Hilton Volume Pedal: Questions on settings and trim pots

[Travis Lyon]

I recently got a Hilton and I most definitely love it, but I see the old ones had gain and tone trim pots in addition to the sweep adjustment. I was wondering if the newer Hiltons have internal controls for this, or if they got rid of those adjustments all together. Mine only has the off-point adjustment and I wish I could tailor the high end off just a tad.

[Jack Stoner]

Keith mentioned one time, on this forum, that he eliminated those controls in an effort to keep the price the same. He said very few ever changed those from the factory settings. They are now "optional at extra cost" on the current production models.

I have two Hilton pedals, with the adjustable controls, but I've never had the need to change anything.

[Keith Hilton]

Travis, thanks for buying my pedal. I will try and answer your questions. I have been building the Hilton pedals for over 16 years with over 20,000 out in use world wide. In the beginning the Hilton pedal had 4 adjustments. Soon after production begain 16 years ago, the gain control on the pre-amp was eliminated and set at the factory. Then for many years there were 3 adjustments. Somewhere around 2010 I eliminated the "volume" adjustment and started setting that adjustment at the factory. This left the tone adjustment and the off point adjustment. Over the years I found that all pro players left the tone control off. Weekend warriors seemed transfixed with the tone control, thinking it determined all their tone. The weekend warriors seemed to think the controls on their amp did nothing and the tone control on the pedal did everything. Many of these weekend warriors would play with the tone control until they broke it. I made the tone control optional last year. Since eliminating the tone control and making it optional I can only remember installing one or two. The optional cost of adding a tone control is $10.00 plus $14.00 return shipping. My advise is-- you don't need a tone control, use the knobs on your amplifier. The off point control remains on pedals. Hope this information helps.

[Drew Pierce]

Interesting history, Keith. I believe my old pedal, which I bought from you in 2000 or 2001(?) has only volume and off point controls. When I got it I left the volume where it was, adjusted the off point only slightly, and never touched them again.

I am looking forward to receiving my new pedal that's in the mail as we speak. I expect to have the same great sound in a lighter pedal with a lighter power supply and a more supple power cord. The old, permanently attached power supplies and cords, while absolutely bullet-proof, were like something you'd expect to see powering a small arc welder. But they served me very well for over ten years and are still going strong.

[Keith Hilton]

Drew,you are correct, those pedals with the attached power supply were bullet proof. Those were medical grade power supplies. Power supplies have made a transition in the last 5 years. Everything has gone to the switching type power supply. The major distributors no longer handle the linear type power supplies. Linear means the type that have copper wound around a magnet with a few other parts. You might ask why the manufacturers have transitioned from Linear to Switching type power supplies? It is because of the cost of copper and the weight of the magnet. Shipping costs are determined by weight, so weight matters. Drew, I have not found any down side to the lighter pedals formed out of sheet metal. I switched from the heavy cast pedals in 2007 and have not looked back. As for the new switching type power supplies that plug in, you can lose the power supply, or bring the wrong one. The power cord on the new power supply is not nearly as big or stiff as the old ones. The problem with any cord is people tripping over it, or the cord getting crushed with the legs of a pack-a-seat.