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Volume Pedal

Why would you need to increase your volume? :eyebrow:

Anyhow, I'm just trying to grasp why you'd need to worry about treble loss and volume issues, if they were never issues before. And I'm not clear as to why you'd need to increase your volume over time, unless you're battling hearing fatigue...

The guitard keeps playing louder and louder. There is no quietening him down..:D
 
"Originally Posted by MysticBoo Anyhow, I'm just trying to grasp why you'd need to worry about treble loss and volume issues, if they were never issues before."

It never seemed to be an issue to me either. He is always pushing me to turn the treble way up and the bass way down. I want to do my sound they way I feel it should be.
 
It never seemed to be an issue to me either. He is always pushing me to turn the treble way up and the bass way down. I want to do my sound they way I feel it should be.

I wouldn't worry about it then. If you like your tone as-is, why complicate it?

If anything, you could turn up your treble a bit on the amp or bass. Better yet, try the high mids on your amp, if you can control those.

Or, if you don't play with a pick, it might be worth experimenting with, as perhaps that's closer to what your guitarist seems to want. Not sure if you'd like the tone, though.

Personally, I love pickstyle playing. :)

Anyhow... if you don't want to compromise your tone to that degree, then don't. But if you do, you should start poking at the stuff you don't like about HIS tone... ;)
 
He is always pushing me to turn the treble way up and the bass way down.
In the words of the immortal Aussie legend, Darryl Kerrigan - "Tell him to get stuffed!"

There's so many things wrong (figuratively and literally) with what your guitard seems to be saying that I won't even address them. Suffice to say you should just find a nice way of telling him to stick it where it fits and let you get on with doing your job. Either that or give him a taste of his own medicine - "Hey man, your distortion pedal has too much X and not enough Y..." etc.

Now, a passive volume pedal IS just a pot - IF it's connected DIRECTLY to a bass it essentially behaves exactly like a volume knob. In fact, it could be argued that this scenario is even worse for your tone because now the impedance of the volume knob and the pedal are in parallel, and hence both contributing to any tone loss, real or perceived.

However, putting a volume pedal AFTER an active device (on-board preamp, effect pedal, amplifier preamp etc etc) OR using an ACTIVE volume pedal is a whole different box of fish.

It all comes down to buffering. The short answer is, if you have an active bass then there's absolutely no need to worry about where you put your volume pedal. However, you should make sure you use a volume pedal designed for active basses (generally lower impedance/resistance.)

If you have a passive bass, then where the volume pedal is in the chain can become important. To prevent any potential tone loss, place it AFTER at least one buffered effect pedal (or other active device).

A further caveat stems from the utterly ridiculous "technology" known as true bypass - no buffering means TB pedals are not suited to use for the above purpose.
 
I guess in a way it is, but it can still be used with a volume pedal to preserve the tone.

I didn't say it was the answer he was looking for.




OK, I'm going back to left field now. Call me if you need me.

Sorry... your earlier post just kinda came out there like a good right hook to the innocent bystander. :D

But on a more serious note... I've always thought of a power soak/brake as being more of a tone solution for tube amp recording. Never tried one on an SS amp before.
 
Your guitar player is right. It can lower your pickup output turning your volume pot down. If you use effects and you turn the pot down on the guitar or bass it could change the effect. You can put a volume pedal after the effect and still have the same output to the effect. Some effects like overdrives will clean up when you roll off your volume.

You can also put a volume pedal in the effects loop and control the volume after the preamp so you have no loss of output from the bass/guitar to the preamp