Volume Pedal Placement

zanshin777

New member
1) Does a Volume Pedal at the end of FX Loop suck your tone?
I'm asking that because if it does I'll order a volume pedal with on/off switch.

I think I can control both tremolo and delay for specified effects I mentioned below in this way. What do you think?
and I can change my general volume without losing tone quality to adapt the different situations?

2) Do I have to position volume pedal after tremolo to increase the volume of tremolo stutters?

(I'm thinking I'll set my general tone to a specified value smaller than the max value on the volume pedal. Then to achieve this effect increase the volume on the volume pedal then go back the set value. Am I right?)

3) Do I have to position volume pedal after delay to increase the volume of delay repeats?

(I'm thinking I'll set my general tone to a specified value smaller than the max value on the volume pedal. Then to achieve this effect increase the volume on the volume pedal then go back the set value. Am I right?)

4) Bonus Question : If I place Pitch Shifter before the Tremolo/Delay pedal can I change the pitch of the Stutters/Delay Repeats?
 
Re: Volume Pedal Placement

Volume pedals work best just after your gain pedals. That way you can control the overall volume of your sound without changing how your gain pedals sound/feel. If you put the volume pedal first in your chain then it will act 100% the same as your guitar's volume knob would.

Most volume pedals do not boost the sound, it simply becomes full volume when your toe is fully pressed down on the pedal.
 
Re: Volume Pedal Placement

A volume pedal in the effects loop has only sounded good to me if there is a parallel effects loop (it affects the effects, not the main signal). I agree with the above- right after the gain pedal for me, if I use one.
 
Re: Volume Pedal Placement

1) Does a Volume Pedal at the end of FX Loop suck your tone?
I'm asking that because if it does I'll order a volume pedal with on/off switch.

Not to any degree anyone would notice. Your purest signal will be wiring your guitar's pickup switch to the amp's input jack, but doesn't allow you to move the guitar.
Everything in your signal alters the tone. You have to decide for yourself what degree of change is acceptable to you, because the audience will never hear the difference in your rig between a 3 inch cable from the guitar to the amp and a 100 foot cable and 15 pedals. Only you will.

I think I can control both tremolo and delay for specified effects I mentioned below in this way. What do you think?
and I can change my general volume without losing tone quality to adapt the different situations?

The tone quality is always determined by how much signal gets to the end-point. Any amp sounds awesome when it's turned down so low that only you can hear it, but sounds bad when you turn it up to a functional volume to get the speaker moving, or sounds great when the speaker is moving but sounds bad when it's too low to move the speaker. By the same token, anything that reacts to the level of signal coming into it will be affected by changes in the level of signal. Whether that's good or bad depends on your unique situation.

2) Do I have to position volume pedal after tremolo to increase the volume of tremolo stutters?

(I'm thinking I'll set my general tone to a specified value smaller than the max value on the volume pedal. Then to achieve this effect increase the volume on the volume pedal then go back the set value. Am I right?)

3) Do I have to position volume pedal after delay to increase the volume of delay repeats?

(I'm thinking I'll set my general tone to a specified value smaller than the max value on the volume pedal. Then to achieve this effect increase the volume on the volume pedal then go back the set value. Am I right?)

This could work, but a typical volume pedal doesn't have the ability to set a preset for highest, a set point, and lowest. Usually you have to set that yourself on the fly as you're playing.
There are digital units like the Line6 M-series multiFX pedals (M5, M9, M13) where you can plug in an expression pedal and assign it to the Volume pedal function and set it so that all the way down/back only turns the volume down to about halfway, but it will never have an Off level.

Alternatively, you can modify a volume pedal with an extra pot on the side so it will only go down a certain amount when backed all the way off, but again, you won't be able to turn it completely off unless you also put a switch on the other side of the case that you can tap with your toe to turn it off completely (kill switch).

Or you can modify it to have a toe switch like a Wah, but you're going to full volume to turn it off, which may not be what you want.

Or you could wire said switch to take the extra pot out of the wiring path and turn it back into a regular volume pedal.

4) Bonus Question : If I place Pitch Shifter before the Tremolo/Delay pedal can I change the pitch of the Stutters/Delay Repeats?
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No. You would need an expression pedal for the pitch shifter to change the pitch of the Stutters/Repeats, or you would need a modulating delay that had the ability to shift the pitch of repeats. As far as I know, there is not a modulating tremolo effect specifically. Probably because the idea makes very little sense. You hit a note and it rubber-bands up and down as the tremolo effect? This can be done with a WhammyII pedal by working the treadle.


As was said, a Volume pedal can only go up to the maximum Volume of what comes into it. Where you place it only matters in terms of how much volume gets beyond that point.

Between the OD and Delay means you adjust the volume of signal getting to the Delay unit, but not the output level of the Delay unit directly. So, if you go into the Delay unit loudly and then turn the volume down, the Delay will repeat the last thing it received at the volume it received it.

You won't be able to adjust the volume of the Delay repeats directly this way, so if you set it for infinite repeats for a synth swell or machine gun effect, you won't be able to control the volume of the swell or the machine gun repeats unless the volume pedal is after the delay.

By placing the volume pedal first, between the guitar and your first pedal, you control the volume of the guitar into the entire chain. By placing it at the end of the chain between the amp and last pedal, you control the volume of everything in the chain to the amp.

It's up to you where is the "best" place to put it, because it's determined by your individual needs. You may find you need a volume pedal after each effect.
 
Re: Volume Pedal Placement

This is true for all pedals. You can put a tone-shaping EQ first to adjust the tone going into the volume pedal, or the volume first into the tone-shaping EQ (rather than a notched boost for solos). The only two pedals that do not work well at all at the front of the chain are delay and reverb, simply because they have too much potential to cascade out of control.
 
Re: Volume Pedal Placement

I use a Ernie Ball JR and it's awesome. I have mine in the effects loop . It's the first thing in there so the SEND of my preamp goes into the INPUT of my volume Pedal, then the OUT of the volume pedal goes to my first Loop effect. This allows for Delay and modulation trails to happen even after I set the volume to off.
I love having it there.
 
Re: Volume Pedal Placement

I keep a Dunlop High Gain volume pedal at the front. First thing my guitar goes into. I had to open it up and tweak the pot position because it wasn't going to 10, though. Now it won't go to 0, but it goes low enough to cut feedback. Before it sounded a bit too restrained.

Once I get my amps set back up I may try it after the OD, see if it'll clean up without having to turn the OD off.
 
Re: Volume Pedal Placement

Bump... for extremely self-serving reasons. I want to keep this tread handy for later. My attenuation plan involves intercepting the signal before it hits the power amp. But how?





























MELVIN!
 
Re: Volume Pedal Placement

That's exactly what a Master Volume does.

What exactly are you trying to accomplish?

What if the Master Volume isn't in the signal path for the clean channel?
 
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