Boss FV-500H tone loss.

xwolf5150

After seeing so many pedalboards with volume pedals, most of which seem to be the Boss, I decided to try one.
The tone loss is unreal !!!

Why the hell do people use this thing ?

I'm now on a quest to buy a better pedal... suggestions welcome. ( except Ernie Ball
as they're already known for
tone loss )

Ps.. anyone wanna buy a 2 day old FV500H ???? £55 inc postage.

ICBM

Just put a buffered pedal in front of it.

All passive volume pedals suck tone, even with a treble-pass cap (switchable on the EB).

frankus

can't you just pop a buffer in front of it?

JCA2550

It depends how deep your pockets are, Ernie Ball have listened to the criticisms of the VP series pedals and apparently have addressed these with the MVP. However, unless you can order one from the States it cost a fair packet. £175 

Link

C.

:-O

xwolf5150

I planned to use it in 2 situations.
One .. between guitar and amp.
The other on my board, which has a buffer.
In both cases I noticed a big loss of top end.
At first I thought my cable was to blame until I bypassed the pedal !!!!

ICBM

With the buffer *before* the pedal you shouldn't get any loss, if the buffer is good. With the volume pedal directly following the guitar you always will, since it's a load on the guitar. Even a treble-pass cap can only let more top-end through, not remove the load.

Maybe you need an active volume pedal?

Or just to set your amp for a good sound with the pedal in line and not worry about it?

Lixarto

ICBM said: Or just to set your amp for a good sound with the pedal in line and not worry about it?

Excellent.

Sucks to be All Those Buffer Guys.

thermionic

Makes you wonder why nobody makes a volume pedal with a buffer built-in... Although I expect somebody has thought of it.

ICBM

thermionic said:

Makes you wonder why nobody makes a volume pedal with a buffer built-in... Although I expect somebody has thought of it.

They have.

http://www.americaspedal.net/fx17/

http://www.morleypedals.com/deov.html

http://missionengineering.com/?product=vm-pro

The first two use non-mechanical control mechanisms too, so no pots to wear out.

Makes you wonder why people still insist on using archaic string and gear-driven pots in passive pedals, really. On the other hand true bypass makes you wonder too...

ThePrettyDamned

ICBM;291123" said:

thermionic said:

Makes you wonder why nobody makes a volume pedal with a buffer built-in... Although I expect somebody has thought of it.





They have.

http://missionengineering.com/?product=vm-pro

Vertex have an interesting one. Well, the blurb is - it's a boost pedal, but when bypassed and with a regular 10k expression pedal plugged in, it's a unity gain volume pedal that's buffered.

When engaged, it goes from nothing up to whatever boost you want. Seems nifty but prolly expensive.

Edit

https://www.vertexeffects.com/effects/vertex-boost

joeyowen

wolf5150 said:

Ps.. anyone wanna buy a 2 day old FV500H ???? £55 inc postage.

haha! you sell it so well

I have one on my board and can't says I have had many issues at all with tone loss.

I might try it later side by side to see, but really don't think it's an issue (using an ac30)

Maybe yours is dodge? Or maybe I don't have the ears I thought I had

JDE

I've had a couple of the FV - not much suckage, but maybe it's my ears.

You're not using active pickups are you?

ICBM

Or comparing tone with guitar>amp (1 cable) against that with guitar>pedal>amp (2 cables)…

The second cable can be a major cause of tone suck.

richardhomer

Could you use it in the loop instead?

I use the guitar volume controls to determine the amount of drive I get from the amp and use my volume pedal after the pre-amp, as a master volume control (specifically after the chorus but before the delays in my set up).

koss59

Shouldn't you have the low impedance one if it's going after a buffer?