A volume pedal is very useful

djspecialist

Never used one before.  Recently bought one.  Don't think I'll be able to play live without one in future.

I have it after dirt, before modulation + delay.  Obviously it's great for swells, although I don't play a lot of those in my current band.

What I do need to do is change my level throughout a set to fit into the mix.  I was never really happy doing that using the guitar volume - partly because the ergonomics never worked well on my guitars, but also because dropping the volume would also cut treble, gain or both.  Having a master volume control on the floor does away with all of those problems, and frees up the guitar controls for just changing tone rather than level.

Now I just need to master the skill of dropping from full volume back to a rhythm level, at the end of a solo or fill.  I know you can get pedals with a minimum level control (or just replace the whole thing with a footswitch), but I like having the fully variable control, so I'll just need to practice a bit

guitarfishbay

I strongly prefer one to using the controls on a guitar, because that way I can use both hands to play the instrument without compromise.

The main reason I'd use a volume control on a guitar is tone - assuming you don't have a treble bleed type of setup that is.  I quite like setting a guitar volume a little below 10 for some softer sounds.

Which pedal did you get?  The one I like is the Dunlop DVP1 - it's huge, but that makes controlling it a lot easier IME.  I do put mine before dirt, but after a noise gate, so that the noise gate always sees the same level from the guitar

djspecialist

guitarfishbay said:

The main reason I'd use a volume control on a guitar is tone - assuming you don't have a treble bleed type of setup that is.  I quite like setting a guitar volume a little below 10 for some softer sounds.

Yes, exactly.  Moving master level control to the floor means that the guitar volumes can be used to control tone - e.g. reduce gain a bit, soften a bit, change pickup mix (on guitars with separate volume per pickup).

guitarfishbay said:

Which pedal did you get? 

I got a Dunlop DVP3.

guitarfishbay

Yeah they're nice, a sensibly sized version of the DVP 1 that can do expression control.  At some point I need to sell my DVP1 and get the XL version, same size but can do expression as well as volume

siraxeman

I gather your volume pedal has no minimum volume pot on the side then..with those you can set the heel down position to your desired level....ie your rhythm level. But I do prefer to do that on the guitar like most folks...but if you wanna do it with a volume pedal you can with the right pedal..but then you can't do swells from zero to max when you do that so....

iseverynamegone

Get a Morley volume pedal with the minimum volume dial which  is switchable on the fly .  Job done. 

Cabicular

Hotone soul press has a minimum volume and a decent wah too (and is tiny)

mart

Get two volume pedals, and then you can use one with a minimum level to go down to your "rhythm" volume, and another with no minimum to do swells.

benmurray85

Cabicular said:

Hotone soul press has a minimum volume and a decent wah too (and is tiny)

Wis'd this. It's actually the nicest sounding wah I've ever owned!

Beexter

benmurray85 said:

Cabicular said:

Hotone soul press has a minimum volume and a decent wah too (and is tiny)

Wis'd this. It's actually the nicest sounding wah I've ever owned!

Don't forget, in addition to Wah and Volume pedals, the Soul Press also functions as an expression pedal too . Very useful little thing.

benmurray85

Beexter said:

benmurray85 said:

Cabicular said:

Hotone soul press has a minimum volume and a decent wah too (and is tiny)

Wis'd this. It's actually the nicest sounding wah I've ever owned!

Don't forget, in addition to Wah and Volume pedals, the Soul Press also functions as an expression pedal too . Very useful little thing.

And it's orange 

bigjon

I use an Ernie Ball junior last before the amp and just adjust on the fly to get rhythm level etc. Necessary for me because I use shedloads of compression, which would nullify the effect of dialling down the volume control on the guitar.