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Topic: ernie ball volume pedal |
Nick Waugh
From:
United Kingdom
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Posted 14 May 2018 12:40 pm |
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Anyone familiar with my posts will see that I have always struggled with a thin harsh sound. When I am playing with my band, I use a Hilton volume pedal. At home for practice I use an ernie ball volume pedal. This evening I was setting up my pedal steel and I noticed that the sound had the richness and warmth that I have always been striving for. In fact I had to turn the bass down and the treble up on my Milkman. Something I have never had to do. It took me a while to figure out what had cause my sound to change. It was that I had mistakenly plugged the amp lead into the instrument socket of the volume pedal, and the pedal steel lead into the amp socket. The result: more volume and a rich warm sound. I tried the same trick with my Hilton pedal but no sound came out at all.
Can anyone explain why this would improve my sound? And maybe it might explain why I have such an awful sound. |
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Georg Sørtun
From:
Mandal, Agder, Norway
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Posted 14 May 2018 1:05 pm
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A pot VP connected backwards chokes the PU off at lower position, instead of attenuating it. I.e: the resistive-load (impedance here) seen by the PU goes towards zero as you lower the VP volume, and lower impedance rolls of the highs first in any coiled PU.
So, maybe your PSG sounds more like you want it to with an impedance in the 100K-250K range than the 400K-500K a VP connected the normal way will present it with? If so that is not uncommon. |
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Lee Baucum
From:
McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier
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Posted 14 May 2018 6:43 pm
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Perhaps the pot in the volume pedal has been wired incorrectly.
Don't the Ernie Ball pedals have 250K pots?
_________________
Lee, from South Texas - Down On The Rio Grande
There are only two options as I see it.
Either I'm right, or there is a sinister conspiracy to conceal the fact that I'm right.
Williams Keyless S-10, BMI S-10, Evans FET-500LV, Fender Steel King, 2 Roland Cube 80XL's,
Sarno FreeLoader, Goodrich Passive Volume Pedals, Vintage ACE Pack-A-Seat |
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Nick Waugh
From:
United Kingdom
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Posted 15 May 2018 12:22 am
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| What is the PU ? I want to be sure that this is not an anomaly and I would get the same result with any pot pedal. This is so I can purchase a good pot pedal to use with the band. Does anyone else use this reverse method with their pedal pots? Also what what you say was the best pedal pot on the market? |
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Georg Sørtun
From:
Mandal, Agder, Norway
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Posted 15 May 2018 1:45 am
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PU: PickUp on the steel guitar. Instead of trying to find a Volume Pedal with "the right" pot, see if you can get hold of a buffer-amplifier with variable load/impedance, like the Sarno FreeLoader for instance. Then the type (and values) of Volume Pedal won't matter, any VP – active or passive – will do equally well.
I only reverse the built-in volume pots on my 6-strings guitars with dual PickUps. Have found that it makes it easier to mix the PUs to my liking. |
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Nick Waugh
From:
United Kingdom
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Posted 15 May 2018 6:47 am
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| I already use the Li'l Izzy. Would I still benefit from using the freeloader? I am using the Milkman pedal steel mini - all valve. |
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Bobby Snell
From:
Austin, Texas
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Posted 15 May 2018 7:59 am
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Ernie Ball VP and VPJr do use 250K pots, as far as I know. In my experience, they don't have long enough throws to fully use the potentiometer range, and they come from the factory set so they turn completely off. Try running directly into the amp from guitar for comparison.
So in practical application, I just turn up treble/presence, and gain for use with my tube amp.
I like EB pedals because they are readily available, relatively inexpensive, and the pedal stays in the position if you take your foot off of it. |
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Lee Baucum
From:
McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier
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Posted 15 May 2018 8:37 am
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| Nick Waugh wrote: |
| I already use the Li'l Izzy. Would I still benefit from using the freeloader? I am using the Milkman pedal steel mini - all valve. |
No need for both. I understand the Izzy is a fine unit.
The FreeLoader does have a knob, to dial in the sound you are looking for.
_________________
Lee, from South Texas - Down On The Rio Grande
There are only two options as I see it.
Either I'm right, or there is a sinister conspiracy to conceal the fact that I'm right.
Williams Keyless S-10, BMI S-10, Evans FET-500LV, Fender Steel King, 2 Roland Cube 80XL's,
Sarno FreeLoader, Goodrich Passive Volume Pedals, Vintage ACE Pack-A-Seat |
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Nick Waugh
From:
United Kingdom
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Posted 15 May 2018 11:41 am
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| Maybe worth then trying the freeloader in place of the Izzy, given that you can control the tone at the front of the chain. |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 15 May 2018 2:45 pm
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If you're getting too many highs, then I wouldn't use the Izzy at all, since the main point of any buffer is to promote better highs. Also, I'd try lowering the mids, since a mid control usually has more affect on the highs and gain than anything else. And yes, any pot pedal has that damp/dark sound if hooked up backwards. Powered pedals, like the Hilton or others, don't work that way because amps only work in one direction. Lastly, the the Milkman Mini, at only 40 watts, is really borderline low for pedal steel. Most pedal steelers use a 100-250 watter so they can get a full sound, and better dynamics.
As a suggestion, try the mids at 1 or 2, bass at 8-10, and then set your tone with the high control. I've never seen a low watt amp that works well for pedal steel, unless it has a big sealed speaker enclosure, like an old Bassman, or Ampeg. Of course, if you're into highs and crunchy sounds, then low watt tube amps are wonderful. |
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