Volume Pedals - are they necessary?

[straylite]

Hey guys,

I'm a long time reader, but this is my first post. I'm building a new pedal board and I really can't decide if I need a volume pedal. My instincts tell me yes, of course. But I do not want it to be something I barely use, that takes up a sizable chunk of the board.

My initial thought was that I could use a volume pedal to create side-chain compression effects for electronic gigs. What do you guys think? Is your volume pedal absolutely necessary for your rig, or is it mostly a mute pedal when you're on break?

 

[bigmoosepi]

I play with alot of fuzz and I hate noise gates. For me I use a volume pedal as a mute between any section that I'm not actually playing anything or the buzz is terrible. I find this to be the biggest plus to a volume pedal and don't really use it for much else on bass. Necessary? Far from it imo, but still useful. You really won't know until you start using one I think.

You can also do some really cool things having a volume pedal in front of your delay.

 

[simenandreas]

I wouldn't bother buying it.. You got volume on your bass, and maybe a tuner to mute the signal?

 

[Jon Moody]

I find a volume pedal convenient, not necessary. For my gigs, using it either as a mute, or to help control the volume at a moment's notice is handy. Plus, with the Visual Volume (from Visual Sound), I also use it as an A/B switch as well as a boost.

 

[skulletwhip]

I use it to fade in parts, mute, draw volume back without tonal changes, and as a quick bail out if anything goes wrong.

I kinda look at it more as a utility than an effect.

 

[aledeville]

A long delay after the volume pedal... aaaaaaah what is fun if not this?

 

[Joeynone]

I play in a band similar to muse/U2/30 seconds to mars and I couldn't live without my volume pedal. It's actually a complete necessity for what I do with swelling... A knob won't swell my effected tone the same way PLUS having full control with my foot and right hand is super important to me

 

[Swift713]

I use it for swells etc. I would absolutely not bother using it as just a mute - (it doesn't even really stay in the off position) or really to adjust levels if I didn't have it there for swells.

 

[russpurdy]

If your not sure you'll use it don't buy one. Maybe go play around with one for twenty minutes at a music shop and see if it seems like something you could use in a musical way. Also, if you find one that can double as an expression pedal for other gear that may be helpful.

 

[MCS4]

I enjoyed my volume pedal when I had one (on the ME-50B)... but realistically my tuner mute and volume knob cover 95% of what I used it for, so it's not worth the pedalboard space for me these days.

 

[bassmusic17]

My bass doesn't have a single master volume knob so it is a must have for me.

 

[rtav]

My volume pedal gets some use - mostly as a "mute," but I use it in "La Villa Strangiato" (for instance) to come in on the C following the flamenco introduction as the momentum for the riff builds and the volume comes up. Other than that, I can't say it's used often. It's certainly not essential, but when you need it it's VERY nice to have.

 

[Nephilymbass]

I've never really used them. Im 32, started playing about 20 years ago and just recently got into effects. I guess because I didn't use pedals for so long I got really used to using the volume on the bass for swells.

 

[Swift713]

The volume knob has better control IMO but the pedal can be faster and works better for instruments which have more than one vol knob.

 

[Lebowsky]

I use it to fade in parts, mute, draw volume back without tonal changes, and as a quick bail out if anything goes wrong.

I kinda look at it more as a utility than an effect.

this

 

[HolmeBass]

Not necessary, I don't use one, but I can see where one at the very end of the chain could be very useful. I am using my Warwick lately and it has a single volume knob, plus I have a clean boost pedal, and even with that amount of clean gain/volume control I am thinking about adding a volume pedal.