Good Volume pedal?

[Doug Anderson]

Looking for suggestions for a first lap steel volume pedal for pedal steel style swells. What is a good first pedal in the $50--$150 range?

Thanks, Doug

[Mark Evans]

I Used a Moyo volume pedal for a long time. Small. High quality, hand built. Dependable. No tone loss… but I had problem finding it under foot(might’ve been an issue playing steel-on-the-lap… was hard to see/find it.)

I now play a Lehle Mono 90 - which is AWESOME but a bit above your price point.
I know there are a few ‘offshore’ mini volume pedals as well.

[Jack Hanson]

Personally, I would opt for a classic stand-alone Sho-Bud pedal, refurbished with a new Dunlop pot, and a new string. Lo-tech, bulletproof, and tried and true. They made thousands of 'em; you should be able to score a decent one at the higher end of your price range. If you prefer something brand-new, the little Moyo pedal is popular with many players.

[Michael Kiese]

Hey Doug,

I can’t recommend MOYO volume pedals enough. They’re great, bulletproof, do exactly what you want, are very small and practical, and in your price range. They’re also handmade in the USA. I have 3 of them. One with a 500K pot, one with a 250K pot, and one set up like a boo wah.

Volume pedals are such simple devices, especially if they’re analog. The prices for Goodrich’s and Hilton’s are astronomical. There isn’t any secret mojo to them. They’re a POT. That’s it.

Buy a MOYO and you won’t regret it. If you ever come into a lot of money and want a $500 volume pedal, then buy one then.

Just go to reverb.com and search for MOYO volume pedal. That’s where you’ll find em.

Enjoy!

[Doug Anderson]

I can’t recommend MOYO volume pedals enough. They’re great, bulletproof, do exactly what you want, are very small and practical, and in your price range. They’re also handmade in the USA. I have 3 of them. One with a 500K pot, one with a 250K pot, and one set up like a boo wah.

I just checked out the way page of the builder of the Moyo and they seem awesome!!!! I think I'll go with the Moyo. Curious if you prefer the 250 or 500K pot for lap steel?

[Nathan Laudenbach]

Can someone here explain why some of the perceived lesser pedals have “tone loss” and why the more expensive pedals like Hilton and Goodrich don’t? And is the Moyo going to sound as good as the higher end pedals?

[Roland Scholl]

It's all in the pot you're using. I just replaced three of my four pedals (Emmons, Moyo and Ernie Ball) with pots from Tom Bradshaw, and even though they all sound basically the same, for some reason each one has a different "timbre" to it... The Goodrich still has the Dunlop pot in it and sounds pretty much the same as the other three.

[Rick Aiello]

You can’t really compare passive and active volume pedals …

I have an active Hilton that is my go to … it was $ but to me, the added features like buffering, ability to chose the “come on spot”, no tone loss across the sweep , etc was well worth the money to me !!

I also have an old active Goodrich that I like …

I do have lots of pot pedals … Goodrich 120, Sho-Bud., Ernie Ball , MOYO , etc … I collect VPs

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[Michael Kiese]

Can someone here explain why some of the perceived lesser pedals have “tone loss” and why the more expensive pedals like Hilton and Goodrich don’t? And is the Moyo going to sound as good as the higher end pedals?

Aloha Nathan,

The best piece of advice I can give you is to judge with your ears, and not with your pocketbook.

Trust your ears, and don't let Joe Blow give you buyer's remorse.

Enjoy!

[Michael Kiese]

I can’t recommend MOYO volume pedals enough. They’re great, bulletproof, do exactly what you want, are very small and practical, and in your price range. They’re also handmade in the USA. I have 3 of them. One with a 500K pot, one with a 250K pot, and one set up like a boo wah.

I just checked out the way page of the builder of the Moyo and they seem awesome!!!! I think I'll go with the Moyo. Curious if you prefer the 250 or 500K pot for lap steel?

Aloha Doug,

250K vs. 500K is just a tool.

It's like selecting the right kind of tires for the driving you'll do.

A potentiometer is a variable resistor. The stronger the resistor (higher the value) more of the high frequencies in the guitar signal will be preserved.

The weaker the resistor, more of the high frequencies will bleed to ground, and will not make it to the guitar amp.

Knowing this, if you have a bright single coil pickup, you may want to use a low value pot to cut out the high end bite.

If you have a dark humbucker pickup, you may want to preserve what little high frequencies you have, so you'll use a high value pot.

This is the reason why Fenders with single coils use 250K vol pots, and Gibsons with humbuckers use 500K vol pots.

So it's not that one value is "better", it's good to have both, so you can properly match it with your steel guitar. Many of us have multiple lap steels.

That's pretty much the gist of it.

I got the idea from Lindy Fralin to hook up my guitars to a decade box of resistors so that I could try out different Pot values in real time as I play, so I could pick the value I liked the best.

Then I went a step further and got a decade box of capacitors so that I could try out the cap values on the tone pot I like best.

Doing things in real time and playing back to back is a lot quicker and effective than completely changing out pots.

Hope that helped!

Enjoy!

[Michael Kiese]

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Aloha Braddah Rick!

Just had to respond to your meme...couldn't help myself.

"I don't always use a volume pedal. But when I do, it's my vol pot." LMAO...

[George Piburn]

Ernie Ball Foot Volume Pedal -- 100 USD online

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[Doug Anderson]

A potentiometer is a variable resistor. The stronger the resistor (higher the value) more of the high frequencies in the guitar signal will be preserved.

The weaker the resistor, more of the high frequencies will bleed to ground, and will not make it to the guitar amp.

Knowing this, if you have a bright single coil pickup, you may want to use a low value pot to cut out the high end bite.

If you have a dark humbucker pickup, you may want to preserve what little high frequencies you have, so you'll use a high value pot.

This is the reason why Fenders with single coils use 250K vol pots, and Gibsons with humbuckers use 500K vol pots.

So it's not that one value is "better", it's good to have both, so you can properly match it with your steel guitar. Many of us have multiple lap steels.

This explanation is very helpful. Thank you! Doug

[John Seebach]

Another vote for the moyo. Built like a tank, not too expensive, and fits in my instrument case.

It sounds fine to me, although I've only been playing steel since June so let's just say that if there's any weakness in my sound, it ain't because of the equipment.

[Michael Kiese]

A potentiometer is a variable resistor. The stronger the resistor (higher the value) more of the high frequencies in the guitar signal will be preserved.

The weaker the resistor, more of the high frequencies will bleed to ground, and will not make it to the guitar amp.

Knowing this, if you have a bright single coil pickup, you may want to use a low value pot to cut out the high end bite.

If you have a dark humbucker pickup, you may want to preserve what little high frequencies you have, so you'll use a high value pot.

This is the reason why Fenders with single coils use 250K vol pots, and Gibsons with humbuckers use 500K vol pots.

So it's not that one value is "better", it's good to have both, so you can properly match it with your steel guitar. Many of us have multiple lap steels.

This explanation is very helpful. Thank you! Doug

You're welcome Doug!

I like to play my Rickenbacher's with the Horseshoe Pickups. They're very efficient pickups, the coil has a low amount of winds and it is completely surrounded by magnetic field. So they end up being VERY powerful/loud and VERY bright/brittle. I'm always trying to remove those high frequencies, so I like low value pots. It's a very simple way to naturally EQ your individual pickup, and tailor it to your tastes.

If you have a very bright single coil guitar, and don't want to remove the vol pot (Let's say some Yahoo put a 500K pot in there which is a common mistake), you can grab a Vol pedal with a 250K pot and it'll help to bleed/tame that brightness by bleeding signal to ground.

Enjoy!

[Bill McCloskey]

I had a moto. I really really really hated it and sold it to a friend a month later. It is SMALL. I’ll give it that. But just didn’t feel right for me.