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Volume Pedals that dont suck tone?

Big Mother

Big Mother

Nov 19, 2007
161
3
Seattle
scottmasoner.com
#1
I am looking to get a new volume pedal. Currently have an old ART AP-1 master control pedal, built like a tank and good action, but has some tone suck.
I have been looking at:
George Dennis GD20
Hilton
Goodrich
Others?

Like the idea of the George Dennis, optical, so no pots.
Wondering if anyone has any experience with them and/or what is your favorite and why.

Am I OCD'ing over a volume pedal? Yeah, I guess so........

BM
 
#2
Big Mother said:
I am looking to get a new volume pedal. Currently have an old ART AP-1 master control pedal, built like a tank and good action, but has some tone suck.
I have been looking at:
George Dennis GD20
Hilton
Goodrich
Others?

Like the idea of the George Dennis, optical, so no pots.
Wondering if anyone has any experience with them and/or what is your favorite and why.

Am I OCD'ing over a volume pedal? Yeah, I guess so........

BM
Click to expand...

Yup.

Any tone suck with my EBVP Jr is negligible at best and that's with the tuner run through the tuner out.

IME,...YMMV,...Yadda Yadda Yadda
 
#4
Big Mother said:
I am looking to get a new volume pedal. Currently have an old ART AP-1 master control pedal, built like a tank and good action, but has some tone suck.
I have been looking at:
George Dennis GD20
Hilton
Goodrich
Others?

Like the idea of the George Dennis, optical, so no pots.
Wondering if anyone has any experience with them and/or what is your favorite and why.

Am I OCD'ing over a volume pedal? Yeah, I guess so........

BM
Click to expand...

a simple fix may be to parallel a small capacitor with the pot to reduce the loss of highs, or to put a buffered pedal infront of it in the chain
 
#7
Just get a Hilton, you know you want to...:smug: Hilton's are the way to go if you want to be really anal about it, but like the guys are saying, it isn't going to make a big difference. But most of the pedal steel use Hilton's or Goodrich's, and they do more volume pedal work than any guitar or bass player will do. As an additional note, from the research I've done, most guys that used Goodrich's and then tried a Hilton, switched to the Hilton. Also the Hilton is optical as well by the way. It works off of infrared.
 
#8
I just picked up a Visual Volume. I'm a total freak when it comes to tone suck. I take comprehensive measures to eliminate or compensate for it in my setup. After using the Visual Volume, I feel confident that it doesn't bleed off any treble in active mode. In fact, I patched it into my home studio setup to really listen carefully to the frequency response at different volume (attenuation) levels using the pedal. The response sounds virtually flat until the last 10% of motion (heel down) where there is some slight treble roll-off. At this level, though, the signal is barely audible anyway.

Passive mode is a whole different story- even with my dedicated buffer before the volume- it will bleed off highs. Even at full (toe down) volume!

This pedal is a keeper, for me. The lenghth of treadle travel is pretty long (but a little less than an Ernie Ball). A lot longer than a Morley or Dunlop! Plus, at minumum internal trim settings, the input related to output at max volume is unity. You can set it for boosting & each of its 2 channels can be set independently. Nice! It also makes a good active splitter.

The Visual Volume is a little on the large side, but I like the stability of the wider platform. Plus, the LED array is a great visual indicator that the pedal is 'open' or not. I cannot count on my fingers & toes how many times I've heard a colleague miss an entrance due to their volume pedal muting them. At least with the LED's it just takes a momentary glance to remind you if you're muted or not!


Overall, a well designed neutral (in active mode) volume pedal!
 

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