Electro Harmonix Volume Pedal - Anyone check this out yet?

Jay Ganz · Post by **Jay Ganz** » 19 Nov 2012 5:57 am

The new volume pedal from Electro Harmonix > > > >

Jeff Scott Brown · Post by **Jeff Scott Brown** » 19 Nov 2012 7:56 am

Jay Ganz wrote:The new volume pedal from Electro Harmonix > > > >

Their web site says:

It does not use a potentiometer, optics or magnetism to sweep the volume control.

It also doesn't leave streaks on your windows or defrag your computer hard drive. Listing what it doesn't do is interesting but not as interesting as listing what it does do.

Do any of you know how this pedal works?

JSB

Joey Ace · Post by **Joey Ace** » 19 Nov 2012 8:37 am

I edited the title to be more descriptive.

I'm tempted to pick one up to use as a spare.
Street price under $100. Uses a 9 volt battery.

There's a YouTube demo at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdtC_qCklak

Greg Cutshaw · Post by **Greg Cutshaw** » 19 Nov 2012 9:02 am

Pedal at Musician's Friend for example:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/amplifie ... trol-pedal

Pedal at E-H web site:

http://www.ehx.com/products/volume-pedal

User manual in PDF form:

http://www.ehx.com/assets/instructions/volume-pedal.pdf

The pedal runs on a single 9V battery and does have a separate (fixed level, direct out) tuner output. Input imepdance is 1M ohm, output impedance is 1 KOhms.

The VOLUME pedal has no moving parts: it does
not use a potentiometer, optics or magnetism to sweep the volume control. It has an adjustable bypass mode that is selected by tipping the pedal forward.

Greg

Michael Hummel · Post by **Michael Hummel** » 19 Nov 2012 10:23 am

It is particularly important to calibrate if the VOLUME pedal is used on a
slanted surface.

This hints to me that they are using an accelerometer attached to the underside of the moving surface. The accelerometer is aligned so that when the pedal tilts, the force of gravity on the sensor changes due to the angle.

So if you picked up the whole pedal and tilted it front to back and the volume changes, there would be your proof.

They then measure the output of the sensor, and use that to change the gain/attenuation of the amplifier circuit inside.

I *think* this is how the Telonics external sensor works too (the one that you can attach to your hat and plug in as an external controller).

If somebody has one, would they try the tilt test to confirm?

Mike

Greg Cutshaw · Post by **Greg Cutshaw** » 19 Nov 2012 12:16 pm

Makes me wonder what kind of taper it has? Great pedal to but as a project box!

Greg

Jim Pitman · Post by **Jim Pitman** » 19 Nov 2012 12:18 pm

Yeh does sound like an accellerometer to me.
I've been toying with making an accellerometer contact pickup. Analog devices has a high frequency model.
Unfortunately they have some self noise that means they won't have outstanding signal to noise performance.
But it might be interesting to experiment with placement on the instrument body for different tonalities.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 19 Nov 2012 12:47 pm

If it has NO moving parts what do you push up and down on?

Michael Hummel · Post by **Michael Hummel** » 19 Nov 2012 1:10 pm

Greg: The beauty of this kind of system is that it can have any kind of taper the designer wants. Or, like the Telonics pedal, you can select from a variety of tapers (and even program your own).

Jim: Never thought of that! I used to work for Analog Devices and had access to all of those parts. Mind you when I was there I don't think they had the high-frequency version.

Erv: You are too funny!

Jay Ganz · Post by **Jay Ganz** » 19 Nov 2012 1:37 pm

Joey Ace wrote:I edited the title to be more descriptive.

Yeah....but you ruined the surprise

Rick Barnhart · Post by **Rick Barnhart** » 19 Nov 2012 1:50 pm

Erv Niehaus wrote:If it has NO moving parts what do you push up and down on?

Erv, I watched the youtube video on Joey's post...it looks to me like the entire pedal rocks back and forth. It doesn't seem to have a pivot/fulcrum point or axis built into the pedal itself.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 19 Nov 2012 1:51 pm

You mean it's like a rocking chair?

Rick Barnhart · Post by **Rick Barnhart** » 19 Nov 2012 1:55 pm

That's what it looks like to me, lol

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 19 Nov 2012 2:07 pm

What is it at Musician's Friend---$88.00?
Too bad the jacks are on the wrong side.

Jeff Scott Brown · Post by **Jeff Scott Brown** » 19 Nov 2012 3:41 pm

Rick Barnhart wrote:
Erv Niehaus wrote:If it has NO moving parts what do you push up and down on?
Erv, I watched the youtube video on Joey's post...it looks to me like the entire pedal rocks back and forth. It doesn't seem to have a pivot/fulcrum point or axis built into the pedal itself.

I think you might be right. At the 2:49 mark of the video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... lak#t=169s) they show a side view and that seems to corroborate your theory. The pedal in that shot is the expression pedal but it looks like all 3 might have the same design with respect to that.

That is interesting. If that is in fact how this thing works, would they be the first? Has anyone else ever done that?

JSB

Tom Wolverton · Post by **Tom Wolverton** » 19 Nov 2012 5:10 pm

Forget about playin a gig on the party barge with this. Or even a bouncy stage. Probably bumps the accel too much.

Jack Stanton · Post by **Jack Stanton** » 20 Nov 2012 4:18 am

So if you took your foot off of it to use two pedals it would rock back and turn itself off?

Rick Barnhart · Post by **Rick Barnhart** » 20 Nov 2012 5:28 am

That's my guess. It's bound to rest either off or full on. It looks like more of a gadget than a viable volume pedal as we use them.

Greg Cutshaw · Post by **Greg Cutshaw** » 20 Nov 2012 8:00 am

I wouldn't like the idea of the guitar cords being constantly flexed.

Greg

Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 30 Nov 2012 10:33 pm

It looks like the bypass mode is pretty easy to deal with if you guys find yourselves taking your foot off the pedal while you play. It also looks pretty simple to calibrate for different surfaces.

It might be pretty cool. I'll check one out first chance I get. It also sells for way under $500...

Robert Schultz · Post by **Robert Schultz** » 8 Jun 2013 6:01 am

I think the taper of this pedal is great, I don't hear any coloration of the sound, the only drawback I can find is it tends to walk across a smooth floor. for the price, it's a great little pedal.

Daniel Policarpo · Post by **Daniel Policarpo** » 8 Jun 2013 3:13 pm

looks like they developed a little launch pad for it. I wonder what else they will come up with as feedback comes in?

David Mason · Post by **David Mason** » 8 Jun 2013 7:52 pm

They could put a little bracket on the side of the bottom pad, and attach a hinge! And maybe a way to plug the cords into the bottom, so they don't flex.

Robert Parent · Post by **Robert Parent** » 15 Jun 2013 4:23 am

I bought one of these pedals this past week.... Thus far have only used is for an hour or two. It sounds nice and there is no tone change as there with a pot pedal. The PCB inside is nicely designed.

The only down side is the current mechanical design. If you take your foot off the pedal it goes to full volume unless you put it into bypass mode. There are no moving parts in this pedal and it uses the floor as a hinge point. I have a few thoughts on a modification to the mechanics which would allow this to work for steel, stay tuned.....

Robert

Robert Parent · Post by **Robert Parent** » 15 Jun 2013 4:31 am

Tom Wolverton wrote:Forget about playin a gig on the party barge with this. Or even a bouncy stage. Probably bumps the accel too much.

I doubt this would be a problem unless you were playing on a small fishing boat in the middle of a wind storm. Up and down movement is not going to change the magnet field being detected. However, tilting motion is what is being detected, hence the fishing boat comment.

Robert

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Electro Harmonix Volume Pedal - Anyone check this out yet?

Electro Harmonix Volume Pedal - Anyone check this out yet?

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