Volume Pedal

Jeremy Burnworth · Post by **Jeremy Burnworth** » 11 Mar 2010 4:10 am

What's the best value volume pedal for lap steel? (~meaning on the cheaper side~)
Thanks!

Randy Reeves · Post by **Randy Reeves** » 11 Mar 2010 4:32 am

for a non active pedal I like the Ernie Ball. around 100 dollars. the string has never broken and my pedal is over six years old.

Roman Sonnleitner · Post by **Roman Sonnleitner** » 11 Mar 2010 4:33 am

I like my George Dennis vol. pedal - very smooth taper, no tone-suck; it's an optically controlled active vol. pedal, so it does need a battery or power supply; haven't tried any of the "pro" choices (Goodrich, Hilton), never tried a passive Ernie Ball; I did own a Morley Pro Series active vol pedal, and that one you should NOT get - very unusable taper, all the volume change action happens on the last third of the pedal travel, feels more like an on-off switch...

Steinar Gregertsen · Post by **Steinar Gregertsen** » 11 Mar 2010 4:43 am

Don't use volume pedal much, but when I do I prefer my George Dennis over the Ernie Balls and Morleys I've owned.

Thomas Ludwig · Post by **Thomas Ludwig** » 11 Mar 2010 5:54 am

Roman,
how long is battery life in the George Dennis pedal ?

Thomas

John D. Carter · Post by **John D. Carter** » 11 Mar 2010 6:15 am

I bought a Morley about 3 months ago that runs on an "Electro-Optical" Circuit. It is advertised to provide a "studio quiet, smooth and even volume taper. . . no more pots to wear out, clean or replace" It is still new in the box because I only bought it because it was "on sale." I think I paid about $45.00 for it. The box is telling me that I own the "best volume pedal made" lol. Who knows?

Roman Sonnleitner · Post by **Roman Sonnleitner** » 11 Mar 2010 8:00 am

Thomas Ludwig wrote:Roman,
how long is battery life in the George Dennis pedal ?

Thomas

Don't know - I always use mine with a power supply unit...

Jason Hull · Post by **Jason Hull** » 11 Mar 2010 10:00 am

I made a passive volume pedal out of an old sewing machine foot pedal. Just added 1/4" jacks and changed the pot. Works great and was dirt cheap. Built like a tank, too.

Lynn Oliver · Post by **Lynn Oliver** » 11 Mar 2010 10:41 am

How about a used Goodrich 120?

Veli-Pekka Haanmäki · Post by **Veli-Pekka Haanmäki** » 12 Mar 2010 4:49 am

Lynn,I use Goodrich 120 pedal and I do prefer it over "all-around" pedals like Morley and Ernie Ball.Goodrich works great for steel.

Matt Berg · Post by **Matt Berg** » 12 Mar 2010 8:50 am

I use a Behringer cheapo pedal as a CV controller for a Korg AX3G. I use the Korg as a tuner and for delay, which it does quite well. (it's not good for other FX like distortion or that cruddy amp modelling). The whole setup, including the TRS cable set me back about $80. And what's really nice about it is that the volume pedal is pre delay but post main signal, so you still get a little echo effect after you chop off the volume. It's a natural sounding effect with no effort.

I guess you could put a dedicated volume pedal in the middle of the signal chain to get this, but a lot of people, like Bobbe Seymour don't. In his demos, where the volume pedal appears to be after the delay, he's very meticulous about where he chops of the sound (between delay repeats), but it seems like that would sound bad if done sloppily, whereas with my setup, the delays can ring even when my main signal's cut off. Of course, I have my delay at more of an ambient setting, he's using it for a doubling effect at the tempo of the song.

I have posted on this before, I don't know if any other SGFers are using a similar setup, but it sure works well for me. And the sweep on this pedal seems fine to me. I read something once about voltage controlled pedals that explained how the values associated to the decay are derived, durned if I remember all the detail.

BTW, I thought the Goodrich/Hilton type pedals were more appropriate for pedal than lap because of some impedance issues, and that laps were typically closer to guitars in terms of how they drive pedals..... Anyone wanna 'splain this????

Roman Sonnleitner · Post by **Roman Sonnleitner** » 12 Mar 2010 9:06 am

Matt Berg wrote:I use a Behringer cheapo pedal as a CV controller for a Korg AX3G. I use the Korg as a tuner and for delay, which it does quite well. (it's not good for other FX like distortion or that cruddy amp modelling).

.......

I have posted on this before, I don't know if any other SGFers are using a similar setup, but it sure works well for me.

Not yet - but I'm planning on doing that, once I saved some money to get a Line 6 M9 - I'm thinking about that one for replacing my delay/tremolo/reverb/compressor pedals on my pedal board, and once I get one, I might just as well use an expression pedla to control the volume through the M9.

Charles Davidson · Post by **Charles Davidson** » 12 Mar 2010 9:44 pm

I like my Dunlop Hi-Gain,It's about ten years old, NO strings to slip or break,has the original Pot,and a new one is about 80 bucks. YOU BETCHA,DYK?BC.

JW Adams · Post by **JW Adams** » 13 Mar 2010 9:09 am

I don't use a volume pedal very often with my lap, so i ordered the new Dunlop DVD-1 #99.00 it has a new steel band drive,no strings or rachet gears, it has adjustable tension, low noise electronics

Gary Meixner · Post by **Gary Meixner** » 14 Mar 2010 8:59 am

Jeremy,

I played lap steel for quite some time without using a volume pedal and learned to do a lot with the volume control on the guitar. When I decided to start using a pedal, I tried a number of diffrent ones built for guitar and hated them including Morley and Ernie Ball. I lucked into a used Goodrich 120 for a few bucks and like it a lot. It does effect the tone a bit by reducing the high end and this may be what some don't like about this type of pedal. Incidentally it will take time to learn to control any kind of pedal to get the subtle effects that make it a valuable addition.

Good luck,

Gary