preamp, it may load down your piezo pickup...

 

[bherman]

I see. My tuner doesn't do that...

I double-checked to see if I was accurate. The tuner is plugged into the effects send in the preamp. Any tuner should work in that position as an "always on" tuner, since it doesnt affect the through signal from the bass to the power amp. Try it and see if it works with your preamp.

 

[Zbysek]

I double-checked to see if I was accurate. The tuner is plugged into the effects send in the preamp. Any tuner should work in that position as an "always on" tuner, since it doesnt affect the through signal from the bass to the power amp. Try it and see if it works with your preamp.

My tuner (TC Polytune v1) is in mute mode when tuning. In that case, it may only work if the FX loop is in paralel configuration. Still, it will "eat" part of the signal if my understanding is correct.

Your tuner might be different in that it passes signal even when tuning...